JUNE 1802
On the 4th of June, the ship was dressed with colours, a royal salute fired, and I went with the principal officers of the Investigator to pay my respects to His Excellency the governor and captain-general, in honour of HIS MAJESTY'S birth day. On this occasion, a splendid dinner was given to the colony; and the number of ladies and civil, military, and naval officers was not less than forty, who met to celebrate the birth of their beloved sovereign in this distant part of the earth.
On the 6th, the Speedy, south-whaler, sailed for England. By Mr. Quested, the commander, I transmitted to the Admiralty an account of my proceedings upon the south coast of Terra Australis; but the charts being unfinished, were obliged to be deferred to a future opportunity. To the Astronomer Royal I sent Arnold's time keepers, No. 82 and 176, which had stopped; together with a statement of the principal astronomical observations hitherto made, and an account of Earnshaw's two time keepers, No. 543 and 520, which continued to perform well.
Captain Baudin arrived in Le Geographe on the 20th, and a boat was sent from the Investigator to assist in towing the ship up to the cove. It was grievous to see the miserable condition to which both officers and crew were reduced by scurvy; there being not more out of one hundred and seventy, according to the commander's account, than twelve men capable of doing their duty. The sick were received into the colonial hospital; and both French ships furnished with everything in the power of the colony to supply. Before their arrival, the necessity of augmenting the number of cattle in the country had prevented the governor from allowing us any fresh meat; but some oxen belonging to government were now killed for the distressed strangers; and by returning an equal quantity of salt meat, which was exceedingly scarce at this time, I obtained a quarter of beef for my people. The distress of the French navigators had indeed been great; but every means were used by the governor and the principal inhabitants of the colony, to make them forget both their sufferings and the war which existed between the two nations.*
[* These liberal proceedings, which do so much honour to governor King and the colonists, are handsomely acknowledged by M. Peron in his account of the French voyage.]
JULY 1802
His Excellency, Governor King, had done me the honour to visit the Investigator, and to accept of a dinner on board; on which occasion he had been received with the marks of respect due to his rank of captain-general; and shortly afterward, the Captains Baudin and Hamelin, with Monsieur Peron and some other French officers, as also Colonel Paterson, the lieutenant-governor, did me the same favour; when they were received under a salute of eleven guns. The intelligence of peace, which had just been received, contributed to enliven the party, and rendered our meeting more particularly agreeable. I showed to Captain Baudin one of my charts of the south coast, containing the part first explored by him, and distinctly marked as his discovery. He made no objection to the justice of the limits therein pointed out; but found his portion to be smaller than he had supposed, not having before been aware of the extent of the discoveries previously made by Captain Grant. After examining the chart, he said, apparently as a reason for not producing any of his own, that his charts were not constructed on board the ship; but that he transmitted to Paris all his bearings and observations, with a regular series of views of the land, and from them the charts were to be made at a future time. This mode appeared to me extraordinary, and not to be worthy of imitation; conceiving that a rough chart, at least, should be made whilst the land is in sight, when any error in bearing or observation can be corrected; a plan which was adopted in the commencement, and followed throughout the course of my voyage.
Amongst our employments was that of fitting up a green house on the quarter deck, and sawing plank to make boxes for the reception of such plants as might be found by the naturalist, and thought worthy of being transported to His Majesty's botanic garden at Kew. This green house had been received at Sheerness, and stowed away in pieces; but I saw that when filled with boxes of earth, the upper works of the ship, naturally very weak, would be incapable of supporting the weight; and that in bad weather, we should be obliged to throw it over board for the safety of the ship. I therefore proposed its reduction to two-thirds of the size; and Mr. Brown being of opinion it would then contain all the plants likely to be collected in any one absence from Port Jackson, it was reduced accordingly; and the feet lowered down close to the deck. This arrangement required an alteration in the tiller, and a short one, with two arms, was fitted to the after part of the rudder head; with which expedient, and leading the main braces forward, the green house was not likely to cause much inconvenience to the working of the ship. The plants already collected on the South Coast had been landed on our arrival, in good order; and deposited in the governor's garden until such time as, the objects of the voyage being completed, we should be ready to sail for England.
The ship had never made more than three inches of water in an hour, after leaving the Cape of Good Hope; so that much caulking was not required, either within or out board. What was found necessary, was finished by the middle of July, at the same time with the barricading of the quarter deck; and the masts being then new rigged, and holds nearly completed with water and provisions, the sails were bent and the ship was painted. On the 21st, the last bag of bread and turn of water were received, the new whale boat was brought off, and we dropped down the harbour; being then ready for going to sea next morning.
In consequence of the directions given by His Majesty's principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, the Lady Nelson, a brig of sixty tons, commanded by Acting-Lieutenant John Murray, was placed under my orders, as a tender to the Investigator. This vessel was fitted with three sliding keels; and built after the plan of that ingenious officer commissioner (now vice-admiral) Schanck. When the sliding keels were up, the Lady Nelson drew no more than six feet water; and was therefore peculiarly adapted for going up rivers, or other shallow places which it might be dangerous, or impossible for the ship to enter. Mr Murray's crew was mostly composed of convicts; and having no officer in whom he could place entire confidence, I lent to him Mr Denis Lacy, one of my young gentlemen acquainted with the management of a time keeper, to act as his chief mate.