Government House, Sydney, July 10, 1803.
I inclose the report of the survey on the Porpoise, and am much concerned that the repairs and alterations of that ship will re quire so much time to complete her fit for the service you have to execute. This being the case, I can see no other alternatives than the following:
1. To wait the Porpoise being repaired and refitted.
2. To purchase the Rolla, and fit her.
3. To take the Lady Nelson and colonial schooner Francis.
4. Wait for the Buffalo's return from India, which will be about the next January; or
5. Return to England and solicit another ship to complete what you have so successfully begun.
On the first point, you will be the best able to determine how far it would be advisable to wait so long a time for the Porpoise's repairs, nor do I think they can be completed in a less time here.
The builder and your carpenter report to me, that the Rolla cannot be put into the least convenient state to receive your establishment, stores, and provisions, in less than six months. It must also be considered that she grounded on the Brake with a full cargo; from which cause, some defects may appear to render her useless in a shorter period than you can finish your voyage. Added to which, I do not consider myself justified in assuming the responsibility of giving £11,550. for little more than the hull, masts, and rigging of that ship; nor will the master, as he informs me, take less.
If you think the Lady Nelson and Francis schooner equal to execute what you have to finish, they are at your service. The latter being absent getting coals and cedar, I cannot say what state she may be in; although she will require considerable repairs to make her fit for a long voyage.
The Buffalo is now inspecting the islands to the eastward of Java, to ascertain whether breeding stock can be procured among them. That service performed, she proceeds to Calcutta for a cargo of cows, and may be expected about January, when she may want some repairs, and of course fitting. It is my intention, if you do not fix on her, to profit by your discovery in stocking this colony with breeding animals, by the safe and expeditious channel you have opened through Torres' Strait.
If you do not consider waiting for the Porpoise's repairs advisable, it is my intention to send her to England by a summer's passage round Cape Horn; which it is thought she may perform in her present state. But should you conceive it may ultimately forward the service you are employed on, to go to England in her, leaving this port when you judge proper, and taking the route most conducive to perfectioning any part of the surveys you have commenced; I shall direct the commander of that ship to receive you and as many of your officers and people as can be accommodated, as passengers; and to follow your directions and give you every assistance in every circumstance connected with the execution of the orders you have received from my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.
You will, Sir, have the goodness to consider of the above and whatever the result of your deliberation may be, I will most cheerfully give my concurrence and assistance; knowing that your zealous perseverance in wishing to complete the service you have so beneficially commenced, could only be impeded by unforeseen and distressing circumstances; but which I hope, for the benefit of science and navigation, will only be a temporary delay.
I am, etc.
(Signed), Philip Gidley King.
Each of the plans proposed in the governor's letter were attended with one common disadvantage: a delay in the completion of the surveys. Against the last proposition there did not seem to be any other objection; but the four first included so many more inconveniences and difficulties, either to the voyage, or to the colony, that I saw the necessity of concurring with the governor's opinion; notwithstanding the reluctance I felt at returning to England without having accomplished the objects for which the Investigator was fitted out. My election was therefore made to embark as a passenger in the Porpoise; in order to lay my charts and journals before the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, and obtain, if such should be their pleasure, another ship to complete the examination of Terra Australis. The last service I could render to the colony with the Investigator and my people, was to lay down an additional pair of moorings in Sydney Cove; and that done, we left the ship as a storehouse hulk on the 21st, and prepared for our voyage to England.
The Porpoise was commanded by Mr. William Scott, a senior master in the navy; but he and the greater part of his people having expressed a wish to be discharged, it was complied with; and the command was given to Mr. Fowler, first lieutenant of the Investigator, and another crew of thirty-eight men selected from the ship's company. In disposing of the other officers and people their several inclinations were consulted. The surgeon took his passage in the Bridgewater to India, the gunner remained charged with the care of the Investigator's stores, and Mr. Evans, master's mate, was left sick at the hospital; Messrs. Brown, Bauer, and Allen stayed at Port Jackson to prosecute their researches in natural history, until my arrival with another ship, or until eighteen months should expire without their having received intimation that the voyage was to be continued; nine men were discharged at their own request, and the twenty-two remaining officers and men, including myself, embarked in the Porpoise as passengers.
Of the nine convicts who had been received into the Investigator, one had died; another had behaved himself so improperly, that I could not recommend him to the governor; and the remaining seven were fully emancipated by His Excellency from their sentence of transportation, their conduct having been such throughout, as to receive my approbation. Four of these were entered into the complement of the Porpoise; but I am sorry to add, that the subsequent behaviour of two was different to what it had been when their liberty was at stake, and that a third was condemned to the hulks not very long after he reached England.
Being about to take leave of Port Jackson, it might be expected that I should give some account of our colony there, and could this voyage have appeared in due time, a chapter would have been devoted to it; but a much later account being now before the public, dispenses me from speaking of it in other than a few general terms. In 1803, it was progressively advancing towards a state of independence on the mother country for food and clothing; both the wild and tame cattle had augmented in a proportion to make it probable that they would, before many years, be very abundant; and manufactures of woollen, linen, cordage, and leather, with breweries and a pottery, were commenced. The number of inhabitants was increasing rapidly; and that energetic spirit of enterprize which characterises Britain's children, seemed to be throwing out vigorous shoots in this new world. The seal fishery in Bass' Strait was carried on with ardour--many boats were employed in catching and preparing fish along the coast--sloops and schooners were upon the stocks--various detached settlements were in a course of establishment, and more in project. And all this, with the commerce carried on from Sydney to Parramatta and the villages at the head of the port, and to those on the rivers falling into Broken and Botany Bays, made the fine harbour of Port Jackson a lively scene of business, highly interesting to the contemplator of the rise of nations.
In Sydney and Parramatta, houses of stone or brick were taking place of wood and plaster; a neat church was built in the latter, and one commenced in the former place; wharfs were constructing or repairing--a stone bridge over the stream which runs through the town of Sydney was nearly finished--and the whiskey, chariot, and heavy-laden waggon were seen moving on commodious roads to different parts of the colony. In the interior the forests were giving way before the axe, and their places becoming every year more extensively occupied by wheat, barley, oats, maize, and the vegetables and fruits of southern Europe; but the following extract from the official returns in 1803, the fifteenth year after the establishment of the colony, will show its progress in a more ostensible manner.
Lands employed by government,
or granted to individuals 125,476 acres.
Quantity cleared of wood, 16,624
Ditto, sown with wheat, 7,118 Last ann. increase 2,165
Ditto, sown with barley, maize, etc. 5,279
Average produce of wheat lands
throughout the colony, 18 bushels/acre.
No. of horned cattle domesticated, 2,447 Last increase 594
No. of Sheep, 11,232 2,614
No. of Hogs, 7,890 3,872
No. of Horses, 352 65
The number of wild horned cattle was supposed to exceed that of
the tame, and to increase faster.
Europeans of every description,
resident in New South Wales, 7,134
Of which were victualled by government, 3,026
Number of inhabitants at Norfolk Island, 1,200
Amongst the obstacles which opposed themselves to the more rapid advancement of the colony, the principal were, the vicious propensities of a large portion of the convicts, a want of more frequent communication with England, and the prohibition to trading with India and the western coasts of South America, in consequence of the East-India-Company's charter. As these difficulties become obviated and capital increases, the progress of the colonists will be more rapid; and if the resources from government be not withdrawn too early, there is little doubt of New South Wales being one day a flourishing country, and of considerable benefit to the commerce and navigation of the parent state.