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RESEARCHED BY PETER KILLACKEY
A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay
by Watkin Tench
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CHAPTER VII.
The Passage from the Cape of Good Hope to Botany Bay.
We had hardly cleared the land when a south-east wind set in, and, except
at short intervals, continued to blow until the 19th of the month;
when we were in the latitude of 37 deg 40 min south, and by the time-keeper,
in longitude 11 deg 30 min east, so that our distance from Botany Bay
had increased nearly an hundred leagues since leaving the Cape.
As no appearance of a change in our favour seemed likely to take place,
Governor Phillip at this time signified his intention of shifting his pennant
from the Sirius to the 'Supply', and proceeding on his voyage without waiting
for the rest of the fleet, which was formed in two divisions. The first
consisting of three transports, known to be the best sailors, was put under
the command of a Lieutenant of the navy; and the remaining three,
with the victuallers, left in charge of Captain Hunter, of his Majesty's ship
Sirius. In the last division was the vessel, in which the author
of this narrative served. Various causes prevented the separation from
taking place until the 25th, when several sawyers, carpenters, blacksmiths,
and other mechanics, were shifted from different ships into the 'Supply',
in order to facilitate his Excellency's intention of forwarding the necessary
buildings to be erected at Botany Bay, by the time the rest of the fleet
might be expected to arrive. Lieutenant Governor Ross, and the Staff
of the marine battalion, also removed from the Sirius into the
Scarborough transport, one of the ships of the first division, in order
to afford every assistance which the public service might receive,
by their being early on the spot on which our future operations
were to be conducted.
From this time a succession of fair winds and pleasant weather corresponded
to our eager desires, and on the 7th of January, 1788, the long wished for
shore of Van Diemen gratified our sight. We made the land at two o'clock
in the afternoon, the very hour we expected to see it from the
lunar observations of Captain Hunter, whose accuracy, as an astronomer,
and conduct as an officer, had inspired us with equal gratitude and admiration.
After so long a confinement, on a service so peculiarly disgusting
and troublesome, it cannot be matter of surprise that we were overjoyed
at the near prospect of a change of scene. By sunset we had passed between
the rocks, which Captain Furneaux named the Mewstone and Swilly.
The former bears a very close resemblance to the little island near Plymouth,
whence it took its name: its latitude is 43 deg 48 min south, longitude
146 deg 25 min east of Greenwich.
In running along shore, we cast many an anxious eye towards the land,
on which so much of our future destiny depended. Our distance, joined to
the haziness of the atmosphere, prevented us, however, from being able
to discover much. With our best glasses we could see nothing but hills
of a moderate height, cloathed with trees, to which some little patches
of white sandstone gave the appearance of being covered with snow.
Many fires were observed on the hills in the evening.
As no person in the ship I was on board had been on this coast before,
we consulted a little chart, published by Steele, of the Minories, London,
and found it, in general, very correct; it would be more so, were not
the Mewstone laid down at too great a distance from the land, and one object
made of the Eddystone and Swilly, when, in fact, they are distinct.
Between the two last is an entire bed of impassable rocks, many of them
above water. The latitude of the Eddystone is 43 deg 53 1/2 min,
longitude 147 deg 9 min; that of Swilly 43 deg 54 min south, longitude
147 deg 3 min east of Greenwich.
In the night the westerly wind, which had so long befriended us, died away,
and was succeeded by one from the north-east. When day appeared we had
lost sight of the land, and did not regain it until the 19th,
at only the distance of 17 leagues from our desired port. The wind was now
fair, the sky serene, though a little hazy, and the temperature of the air
delightfully pleasant: joy sparkled in every countenance, and congratulations
issued from every mouth. Ithaca itself was scarcely more longed for
by Ulysses, than Botany Bay by the adventurers who had traversed
so many thousand miles to take possession of it.
"Heavily in clouds came on the day" which ushered in our arrival.
To us it was "a great, an important day," though I hope the foundation,
not the fall, of an empire will be dated from it.
On the morning of the 20th, by ten o'clock, the whole of the fleet
had cast anchor in Botany Bay, where, to our mutual satisfaction, we found
the Governor, and the first division of transports. On inquiry, we heard, that
the 'Supply' had arrived on the 18th, and the transports only the preceding day.
Thus, after a passage of exactly thirty-six weeks from Portsmouth,
we happily effected our arduous undertaking, with such a train of unexampled
blessings as hardly ever attended a fleet in a like predicament.
Of two hundred and twelve marines we lost only one; and of seven hundred and
seventy-five convicts, put on board in England, but twenty-four perished
in our route. To what cause are we to attribute this unhoped for success?
I wish I could answer to the liberal manner in which Government supplied
the expedition. But when the reader is told, that some of the necessary
articles allowed to ships on a common passage to West Indies,
were withheld from us; that portable soup, wheat, and pickled vegetables
were not allowed; and that an inadequate quantity of essence of malt
was the only antiscorbutic supplied, his surprise will redouble at the result
of the voyage. For it must be remembered, that the people thus sent out
were not a ship's company starting with every advantage of health
and good living, which a state of freedom produces; but the major part
a miserable set of convicts, emaciated from confinement, and in want
of cloaths, and almost every convenience to render so long a passage tolerable.
I beg leave, however, to say, that the provisions served on board were good,
and of a much superior quality to those usually supplied by contract:
they were furnished by Mr. Richards, junior, of Walworth, Surrey.
A Narrative of the Expedition
to Botany Bay
by Watkin Tench |
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