As the time in which I might be absent, if I went in the Supply, must have been very uncertain, I went round with three boats, taking with me Captain Hunter, and several officers, that by examining different parts of the port at the same time less time might be lost.
We got into Port Jackson early in the afternoon, and had the satisfaction of finding the finest harbour in the world, in which a thousand sail of the line may ride in the most perfect security, and of which a rough survey, made by Captain Hunter and the officers of the Sirius after the ships came round, may give your Lordship some idea.
The different coves were examined with all possible expedition. I fixed on the one that had the best spring of water, and in which the ships can anchor so close to the shore that at a very small expense quays may be made at which the largest ships may unload.
This cove, which I honoured with the name of Sydney, is about a quarter of a mile across at the entrance and half-a-mile in length.
We returned to Botany Bay the third day, where I received a very unfavourable account of the ground that was clearing.
The ships immediately prepared to go round, and the 25th—seven days after I arrived in the Supply—I sailed in her for Port Jackson, leaving Captain Hunter to follow with the transports, it then blowing too strong for them to work out of the bay. They joined me the next evening, and all the transports were moored in the cove.
Two sail had appeared off Botany Bay the 24th, under French colours, and anchored there before the Sirius left it—the Boussole and the Astrolabe. These ships were commanded by Monsieur La Perouse, who having expressed a desire of sending letters to Europe, I sent an officer over, it being only eight miles, to tell him in what time it was probable the ships might sail.
The clearing the ground for the people and for erecting storehouses was begun as soon as the ships got round, a labour of which it will be hardly possible to give your Lordship a just idea.
The necks of land that form the different coves, and near the water for some distance, are in general so rocky that it is surprising that such large trees should find sufficient nourishment, but the soil between the rocks is good, and the summits of the rocks, as well as the whole country round us, with few exceptions, are covered with trees, most of which are so large that the removing them off the ground after they are cut down is the greatest part of the labour; and the convicts, naturally indolent, having none to attend them but overseers drawn from amongst themselves, and who fear to exert any authority, makes this work go on very slowly.
As there are only twelve convicts who are carpenters, as many as could be procured from the ships have been hired to work on the hospital and storehouses. The people were healthy when landed, but the scurvy has for some time appeared amongst them, and now rages in a most extraordinary manner. Only sixteen carpenters could be hired from the ships, and several of the convict carpenters were sick. It was now the middle of February; the rains began to fall very heavy, and pointed the necessity of hutting the people; convicts were therefore appointed to assist the detachment in this work.