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Cornell University 
 Library 
 
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 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924073826731 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
UNWIN'S COLONIAL LIBRARY. 
 
 i. THE STICKIT MINISTER. By S. R. Crockett. 
 
 2. THE LILAC SUNBONNET. By S. R. Crockett. 
 
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 London: T. Fisher Unwin, Paternoster Square, E.C. 
 
A FIRST FLEET 
 FAMILY 
 
 A HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED 
 NARRATIVE OF CERTAIN 
 REMARKABLE ADVENTURES 
 COMPILED FROM THE PAPERS 
 OF SERGEANT WILLIAM DEW 
 OF THE MARINES 
 
 LOUIS BECKE 
 
 AND 
 
 WALTER JEFFERY 
 
 COLONIAL EDITION 
 
 3LonBon 
 T. FISHER UNWIN 
 
 PATERNOSTER SQUARE 
 Mdcccxcvi. 
 
\Ml Rights reserved.] 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The Editors of this narrative, some months 
 since, received from Mr W. J. Dew the journals 
 of his grandfather, Sergeant Dew, with the 
 request that if they were likely to be of interest 
 to the public, the Editors would put them into 
 the form of a book and have them published. 
 
 The papers were submitted to the Editors, 
 whose names appear with this work, on the 
 ground that one of them is a personal friend 
 of the present Dew family, and both of them 
 are well acquainted with the localities and the 
 events referred to by the Sergeant. 
 
 Sergeant Dew, before his death, left instruc- 
 tions that should his descendants at any time 
 determine to make public his remarkable narra- 
 tive, everything that could possibly cause pain 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 to any person Jiving might be withheld from 
 the printer. 
 
 As a matter of fact, the Editors found nothing 
 in the papers the publication of which could 
 cause anyone a moment's feeling of annoyance ; 
 but any attempt made now to disguise the 
 principal characters in the story would be futile, 
 for the New South Wales Government has pub- 
 lished, in a work called The Historical Records 
 of New South Wales, nearly every fact here 
 related. 
 
 In fact, a short account of the Bryants' escape 
 — so far as the official knowledge of it goes — 
 is to be found in most of the so-called histories 
 of the Colony. 
 
 This being the case, the Editors determined to 
 give the narrative as it stood, with only one 
 reservation, and that is in the case of the name of 
 Fairfax, which name is a fictitious one ; for the 
 family whose ancestor was the officer who is 
 known in the book under this name, might 
 possibly object to being thus brought before the 
 public. Some slight alterations have also been 
 made in the English portion of the narrative in 
 order to disguise the exact locality of the early 
 scenes in Mr Dew's life. 
 
PREFACE. vii 
 
 It is only fair to the Editors to reproduce 
 here a part of Mr Dew's letter, written by him, 
 after reading the MS. of the work : — 
 
 'You have performed your task in a manner very 
 gratifying to me. I quite agree with your change of 
 
 's name to Fairfax, and with your change of 
 
 locality. I see you have corrected some of my grand- 
 father's English and spelling. He was a little weak 
 in the last particular, and some of his English would, 
 of course,- be too much out of date in these days of 
 foreign words. — I am, yours gratefully, 
 
 W. J. Dew.' 
 
 The Editors express their indebtedness to the 
 Historical Records above mentioned, and to 
 Mr Barton's volumes in particular, for much 
 information which enabled them to verify facts 
 and dates in this narrative. The conspicuous 
 ability of Mr Barton's work has enabled them 
 to gain a knowledge of Phillip and his principal 
 officers that, taken with Sergeant Dew's papers, 
 has portrayed to their minds a vivid picture of 
 the men. The necessity for curtailment, and the 
 lack of ability on the part of the Editors, are the 
 excuses offered to the reader, if he, when he has 
 read this book, has not a fair idea of what manner 
 of men they were. The Historical Records of 
 New South Wales are largely indebted to 
 
viii PREFACE. 
 
 Philip Gidley King, Esq., M.L.C., of New 
 South Wales, for much of what is published in 
 them relating to King. The present Mr King 
 is a grandson of Lieutenant King, and he very 
 generously presented his country with many of 
 his grandfather's papers. These documents have 
 been of great use in preparing Mr Dew's narra- 
 tive. Much that is purely history in Sergeant 
 Dew's Journal has been of" necessity omitted 
 from this narrative ; but if sufficient interest is 
 taken by the public in what is here printed, 
 plenty of material is contained in the Dew 
 papers to make another book of the Sergeant's 
 early adventures, in which the matters related 
 would bring to light many things never before 
 published. 
 
 Sir Henry Parkes^ while this was being pre- 
 pared for the press, was severely attacked by 
 certain 'patriotic' members of the New South 
 Wales Assembly for having ordered from Eng- 
 land a statue of Phillip, to be erected in 
 Sydney. 
 
 It may appear strange to English readers that 
 while there is more than one statue of Cook in 
 Sydney, it is scarcely known to the majority of 
 the Australian people that Phillip was the man 
 
PREFACE. ix 
 
 who founded their country and that Cook was 
 never inside the Heads of Port Jackson. 
 
 The school histories of the Colony are be- 
 neath notice, and the few men who have written 
 anything of the country's early days, such as 
 Bonwick, Bennett, or Barton, are never read. 
 It is safe to say that not one man in a thousand 
 has the remotest idea of the early history of 
 New South Wales, beyond the fact that a 
 number of convicts were transported to it 
 something over a hundred years ago. Great 
 injustice has been done to the early founders 
 of the Colony by forgetting them ; greater 
 injustice still is too often done to them when 
 they are remembered. For what has hitherto 
 been written and read about the very early 
 days has been, with few exceptions, stories 
 depicting the cruelties of the punishments in- 
 flicted upon the convicts. The felons have 
 always been the heroes and the authorities the 
 villains of the piece. Nearly everyone who has 
 written has followed the lead of Marcus Clarke. 
 The result is that his powerful novel, and true 
 enough picture of one side of the case — His 
 Natural Life — has been the only point of view 
 most readers are acquainted with. As a con- 
 
x PREFACE. 
 
 sequence, the men have been mistakenly blamed 
 for the errors of the system, and no allowance 
 has been made for the times in which the events 
 described took place. A maudlin sympathy 
 with the convicts has become the only impres- 
 sion too many people have of the times ; they 
 have no thought for such men as Phillip and 
 King, whose great hearts conquered the pre- 
 judices of their times and strove to look upon 
 their duties as less those of gaolers than 
 reformers. And, above all, everyone seems 
 nowadays to have overlooked the fact that 
 the men who came prisoners to this country in 
 the very early days were, for the most part, 
 criminals who had forfeited their lives to their 
 country's laws. In a word, they had, as they 
 put it among the class from which they were 
 drawn, 'got into trouble,' and we are apt, so 
 great is our sympathy for these prisoners, to 
 forget that no one asked them to do so. For 
 it was only the ancestors of persons now living 
 who were sent out for poaching and political 
 crimes and such like trifles. Everyone who 
 knows Australia must have learned that all the 
 convicts who are remembered by people at this 
 end of the century were really quite decent 
 
PREFACE. xi 
 
 people ; the records show that those who came 
 in the last century were generally the worst of 
 felons. 
 
 If this narrative of a man who lived among 
 these people, and saw them as it were from two 
 points of view, does not enable readers to look 
 at both sides, as Sergeant Dew did, and if the 
 story lacks interest, it is not the fault of 
 Sergeant Dew's journal. 
 
 THE EDITORS. 
 
 Sydney, June, 1895. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Solcombe, . . . .1 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Mary Broad, 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 I am Persuaded by Will Bryant to become a Man of Mettle, . 18 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 The Evil that Befel Me in following Bad Advice, 23 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 I make a Start in the World honestly, and Mary Broad Proves 
 
 her Love for Will Bryant, . . .30 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 I meet with a Startling Adventure, . 37 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 I am again Fooled by the Smugglers, . . 49 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 The Fleet for the Colonisation of Botany Bay, . -57 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 Concerning some Incidents that happened on the Voyage, . 68 
 
xiv CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I hear Tidings of Mary Broad and Will Bryant, and We arrive 
 
 at the Cape of Good Hope, . . .76 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 A Marriage Scheme is arranged which does not altogether meet 
 
 with my Approval, and We arrive at our Destination, . 90 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 Botany Bay, • . 97 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 I take a Small Part in a very Important Ceremony, 103 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 Will Bryant and Mary Broad are Married, 1 10 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 The Settlement at Port Jackson, 116 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 Showing how a Rogue led Captain Phillip to look for Gold, and 
 
 how Matters progressed at the Settlement, . .122 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 Merit rewarded, . .131 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 The Sirius has a Bad Time and We return to Sydney Cove, . 137 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 Some Description of our Town and the Sore Straits we were in 
 
 for Food, ..... 142 
 
CONTENTS xv 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 We see the Last of the Sirius, and I get a Great Reward, . 148 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 We spend a Weary Time on a Lonely Island, .157 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 The Second Fleet arrives and We hear News from Home, . 163 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 The Lieutenant and Myself meet with a Great Disappointment, 
 and I make the Acquaintance of the Dutch Captain of the 
 Waaksamheyd, . . . .168 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 I talk with Captain Smith of the Waateamheyd, and a Breach of 
 
 the Regulations is committed, . . 17c 
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 A still Greater and very Daring Breach of the Regulations is com- 
 mitted by Will Bryant and his Gang, . .183 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 I am Homeward Bound, . jgg 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 I meet with a Great Surprise at the Cape of Good Hope, and 
 
 Lieutenant Fairfax loses His Dignity, . ,» 2 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 Mary begins Her Story 
 
 199 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 The Beginning of a Strange and Hazardous Enterprise, . 207 
 
xvi CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A Voyage along the Shores of New Holland, . 212 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI 
 Mary 's first Punishment overtakes Her, . . . 220 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII 
 
 The Fugitives pass through many Terrible Dangers and arrive 
 
 at Coupang, in the Dutch East Indies, . . 227 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII 
 A very Heavy Punishment is meted out to Mary, and the 
 
 Fugitives again become Prisoners, . . 236 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV 
 I arrive in England, ..... 243 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV 
 Affairs at Solcombe, ..... 247 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI 
 
 Mr Fairfax pays a Flying Visit, and John Butcher sends in a 
 
 Petition, . . . . .251 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII 
 I hear Good News at last, .... 255 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII 
 Mr Fairfax surprises Me very much, and I begin to associate 
 
 with People of Quality, .... 259 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX 
 
 Miss Fairfax outdoes" Her Brother in surprising Me, and a very 
 
 Great and Happy Event brings my Story to an End, . 264 
 
 Postscript, . . . . .269 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 SOLCOMBE 
 
 To you, my dear children, who have as yet experienced 
 no privations and know not the true dreadfulness of a 
 life of great hardship, I leave this record of your father's 
 early career. May it serve to bring to your minds, 
 when those about you too readily judge harshly of 
 their fellow-men, that all, even the humblest and 
 poorest, may, if they steadily do their duty, rise to a 
 comfortable station in life and win the respect of those 
 whose respect is worth the winning. 
 
 That you may be able to follow your father's 
 fortunes from his earliest youth down to that happy 
 time when he was able to return from his foreign 
 adventures and settle, a prosperous man, in his native 
 country, I have added to my diary such particulars 
 as my now failing memory and the recollections of my 
 old comrades supply me with. 
 
 A 
 
2 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 In the old family Bible which, as children has so 
 often afforded you, with its pictures, a pleasant and 
 proper Sunday afternoon's entertainment, you will 
 find on that leaf where your names are written this 
 entry : — 
 
 'William Dew, born February 28, 1764.' 
 
 It would be no good for me to pretend to be 
 younger than I am, for, with the excellent schooling 
 you have had, you could very easily cypher out my 
 age. Your grandfather was a good, honest former, 
 with a fine turn for smuggling — as who had not in 
 our little village in those days ? In truth, as is well 
 known, smuggling was carried on among all conditions 
 of people who lived on the English coast and in the 
 Isle of Wight ; not only the fishermen but the small 
 farmers, and even the big squires and landed gentry — 
 some of whom held His Majesty's Commission of the 
 Peace — had a hand in the contraband trade. Indeed, 
 if all we hear be true, the art of landing a keg of 
 good brandy under the noses of the Preventive Service 
 is not yet lost upon the island. 
 
 Let me try and describe Solcombe as it was in those 
 days, and you can see for yourselves if it has as much 
 altered as the men and women are changed who live 
 in it. 
 
 Solcombe — where some of you, as well as your father 
 and grandfather, were born — lies at the back of the 
 Wight, which is the side of the island nearest to the 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 3 
 
 French coast, and when I was a boy the farms there- 
 about ran down almost to the water's edge — that is 
 to say, to the ledges of the high chalk cliffs which 
 formed a boundary wall and shut out the sea from 
 sight, though in heavy weather its salt spray was flung 
 high upward in drenching showers upon the gardens 
 of the villagers. On a rough winter's night in the 
 Channel, the roar of the breakers, as they smote the 
 steep-to cliffs in all their unchecked fury, would shake 
 the houses of the village, and strike terror to the hearts 
 of those women in Solcombe — and there were many — 
 who had their men-folk away at sea. Sometimes, 
 especially when the force of the wind had broken a 
 bit, the wild clamour of the beating surf could be 
 heard half-way across to the other side of the island. 
 Beating like this for ages against the cliffs, the sea had 
 hollowed out of them many a dark and winding cavern, 
 some of which ran far back into the very bowels of the 
 land. And on both sides of Solcombe every little inlet 
 and indentation on the coast-line gave a harbour to the 
 smugglers for running their cargoes, and the natural 
 caves provided glorious warehouses for French brandy 
 and bales of fine silk and other gear sought after by 
 grand ladies who cared but little that such things 
 sometimes cost blood and death besides the money 
 paid for them. In these caves the smuggled goods 
 would remain till favourable opportunity came for 
 either selling them on the island or sending them 
 away across the Solent to where they would be 
 
+ A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 quickly disposed of to people who lived by smuggling 
 alone. 
 
 Difficult of access by land — save in rare cases — and 
 familiar only to the dwellers in their near vicinity even 
 by sea, these smugglers' storehouses were seldom dis- 
 covered by the Preventive Service men ; but occasion- 
 ally an informer would betray the intention of the 
 smugglers to run a cargo, and then, perhaps, a desperate 
 fight would follow, and more than one poor fellow 
 would lose his life doing his duty, and a few prisoners 
 would be manacled and gyved, and marched away and 
 committed to Winchester Gaol. 
 
 George the Third was king in those days, and the 
 war with the rebellious American colonists was loom- 
 ing up, though no one, as I have since heard, ever 
 thought it would prove such a great and disastrous 
 conflict as it did. 
 
 Father had a great notion of giving me some 
 schooling, for he was something of a scholar himself, 
 having in his young days been taught a good deal 
 above his station ; and so I was kept at the village 
 school till I grew to be quite a strapping fellow, and 
 was full sixteen years of age. 
 
 The old schoolmaster had at one time been a 
 soldier, and was always telling us boys about the 
 doings at the wars. He had fought with Marl- 
 borough in more than one battle, and was very 
 proud of a scar from a bayonet thrust through his 
 leg. Sometimes, at the village inn, where the talk 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 5 
 
 would turn upon the wars that were then going on, 
 he would say to those present that, though it ill— 
 becomed him at his age to boast, yet could he give 
 them ocular demonstration that he had served his 
 country and received honourable wounds ; and then, 
 after some little coaxing, he would show the calf of 
 his right leg, and condescend to drink a pint of ale 
 with the company to the toast of 'God save His 
 Majesty, and confusion to his enemies.' 
 
 Those were stirring times, for old England was 
 fighting the Spaniards and the French and the 
 Dutch, besides having on her hands the rebellion of 
 the American colonies and the riots in London. And 
 so it came about that, seeing my head had got stuffed 
 full of silly notions of soldiering and going abroad to 
 fight the king's battles, my father took me from school 
 and set me to help on the farm, in the hope that in 
 following the plough I should forget all about the 
 glory of a red coat and white cross-belts and the rattle 
 of the drum. My mother died just about that time. 
 She was always ailing, and I am afraid that anxiety 
 about me hastened her end, for she was terribly cut 
 up at the way I was bitten with the craze for going 
 a-soldiering. 
 
 Even now, after such long, long years, I can some- 
 times see her face, so rough and wrinkled with care, 
 yet so full of tenderness and love, as she clasped my 
 hands in hers, with the death-shadows deepening upon 
 her features, and a strange, yearning look in her 
 
6 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 fading eyes that brought a quick gush of tears to 
 mine. Her last words to anyone on earth were spoken 
 to me, for after she had, with failing strength, placed 
 her hand upon my father's head as he knelt beside her, 
 she turned to me and with her last breath murmured, 
 ' And God keep you, my son.' Then she gave a long, 
 heavy sigh and closed her eyes for ever. 
 
 After the shock of my mother's death had somewhat 
 worn off, I turned again to my work upon the farm, 
 but the only effect that following the plough had upon 
 my mind was to make me continually ponder upon the 
 subject of my wishes all the more. I was in great 
 doubt as to which of two ways of serving the king and 
 gratifying my inclinations was the shortest road to 
 glory, whether it was better to go to sea and fight the 
 Spaniards and French under such a man as Rodney, 
 and return to my native village with a pocket full of 
 prize money, or to seek honour and fortune with the 
 land forces under our generals in the Americas. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 MARY BROAD 
 
 Thus a year or two went by, and I grew less and 
 less inclined to work honestly on the farm, and 
 father grew more and more dissatisfied with me. 
 Sometimes it was in my mind to take a boat over 
 to Portsmouth and put myself in the way of the 
 press-gangs, and thus get sent to sea in such a way 
 that father would be made to believe that it was 
 through no fault of mine ; but yet, I thank God, 
 I reflected that, whatever father might think, my 
 conscience would give me no rest for acting such 
 a lie. 
 
 It was about this time that Mary Broad became 
 lady's-maid to Miss Fairfax, the daughter of the 
 Squire of Solcombe, and I, foolish lad, fell in love 
 with Mary the first time I saw her, and thus, with 
 my love for going a-soldiering and love for her, my 
 mind was in anything but a proper condition. 
 
 Squire Fairfax lived at Solcombe Manor House, 
 and was the great man in that neighbourhood. He 
 was a widower, with one son and one daughter, and 
 
 7 
 
8 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 in appearance was a fine, portly man, with a keen, 
 blue eye and a face that showed his generous heart 
 and hasty temper. The son, Charles Fairfax, was 
 a lieutenant in the Marines at the time that Mary 
 Broad went to live at the Manor House, and I 
 was very jealous of the effect his red coat and gold 
 lace would be likely to have upon the girl. 
 
 Mary's father was a young French officer who 
 had been taken prisoner and confined, with several 
 others, in Porchester Castle on the mainland. He 
 was a lieutenant in a Breton regiment, and the 
 Solcombe folks, when he came to live among them, 
 much as they disliked foreigners, said he was a fine, 
 big, handsome man, and he quickly made friends 
 with the Solcombe people when he was released. 
 As he came of a Huguenot family, no one was sur- 
 prised at a Solcombe girl falling in love with and 
 marrying him. Yet, such is religious prejudice, that 
 when he died, soon after his daughter's birth, the 
 village folks said it was a judgment upon his wife 
 for marrying a man who, although a Protestant, was 
 yet a foreigner. His proper name was not Broad, 
 but this is what his English neighbours made of it, 
 and so, after a time, the family were known as the 
 Broads, and Mary always wrote her name in this 
 way. After her husband's death, Mary's mother 
 got a living by her needle, sewing for the fine 
 ladies who were friends of and visited the Fairfax 
 family, and contrived to give her daughter some 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 9 
 
 little education, as education went in those days. 
 Then they came over and settled at Newport, and 
 Mrs Broad opened a little shop, in which Mary 
 served, and in which I used to spend a great deal 
 of my pocket money, for no other reason than for 
 the pleasure of being served by so fair and sweet- 
 looking a young shop-woman. 
 
 Old as I am now, I have never forgotten her 
 strangely handsome face and graceful figure. She 
 was so different from the other young girls round 
 about, that her manner, as well as her beauty, attracted 
 notice. Her fatherw as, as I have said, a very hand- 
 some man, and she had all his dark eyes and hair, 
 and quick, short manner of speech, and even to 
 Squire Fairfax she preserved a demeanour that, while 
 not quite wanting in respect to such a gentleman, 
 was yet by no means sufficiently humble and proper 
 for one in her condition of life. 
 
 Miss Charlotte Fairfax was a spoilt young lady 
 in those days, with a great will of her own, and 
 her father was so bounden to her by his great affec- 
 tion that she could do as she liked with him. One 
 day, when she was in Newport, she went into Mrs 
 Broad's shop to purchase some lace, or such-like 
 women's fal-lal, and caught sight of Mary. 
 
 ' Mercy me,' says she, ' what a pretty girl ! And, 
 pray, who are you, child ? and where do you come 
 from ? ' 
 
 Now, the word ' child ' was not to Mary's liking, 
 
io A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 for she tossed her head and gave "ino pleasant an- 
 swer, although she knew who it was who spoke 
 to her. Then Mrs Broad stepped into the shop 
 and explained who they were, and the upshot of 
 it was that Mary went into service at the Manor 
 House as lady's-maid to Miss Charlotte, and in a 
 few weeks began to look more beautiful than ever, 
 by reason of the better garments that her mistress 
 clothed her with. 
 
 The Squire's daughter was then about two-and- 
 twenty years of age and Mary eighteen. The 
 young lady was a fair-haired and blue-eyed beauty, 
 with a great many silly notions in her head, and a 
 fine contempt for the country life she was leading, 
 and the few opportunities it afforded her to show 
 off the airs and graces she had learned from her 
 grand cousins who lived in London. 
 
 She soon made a confidant of Mary, and, indeed, 
 treated her more as a friend than a servant, and 
 I believe that Mary's natural resolution and serious, 
 determined nature soon dominated Miss Charlotte's 
 weaker character, and that in name only was pretty, 
 yellow-haired Miss Fairfax her mistress. 
 
 Indeed, 'twas this strong, determined nature of hers 
 that made Mary Broad go through so much future 
 misery with calm, unswerving fortitude for Will 
 Bryant- — as you will see before I come to the end 
 of this journal. 
 
 The Bryants were well known in Solcombe, 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY n 
 
 although they lived a few miles from the village. 
 They came of Irish folk, and were not much liked 
 in the neighbourhood, for the Isle of Wighters 
 thought that the Bryants, being Irishers, must be 
 in secret sympathy with the French, and, as was 
 natural and proper, we hated the French in those 
 days, and were active in showing it, too. Why, 
 I remember, long years afterwards, when there came 
 some fear of Bonaparte landing on the south coast 
 and conquering the country, and making us either 
 turn Papists or let our throats be cut, we formed 
 volunteer companies — that is, we served without pay 
 — to defend the island. There is a story that one day 
 a poor monkey that some sailor had brought home 
 from foreign parts was given by him to an innkeeper 
 in payment for his score. The creature escaped, 
 and was captured late at night somewhere near 
 Shanklin, by some ignorant rustics, and hanged in 
 the belief that the poor animal was a French spy. 
 Of course this story may not be true, and I have 
 my doubts about it ; but, however that may be, we 
 were very jealous in our hatred of the French, and, 
 indeed, of people who were suspected of having 
 sympathy with them, and the Isle of Wight rustics, 
 to the present day, are very ignorant. Fortunately, 
 the Bryants were Protestants, and, by reason of 
 this, were not so much suspected and disliked as 
 they would have been had they been Papists, and 
 just at this particular time we did not happen to 
 
12 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 be quite so bitter against the French, and had not 
 the fear of Bonaparte attempting a landing as we 
 had later on. 
 
 The Bryant family, father, mother and two sons, 
 were either always smuggling or poaching, and the 
 eldest son, William — the only one who has anything 
 to do with this narrative — was the most notorious and 
 daring smuggler on the island. He pretended to get 
 his living as a waterman plying between Ryde and 
 Portsmouth, but precious little work he did in that 
 way. But — and this galled my jealous mind greatly 
 — he had served a commission in a king's ship at one 
 time, and had been one of a cutting-out party which 
 captured a big French privateer belonging to St Malo, 
 as she lay at anchor off the French coast. Many a 
 yarn he would tell of his adventures, and this and his 
 fine figure and great strength made him very popular 
 with men and women both. And then, besides, he 
 was a man ever free with his money, and I believe 
 that this had much to do with the hold he gained upon 
 the affections of Mary Broad. 
 
 One autumn afternoon in the year 1786, I was 
 walking moodily along the ledge of one of the high 
 cliffs, looking out seawards and thinking what I would 
 give to be the captain of a frigate that was in sight 
 bowling down Channel before a nine-knot breeze, 
 when, as I turned my eyes landward again, I saw 
 Mary coming towards me. 
 
 'Ah,' thought I, 'to be Captain William Dew, 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 13 
 
 R.N., and to have Mary to wife ! What more 
 could man desire ? ' and then I hastened towards 
 her. 
 
 I saw by the turn of her eye that she was not over 
 pleased to see me, for she made as if to walk away 
 in the other direction, but I hastened towards her, and, 
 seeing this, she waited for me. 
 
 ' Are you frightened of me, or do you dislike me so 
 much that you cannot even stop to speak to me, 
 Mary ? ' I asked ; and the figure of Will Bryant 
 being in my mind made me speak somewhat wrath- 
 fully. 
 
 ' Frightened, indeed ! William Dew,' quoth she, and 
 her black eyes flashed and sparkled angrily, 'a nice 
 goose I should be to be frightened of a big boy like you.' 
 
 'Well, do you dislike me ? And if I am but a big 
 boy, you need not turn away because you happen to 
 see me.' 
 
 ' No, I don't dislike you. Why should I ? But 
 frightened, indeed ! ' and again she tossed her pretty 
 little head, and drew tighter over her shoulders her 
 scarlet cloak. 'Girls like me are not frightened at 
 over-grown boys who spend their days following their 
 father's plough, drink skim milk instead of good 
 honest ale, and are regular ninnies.' 
 
 Now, to be called ia ninny angered me, so I answered 
 sharply that even if I was a ninny and followed my 
 father's plough, it ' was better than smuggling and only 
 pretending to work.' 
 
14 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 Her white teeth shone from between her bright 
 red lips in a scornful smile. ' Oh, you are very honest, 
 I daresay ; but if I were a man I wouldn't be such 
 a coward as to be frightened to help land a cargo ; 
 at anyrate, I wouldn't stop all my life idling about a 
 little village. I'd go and see the world like — ' 
 
 ' Like Lieutenant Fairfax, and come back with gold 
 lace on my coat and make love to my sister's pretty 
 maid.' 
 
 * No, I don't mean Mr Fairfax, and I am sure, if 
 I did, it would be no business of yours. I was going to 
 say like Will Bryant. So don't be so sharp, Mr Dew.' 
 
 This was the way we always talked when we had 
 met lately, for I was very jealous ; but I was no 
 match for her at talking, and where, indeed, is the 
 man who can match himself against a woman when 
 the tongue is the weapon ? 
 
 Of course, you will understand that in such a small 
 place as Solcombe, everyone knew his neighbour's 
 business, and the women folk of our village were ever 
 ready to tell stories of one another ; but 'tis the same 
 everywhere, even in London. However, be that as 
 it may, it was the regular talk of the village that 
 young Mr Fairfax had been seen more than once 
 making love to his sister's maid, and, though everyone 
 supposed he was only idling, yet they all said that 
 Mary took him seriously. Now, since those days, 
 I have seen much of the world, and I do not think 
 that one should always believe what women say of one 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 15 
 
 another, especially where men^s names are mentioned; 
 but yet, at that time, I did suffer much mental tribula- 
 tion as to whether Mary cared for the lieutenant as 
 well as for Will Bryant — for of Will I did think she 
 thought over much, and so, indeed, did others besides 
 me, for the village folk said that Will had gained her 
 heart, and that she only tolerated the lieutenant until 
 the handsome young smuggler was ready to take her 
 to his home. 
 
 When first Mary went to the Manor House, she 
 had walked out with me more than once and given 
 me some slight encouragement, but it only lasted a 
 week or two, until Will Bryant came along, and then 
 I saw my chance of gaining her heart was very doubt- 
 ful. Pretty Miss Charlotte Fairfax, as I afterwards 
 learned, had much to do with this, for she was always 
 telling Mary what a fine, brave fellow this dare-devil 
 Bryant was, and how it was a great thing for so young 
 a man to have spitted two French privateersmen, one 
 after another, as he had done, when they cut out the 
 St Malo privateer. And, truth to say, it was no 
 wonder the women admired him, for he was a big, 
 strapping, handsome man, and, for his skill in a boat, 
 exceeded by no man on the island. 
 
 But I was resolved that afternoon to have it out 
 with Mary ; and so, presently, I went on, ' You must 
 forgive me, Mary, but I can't bear to see you so 
 friendly with a man whose father holds his head so 
 high as old Squire Fairfax. You know that nothing 
 
1 6 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 can ever come of it — the old Squire would never 
 allow it; and, Mary, dear, I can't bear to think of 
 the unkind things people are sure to say if they see 
 you together so often.' 
 
 ' Well, I am sure, William Dew ! How dare you 
 preach to me in such a way, as if I were some silly 
 child ? ' 
 
 ' Mary, you know why I talk to you so. You 
 know I love you dearly. If, when you gave me 
 the cold shoulder for the sake of Will Bryant, I had 
 thought he was worthy of you, I would have broken 
 my heart before I would have spoken as I have done ; 
 but now that you speak as if you had thrown him 
 over, as you threw me over for him, just because this 
 gold-laced dandy has chosen to play with you, I must 
 speak to you and speak for your good.' 
 
 She- took a step forward and her eyes danced and 
 sparkled with angry fire. 'William Dew, I will 
 never speak to you as long as I live. I will never 
 forgive you your impudence. Love me, indeed ! 
 Throw you over, indeed ! Why, you silly, loutish 
 goose, I never thought anything of you ! You clod- 
 hopping milksop, Will Bryant is worth a dozen 
 of you ! Go away like he has done and fight for 
 your country, and try to come home and say that you, 
 too, cut down two bigger men than yourself, as he 
 has done, then you can have something to talk 
 about ; and if you don't come back with a gold-laced 
 coat, you can, at anyrate, be thought a man. No girl 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 17 
 
 with any spirit wants to talk to you now. So now, 
 William Dew ! ' and she turned away with a truly 
 fierce look upon her handsome face. 
 
 ' One word, Mary. Would you think better of me 
 if I volunteered and served a commission in the Ser- 
 vice ? Do you think I should have any chance 
 when I came back ? ' 
 
 'As to chances, William Dew, I sha'n't say any- 
 thing, because a girl don't know her mind for long, 
 you know ; but if even you had the courage to be 
 a man and see the world, why, of course, everyone 
 would think a great deal more of you.' 
 
 Then Mary turned her head and walked away, and 
 left me to ponder on her words. Those words led 
 to most of my misfortunes, for though, poor girl ! 
 I know now she only meant them to give me some 
 sort of proper spirit, I took them as an encourage- 
 ment of another kind, and forthwith resolved to try 
 and be a man more to her liking. And, as I have 
 said before, this led to my undoing. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 I AM PERSUADED BY WILL BRYANT TO BECOME 
 A MAN OF METTLE 
 
 I had now quite determined to enlist in the army or 
 join the navy at the very first opportunity that presented 
 itself, for the taunting words of Mary Broad had more 
 than ever inflamed my mind in the matter. And so 
 that I might become something of a man of the world, 
 and rub off some of my rustic simplicity, I began to 
 spend my evenings in the ale-houses near Solcombe j 
 and study the loud talk and manners of those that 
 frequented them. 
 
 One evening I was in a tavern at Ryde where I 
 met Will Bryant. We fell a-talking, and in a while 
 our talk came round to Mary Broad. Although I was 
 so jealous of Bryant, he was such a big, good-natured, 
 if idle and dissolute, fellow, that I could not feel very 
 bitter towards him, and the pint or two of ale that he 
 gave me to drink made my tongue somewhat loose. 
 He understood how the land lay with me, and so far 
 from resenting my admiration for his dark-eyed sweet- 
 heart, he seemed to feel a pity for me. Perhaps this 
 18 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 19 
 
 was because he regarded me but as an over-grown boy, 
 and so, after some little talk, we grew confidential, 
 and before we parted had become quite friendly. 
 
 It came about in this way. Will asked me if I had 
 seen Mary of late, ' For,' said he, with a good-natured 
 smile, ' she may have taken more kindly to you this 
 last week or two. I "know that the wench has 
 deserted me for a long while.' 
 
 Then, all the while in a great fear lest I should 
 rouse his temper and feel the weight of his hand and 
 lead to mischief between him and the other, I told him 
 how Mary was carrying on with young Fairfax. 
 
 He leaned back and squared his great chest and 
 laughed heartily, and said, ' Oh, I know what the jade 
 is after. I don't mind that a bit. Young Fairfax 
 is as honest a gentleman as ever lived, and, look you, 
 William Dew,' and there came a curious look in his 
 eye, ' Mary is as good a girl as is in the world. 'Tis 
 only harmless fun they are having, though I know that 
 Master Fairfax really fancies himself in love with the 
 girl and would marry her to-morrow morning if he 
 could get to windward of the old man and talk him 
 into giving his consent. And that he is as likely to 
 get as I am to get the command of a seventy-four. 
 But Mary amuses herself with him, no doubt, by saying 
 she'll marry him when the Squire consents.' 
 
 'But don't you think — ' I began, when he inter- 
 rupted me. 
 
 'I don't think anything, William, my lad. The 
 
20 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 girl, when she is tired of the game and when he's off 
 to sea again, will come back to me once more all right. 
 She's only backing and filling like this for a purpose. 
 I'm in no hurry, but, anyhow, it makes no difference. 
 When I'm ready I shall go and fetch her and marry 
 her, although some people would as lief she married 
 the devil, I believe.' 
 
 His easy, confident manner quite dashed my hopes 
 to the ground, for he was such a masterful fellow, and 
 I had seen before this what a great influence he had 
 over her that I felt he was right, and he could marry 
 the girl whenever he had a mind to it. 
 
 ' But, William,' he went on, ' she's a good girl, and 
 when I do marry her, I'll give her a proper home, and 
 that I haven't got yet. I like my freedom and so does 
 she, and we are in no hurry.' 
 
 'You take it coolly. I wish I had your chance, 
 Will Bryant. I'd willingly give up my freedom,' I 
 answered with some bitterness. 
 
 ' Never mind, my lad. Your turn will come some 
 day, and you'll find a maid who will make as good a 
 wife as Mary, only don't look so down in the mouth. 
 Why don't you take a trip to sea and have a look at 
 the world ? Why, lad, I don't believe that you have 
 ever been further than Portsmouth in your life.' 
 
 ' You are right, Will. I have seen nothing of life, 
 and I have been no further than to Portsmouth two 
 or three times and to Southampton once. It is not 
 everyone that can get away in a king's ship and cut 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 21 
 
 out a French privateer as you have done. I would 
 much-like to get a run with some ship to the Indies, 
 but I don't want to join the Merchant Service, and 
 even if I did, there are few merchantmen about these 
 parts, and no captain would care to ship me with so 
 many sailors and fishermen to be had for their 
 money.' 
 
 ' Save us ! Then why don't you get to learn some- 
 thing in that way ? Come about with us a bit and 
 learn to be handy in a boat. That would be better 
 than following the plough tail and milking the cows 
 all your life.' 
 
 By this time we had had another pint of ale and I 
 was quiet pot valiant. 
 
 ' I would he glad enough to do so,' I said, ' but I 
 am very awkward in a boat, and would only be soundly 
 rated for a fool if you had me in yours.' 
 
 ' Look here, William, my lad, if you like you can 
 help us without going into a boat. There is a little 
 cargo to be landed not far from Solcombe Bay, and if 
 you are a lad of mettle and care to give us a hand with 
 it, you'll have a chance to pick up a trifle of pocket 
 money, as well as a little experience, that will help to 
 make a man of you.' 
 
 ' Ah, Will,' I said, ' I know what you mean, but I 
 don't want to mix myself up in any smuggling.' 
 
 ' Why not ? ' he said earnestly. ' Your own father is 
 one of the buyers of French brandy when it is landed. 
 Why, even Squire Fairfax himself is not above buying 
 
22 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 the goods, so long as we are willing to take the risk of 
 landing them.' 
 
 And so it was by clever speeches like this that Will 
 Bryant led me to take part in my first and last smuggl- 
 ing adventure — that is, the last adventure in which I 
 played the part of a smuggler, for it was not the last 
 in which I played a part. But of that hereafter. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE EVIL THAT BEFEL ME IN FOLLOWING 
 BAD ADVICE 
 
 So, a couple of nights later, according to a pot-valiant 
 promise I had made him, I met Will Bryant about a 
 mile from Solcombe, on a lonely spot near the water's 
 edge. It was a very dark night, and though there 
 was no wind, the breakers were showing white in the 
 darkness as they dashed against the high cliffs on either 
 side of the bay on the sandy beach of which we stood 
 looking out to sea. We had come to look out for a 
 lugger, and give her the signal that the coast was clear, 
 and Will Bryant had for this purpose a horn lantern 
 concealed under his oilskin coat. 
 
 In all conscience, I was very frightened, for I 
 dreaded that, silent and dark as it was, some of the 
 Preventive men might be about, and that I should be 
 caught in this my first attempt to cheat His Majesty 
 the King. 
 
 Presently my companion said, ' It must be nearly 
 twelve o'clock, William. Stay you here while I go 
 up on the cliff with the lantern. I can see the boat 
 
 23 
 
24 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 from there when she comes near. Now, if you hear 
 the slightest sound or see a figure moving about, just 
 walk away quietly up the path and tell me. If any- 
 one should speak to you, answer loudly, so that I can 
 hear, and then I should know that I must warn the 
 lads off. I shall be just above your head on the cliff, 
 lying down, and can hear anything.' 
 
 I answered in a whisper that I would do as he told 
 me, and then away he went up the path which led to 
 the top of the cliff, and left me standing, half-frightened 
 out of my wits and peering out into the darkness. 
 
 I must have stood like this but two or three minutes, 
 which seemed many hours, when I heard what sounded 
 like muffled footsteps as they trod upon the soft sand, 
 and the sound seemed to come from the path by which 
 Will Bryant had just ascended. I turned and moved 
 away a few paces, thinking that he had come back to 
 give me some more directions. 
 
 In an instant, and before I had time to realise what 
 had befallen me, I was seized by the arms, a cloak was 
 thrown over my head and my legs were knocked from 
 under me. 
 
 ' Ram some of that oakum into his mouth and run 
 him through if he attempts to move,' said someone in 
 a whisper. 
 
 * Ay, ay, sir. He's quiet enough,' answered another 
 voice. 
 
 I knew what had happened, and I take pleasure to 
 remember that, frightened as I was, my first thought 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 25 
 
 was of Bryant and what he would think of me. 
 Would he think I had betrayed him into the hands 
 of the Preventive Service, for they were the Preventive 
 Service, I knew ? 
 
 But I had no cause to fear that. ' Drag him into 
 the cave, and you, Ned Bolt, stand over him with your 
 cutlass,' said the officer. ' You, Southgate, go up on 
 the cliff and tell the others to bring the other bird 
 down. Keep both of them gagged, and don't make 
 a noise.' 
 
 And then, with cruel roughness, I was dragged into 
 one of several small caves higher up the beach, and 
 soon there came more footsteps and the sound of men 
 struggling with an awkward burden, and Will Bryant 
 was half-dragged, half-carried down the path, and then 
 thrown into the cave beside me. 
 
 'Mr Belton, you go up on the cliff with that 
 lantern, and as soon as you see the boat show the 
 light three times in quick succession. When they 
 run her up on the beach, if they hail, just answer "All 
 well," and then come down and lend us a hand ; we 
 shall want every man.' 
 
 Then I heard Mr Belton walk off, and thought 
 fearfully of what was next likely to happen to me. 
 
 The officer give some more orders to his men, and 
 then lit another lantern with his tinder box, and told 
 them to take the cloaks off the prisoners and the gag 
 from my mouth, so that he might have a look at us. 
 
 In the dim light I could see about a dozen Pre- 
 
26 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 ventive Service men standing near with their hangers 
 drawn and pistols ready, and poor Will Bryant lay on 
 his back with a lump of oakum crammed into his 
 mouth for a gag, and his arms and legs lashed to keep 
 him from struggling. 
 
 As the light fell upon his pale and bleeding features, 
 he turned his eyes toward me with such a deadly look 
 of hatred in them that struck fear into my heart ; but 
 it lasted for but a moment when he saw that I too lay 
 bound and gagged, and then his glance softened, and I 
 knew he felt sorry he had led me into such a sore 
 predicament. 
 
 ' Hullo ! ' said the officer, holding the lantern over 
 our faces, 'I know the pair of you, but I never 
 expected to catch you at this game, young Dew. I 
 thought you were a regular psalm-singing, young 
 clodhopper.' 
 
 ' It's the first time, lieutenant, I swear it's the first 
 time,' I said tremblingly, for I knew the officer, who 
 was a great, stout man, and quite friendly with my 
 father. 
 
 ' Oh, of course. But don't pipe your eye about it ; 
 you won't be thought any the more of for whining. 
 As for the other fellow, I know you, Will Bryant, 
 and by the Lord Harry you'll catch it this time ! I've 
 wanted you for a long while, my lad ; you're a regular 
 out-and-outer at the game.' 
 
 'You'll choke the man, sir,' I said beginning to 
 weep. ' Take the gag out of his mouth.' 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 27 
 
 ' No fear of that, my pious young friend ; he'll be 
 choked in another way. If I took the gag out, he'd 
 sing out to the boat, which can't be far off now.' I 
 know him too well for that ; ' and with that he turned 
 on his heel and went out of the cave. 
 
 Presently, he came back hurriedly and spoke hastily 
 in an undertone to his men, and all save one followed 
 him to the beach. The light in the cave had been 
 put out before this and my eyes had grown accustomed 
 to the darkness, and so I could see the bundle in the 
 further end of the cave which I knew to be Will 
 Bryant, as well as the face of the man who stood 
 between him and myself with his drawn cutlass. 
 
 'Look here, youngster,' said he, 'take my advice 
 and keep quiet or I'll run you through the first time 
 you as much as wink your eye, and I'd be sorry to 
 have to do it, for you're a young fellow, and I daresay 
 you've got a mother.' 
 
 I began a reply, when he stopped me with a quick 
 movement of his cutlass, as a hoarse voice from the 
 cliff cried 'All well.' 
 
 Then I heard the grating of the boat's bottom as 
 she was run up on the sandy beach, and the gruff 
 whispers of the crew. The next moment the voice 
 of the lieutenant rang sharply out on the still air, — 
 ' Surrender, you are my prisoners ! ' 
 
 A yell of rage was the reply. Then came the clash 
 of steel and several pistol shots, curses and oaths, and 
 the sounds of a deadly struggle, and I lay and trembled 
 
28 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 and wondered how many were killed, and thought of 
 what my father would say when he heard of it all on 
 the morrow, and knew that his son was mixed up in 
 such a terrible affair. 
 
 The fight did not last more than a few seconds, but 
 to me, lying bound and helpless, it seemed hours. 
 Then came footsteps and lights again, and a procession 
 of the officers and their prisoners entered the cave. 
 
 There were only eight of them altogether, and they 
 were far outnumbered by the Preventive Service men, 
 who had wounded three or four of them slightly, while 
 more than one of their captors was rubbing his head 
 or tying up an arm or a leg, for the smugglers were 
 not the men to be taken without giving hard knocks. 
 
 But the affray was nothing serious, and no one was 
 hurt very much, although, to my unaccustomed eyes 
 and ears, a most desperate and bloody battle had been 
 fought. 
 
 The smugglers came into the cave cursing and 
 swearing that they had been betrayed, and declaring 
 that Will Bryant was the betrayer ; but when they 
 caught sight of him lying on the ground, bound hand 
 and foot, they understood the wrong they did him. 
 
 Presently the officer ordered us to be ironed, and the 
 gag was removed from poor Bryant's mouth. The 
 first words he uttered were in my defence, and greatly 
 endeared him to my mind at the time. 
 
 'You have caught us this time sure enough, Mr 
 Lieutenant,' he said, 'but that boy has had nothing 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 29 
 
 to do with it. I brought him with me for the first 
 time, and he did not know what was going on.' 
 
 Then another of the smugglers broke in — a man 
 who, when they had first been brought in, had had his 
 face covered with his neck-cloth to staunch the blood 
 flowing from a wound he had received in the fight. 
 His name was Peter Collis, a near neighbour of ours 
 at Solcombe, and a good-for-nothing fellow. 
 
 ' What was Dew doing on the beach ? ' he said. 
 ' He must have played the spy.' And several of the 
 others cried out, ' Yes, yes, he's the informer.' 
 
 I was about to angrily protest my innocence of such 
 base conduct when I caught Bryant's eye, and I saw 
 it would advantage me to say nothing. 
 
 The lieutenant now ordered us to stow our jaw 
 tackles and keep what we had to say for the magis- 
 trates, and then we were ordered to march. The guard 
 fell in on either side of us with drawn cutlasses in their 
 hands, and we were escorted to a guard-house near 
 Newport, where we were lodged for the remainder 
 of the night, and of all my companions, I think I 
 suffered the greatest misery. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 I MAKE A START IN THE WORLD HONESTLY, AND 
 MARY BROAD PROVES HER LOVE FOR WILL BRYANT 
 
 I will not relate in detail all the fear and grief that 
 fell upon me at finding myself a prisoner on such 
 a dreadful charge — as it was to my mind — of ob- 
 structing the King's Revenue Officers in their duty, 
 and the sorrow and shame of my father at finding 
 me in such a perilous situation. 
 
 On the morning after our capture, we were all 
 marched, handcuffed in pairs, into Newport, and 
 lodged in the market-place, to be examined by the 
 magistrate. Before entering the magistrate's room, 
 I was taken away separately by one of the Pre- 
 ventive Service men to another room, where my 
 father awaited me. 
 
 Meanwhile, the others were taken before the 
 magistrates — Squire Fairfax and our parson — the 
 latter a gentleman who was especially dreaded by 
 any smuggler that happened to be brought before 
 him, as he was a very harsh man, though he loved 
 the brandy that was smuggled well enough. Indeed, 
 so red was his nose, that the fisher-folk used to say 
 30 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 31 
 
 that it was as good as a riding-light on a dark 
 night. Well, to make a long story short, the eight 
 of them were committed for trial at the next Win- 
 chester Assizes. 
 
 As for the talk I had with my father, it was but 
 little. His reproaches stung me so keenly that I 
 could not, for my life, attempt to say much, and 
 was glad when I was marched out again, though 
 sadly ashamed to be had up like a common thief 
 before the Squire and parson. Yet it was most 
 lucky for me that it was Squire Fairfax, for father 
 had seen him that morning, and, whatever it was 
 that passed between them, it made things easier for 
 me. Mr Sharpe, the great Newport attorney, had 
 been engaged by my father to appear and say what 
 there was to say on my behalf. 
 
 So he just told the magistrates the truth about 
 the matter, and William Bryant was called for. 
 Will came in, and in a very honest manner took 
 all the blame upon himself for having led me astray, 
 and the Squire gave him a severe talking to for his 
 behaviour. Then Mr Fairfax, taking a pinch of 
 snuff, turned to me and said, — 
 
 'I understand, my lad, that you have got mixed 
 up with these law-breakers in a laudable desire to 
 learn something besides following the plough — though 
 that, indeed, is honest labour — in order that you might 
 be of some service to your King and country. I am 
 told that you are anxious to serve His Majesty — 
 
32 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 God bless him ! — and on my making that known to 
 the King's officer, who laid you by the heels last 
 night, I found that he is not anxious to press the 
 charge against you, and so, the sooner you make 
 up your mind, and volunteer for service, the better 
 it will be for you. As for your fellow-prisoners, 
 they were caught in very different circumstances, 
 and it has' been our duty to deal very differently 
 with such villains.' 
 
 This was a surprise to me, and I muttered some- 
 think, by way of thanks, in reply and left the room. 
 My father followed me out, and in a broken voice 
 said, — 
 
 'Well, William, you have your wish, and now 
 you can take yourself off from the old place as soon 
 as you have a mind to it.' 
 
 'What does he mean, and how has it all come 
 about ? ' I asked. 
 
 And then father explained that he had told the 
 Preventive Officer who had captured us, and Squire 
 Fairfax as well, that I was mad to go soldiering 
 or sailoring, land that this inclination had got me 
 into this scrape. 
 
 Then young Lieutenant Fairfax, who was present 
 at the time, remarked, — 'Well, if the boy wants to 
 go and make a man of himself, let him go, and I'll 
 get him enlisted into my company and keep, an eye 
 upon him.' 
 
 ' Well,' said the Preventive Officer, ' I won't stand 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 33 
 
 in his way, and won't press the charge, if Bryant 
 gives evidence confirming his story, and if he likes 
 to join the Marines, why, the Squire can acquit 
 him, and the Squire's son can enlist him, and there's 
 an end of it.' 
 
 A week later, and I had taken a sad farewell of 
 my .father and his sister — my Aunt Dorothy, who 
 kept house for him — and was on my way to Ports- 
 mouth in a wherry to join the Marine depot. Miser- 
 able enough I felt, I can tell you, as I stepped into 
 the boat in charge of a red-headed, but good-tempered, 
 corporal, who, all the way from Solcombe to Ryde, 
 where we embarked, tried to improve my spirits by 
 telling me stories of the practical jokes played by 
 his comrades on recruits, and warning me to take all 
 in good part, unless I was one who was free with 
 my hands. 
 
 My recollections of those days in barracks, and 
 all that befell me, are few j but, nothing that did 
 occur there had any influence on my after life. I 
 was not wanting in intelligence, and, indeed, though 
 'tis I who say it, I was something of a better sort 
 than the young men then enlisting. Thus I soon 
 got out of the awkward squad, and was reported as 
 drilled and fit for duty. 
 
 We were then quartered in Weevil Barracks, 
 and Lieutenant Fairfax had returned to duty at 
 the same time as I had joined my regiment, or 
 rather division. The Marines were in divisions, and, 
 
 c 
 
34 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 of course, I belonged to the Portsmouth Division, 
 and, by Mr Fairfax's influence, I was drafted into 
 his company. He was a most honourable and 
 generous man, and everything that he could do to 
 encourage me to learn my duty he did, and did 
 in such kindly fashion as made me deeply grateful 
 to him, and anxious to do credit to his teaching. 
 
 While I lay in barracks learning to be a soldier, 
 or rather a Marine — for there is all the difference 
 between them, let me tell you — the smugglers were 
 tried at Winchester Assizes, and were all of them, 
 excepting poor Will Bryant, sentenced to five years 
 in prison. But Will, because he received a bad 
 character, was given a sentence of seven years. I 
 thought a good deal of poor Mary Broad when I 
 heard of this, for, said I to myself, the poor girl 
 will be greatly upset at such woful news for her ; 
 but then I took comfort ; and, if the truth was 
 known, was rather glad at heart, as I thought, silly 
 fool that I was, that this gave me a chance still 
 to win her when I came back covered with glory 
 from my first campaign and talking about foreign 
 places and storming parties and the like. 
 
 But all these hopes were doomed to bitter dis- 
 appointment, for the next news I heard of Mary 
 proved how little I understood the great courage 
 and affection that lay in her heart for Will Bryant. 
 
 One day Lieutenant Fairfax sent for me to his 
 quarters, and I went there somewhat fluttered, for, 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 35 
 
 though this young Gentleman, by his kind and con- 
 descending manner to me, had so won my heart that 
 he was to my mind as great a man as a general, 
 he was yet so stern when he had to find fault that 
 I cannot truly say whether the men of his company 
 feared or loved him most. 
 
 'Come in, Dew,' said he, as I stood at the door 
 and saluted. ' Have you heard anything lately of 
 Mary Broad, my sister's maid ? I think you were 
 a little sweet in that direction, eh, my lad ? ' 
 
 'No, sir,' I answered, with a great redness com- 
 ing to my face ; ' I think Mary is a good girl, and 
 I hope she is doing her duty in the Squire's service.' 
 
 'Well, I have some news that will surprise you. 
 Three or four days ago Bryant made a determined 
 attempt to escape from Winchester Gaol, and Mary, 
 who had previously disappeared from the Manor 
 House without leaving any message or clue as to 
 where she was going, has been caught in helping 
 the lusty smuggler out of gaol.' 
 
 This news staggered me, indeed, but I could scarcely 
 believe Mary would try such a dangerous thing as this, 
 and so, with all due respect, I ventured to tell the 
 lieutenant. 
 
 'All the same,' says he, ' 'tis true. She got into 
 the prison by bribing one of the warders and tell- 
 ing him that she was Bryant's sister, and she smuggled 
 in a rope and all sorts of gear, and just as the plot 
 was ripe and they were about to get away, the 
 
36 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 whole thing was discovered, and the pair of them 
 are now by the heels.' 
 
 ' This is very bad, sir,' I managed to say. ' What 
 will be done to her do you think, sir ? ' 
 
 ' Hang 'em both, like as not, I am sorry to say.' 
 
 ' Great heavens, sir ! they'll surely not hang the 
 woman. She is only a girl as yet, sir.' 
 
 'Hang 'em they will though, Dew, and although 
 I am an officer in the King's Service, and you are 
 only a private, and it's rank blasphemy to say so, 
 I wish to the Lord they'd escaped and got clean 
 away. Look you, Dew, Will Bryant is a devilish 
 fine fellow, too good to be hanged, and the girl — 
 well, the girl is too good for him. That will do, 
 Dew, I have nothing more to say to you.' 
 
 There was a tear in my officer's eye as he said 
 the last words, and turned away from me. As for 
 me, I was too completely upset to feel anything but 
 a dull sense that glory was of no use to me now, 
 and so I went away to the barrack-room, and, lying 
 down on my cot, turned my face to the wall and 
 cried like the boy I was, heedless of the coarse jests 
 and laughter of my comrades. 
 
 And for many a day after that the image of sweet 
 Mary Broad was in my mind, until again I longed 
 for nothing so much as active service, and for the 
 time when I should meet that French or Spanish 
 bullet whose billet would be my poor, wretched self.' 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 I MEET WITH A STARTLING ADVENTURE 
 
 The Portsmouth Division of Marines, to which I was 
 attached, among its other duties was called upon to 
 furnish a guard to assist the Portsmouth Preventive 
 Service in guarding the long line of beach from South- 
 sea Castle on the east to Gilkicker Point on the west, 
 and from these points the chain of sentries was con- 
 tinued right along the coast by men furnished from 
 the regiments stationed in this district. I was very 
 glad I was not stationed at Gilkicker, for 'twas at 
 this very place that Jack the Painter was hanged in 
 chains for setting fire to Portsmouth Dockyard, and 
 his remains still swung from the gibbet at the time 
 of which I write. 
 
 The ground covered by the Marines — who were 
 posted each one about a mile apart — covered a distance 
 of more than ten miles or so, and what with this, and 
 the many other guards required in a garrison town 
 like Portsmouth, it fell to my lot very often to spend 
 a solitary four hours on the look-out for smugglers — 
 doing ' sentry go ' as they call it in the Service. It 
 
 37 
 
38 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 was on an occasion like this that an event befell me 
 which changed the whole course of my life. 
 
 It was on a night in December, 1786, that I was 
 stationed as a sentry on the beach. My sentry-box 
 was fixed about five hundred yards east of Southsea 
 Castle, and the dark outline of its walls, though such 
 a distance away, seemed to tower directly over my 
 head. In those days sentries were only relieved every 
 four hours on this particular duty, and visits from the 
 officer of the guard were infrequent and irregular. 
 My post — that is to say, the space of ground which I 
 was supposed to cover — extended over a walk of about 
 two hundred and fifty yards on each side of my 
 sentry-box. 
 
 It was a pouring wet night, and the wind blew in 
 fierce, bitter-cold gusts, and when I marched out to 
 relieve my comrade at ten o'clock until two o'clock 
 next morning, I had it in my mind to pass those 
 weary hours in the shelter of my sentry-box. The 
 post was not an important one, and the Preventive 
 "Service was supposed to do all the watching for the 
 smugglers, while the Marines were only provided as 
 a chain of sentries to assist the revenue officers when 
 called upon. At least, that was the way in which 
 we used to look at it, and mighty vexed we were at 
 being employed upon such work. 
 
 When the sergeant marched me up to the post 
 and the sentry going off had duly ported arms at the 
 sentry going on duty, and we had mumbled over the 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 39 
 
 order for the night, I was unpleasantly reminded of 
 my duty, for, said the sergeant, turning to me, ' Look 
 here, my fine fellow, see that you keep your eyes 
 open to-night. We have heard that an attempt is 
 likely to be made to run a cargo somewhere between 
 here and Hayling Island. If you see a boat touch 
 the beach, don't be in a hurry to challenge. Just let 
 them get the cargo out of her, and keep you quiet. 
 Then don't challenge, but fire, and call the attention 
 of the guard.' 
 
 Our main guard was inside the gate at Southsea 
 Castle, and I saw that if the smugglers did succeed in 
 landing their cargo anywhere near my post, that, even 
 if they got off" themselves, the cargo would certainly 
 be seized by the revenue officers. But then, I thought, 
 it was scarcely likely that smugglers would choose 
 a landing-place so near the Castle, where they knew 
 our main guard was stationed. However, I made 
 up my mind to keep wide-awake, and resolutely 
 paced my five hundred yards, often fancying I heard, 
 through the steadily-increasing howling of the wind 
 and the stinging showers of rain any number of 
 boats rowing in towards the shore, but never finding 
 these alarms anything more than imagination. 
 
 At midnight I was visited by the sergeant making 
 his rounds, and reported all well. The two hours 
 that had already gone by seemed to me more than 
 a whole night, and, after the sergeant was out of 
 sight and hearing, I stood up for rest and shelter in 
 
4© A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 my box, and a moment or two later was straining 
 my ears and thinking, 'Surely that is the splash of 
 oars.' 
 
 Yes, this time I was right. It was high water, 
 and the waves now plashed up to within a few yards 
 of my feet. Between the gusts of wind and rain, I 
 could distinctly hear the sound of oars. I carefully 
 re-primed my musket and decided to remain inside 
 the box to keep the priming dry, and wait, as the 
 sergeant had directed me, until, if this was the 
 smuggling party, they should have had ample time 
 to get the cargo out. 
 
 In a few moments I heard the boat ground on the 
 beach, and fancied that I also heard voices in an 
 undertone j then the boat shoved off again — I could 
 hear that quite plainly. Presently, I heard the foot- 
 steps of one person on the shingle, and, before I had 
 time to bring my musket to the present, a voice 
 said, — 
 
 ' Don't sing out, William, I have a message for 
 you.' 
 
 I knew the voice as that of a neighbour of ours 
 at Solcombe, and so for a moment my suspicions 
 were set at rest, but the next instant I remembered 
 that the man was a well-known smuggler, who only 
 by chance was not with the gang that was captured 
 when Will Bryant and his comrades were trapped, 
 and so I was on my guard again. 'What do you 
 want ? ' I asked. 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 41 
 
 'I bring you a message from Mary Broad and 
 Will Bryant.' 
 
 'What of them, and how do you come by a 
 message ? ' said I. 
 
 'Never mind how I came by the message, lad, 
 but they send their love to you and bid you farewell, 
 for 'tis likely you'll never see them again.' 
 
 ' What ! are they to be hanged, then ? Lieutenant 
 Fairfax told me his father was trying to get them 
 reprieved.' This was true, for Mr Fairfax and the 
 Parson and a number of the great people on the Isle 
 of Wight had been doing all they could to save the 
 poor creatures from death. 
 
 ' Oh, they're not going to be hanged, but they 
 will be sent to Botany Bay, and so, my lad, they 
 have sent their farewell to you.' 
 
 ' Dear, dear me, this is dreadful. Why, that is 
 worse than death. I've heard it said that it is more 
 than likely that those who are sent there will be 
 eaten by the cannibals if they are not starved to 
 death. But,' and again I began to remember that 
 he who spoke was a great rogue, 'why do you come 
 here at this time of night to tell me this ? Don't 
 you know that I might have shot you, or turned out 
 the guard, because, look you, I know you must be in 
 company with the smugglers that we are expecting ? ' 
 
 The man laughed. 'I know that,' said he, 'and 
 the boat I came in was the lugger's, sure enough, 
 but there will be no cargo landed to-night.' 
 
42 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 'Ah,' said I, with foolish vanity, 'we are too 
 clever for you, are we ? ' 
 
 ' Yes, we knew you were all on the alert, and so, 
 what with the bad weather and the danger from your 
 fellows, the lugger has put to sea again. I wanted 
 to come to Portsmouth, and so they landed me before 
 they ran out.' 
 
 'What, after the narrow escape that they had 
 when Will Bryant tried to run his cargo, are you 
 still risking your neck in this business ? ' 
 
 'No, that's just it. I ran over to the coast of 
 France and back in the vessel, because I had promised 
 to go this trip, but they have let me off now, and 
 I wash my hands of the whole lot.' 
 
 'Well, I'm right glad to hear it, and I hope 
 you'll take to something honest now.' 
 
 ' Yes, that I will, William, my lad ; but I won't 
 join the Marines and have to spend four hours on 
 a night like this on the beach.' 
 
 Presently I asked him how it was he knew where 
 to find me. 
 
 ' Oh,' says he, ' one of the hands on the lugger 
 — a spy of ours— said he had heard some of the 
 Marines say in the ale house that young Dew had 
 the first post west of the Castle, and I thought 
 I would get the boat to land me somewhere about 
 here so that I could give you poor Mary's -message. 
 Well, good-bye, William. But, here, I forgot. I've 
 got something here to keep out the cold and wet. 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 43 
 
 Take a pull ; ' and with this he handed me a flask of 
 spirits. 
 
 I took a drink, and I have some remembrance of 
 repeating the act more than once, but I recollect 
 nothing else that passed that night, and what happened 
 afterwards is best told in the words of the officer of 
 the guard. This is from his report : — 
 
 ' At two o'clock on the morning of December the 
 twenty-first, I went with Sergeant Brookes and two 
 privates to inspect the guard and relieve Private Dew, 
 at number one post, west side of Southsea Castle. 
 The night was very dark, and half a gale of wind was 
 blowing, with every now and then very fierce squalls of 
 rain. We could not find the sentry, and the sentry- 
 box had disappeared. There were many signs that a 
 landing had been made and a cargo run on the beach 
 at this post. Private Dew had been visited at mid- 
 night by the sergeant and all was then well. When 
 daylight came it showed, as was suspected, that the 
 smugglers were the cause of his disappearance. There 
 were marks of men and horses about the place, and 
 the shingle showed that more than one boat had been 
 run up on the beach, and heavy weights, such as casks, 
 had been rolled over it. For the rest of the night I 
 doubled the guard and continued the search for Private 
 Dew, but up to the present have found no traces of 
 him.' 
 
 This report was handed to the commanding officer 
 
44 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 early on the morning of the twenty-first. A few 
 hours later a dragoon orderly galloped into barracks 
 and handed to the colonel the following message : — 
 
 'At daylight this morning the sentry at number 
 eighteen post, near Gilkicker Point, saw an object 
 which looked like a sentry-box, on a small sand shoal 
 partially covered with water near the Mother Bank. 
 The officer of the guard sent off a boat with a 
 sergeant and two privates to inquire into the matter, 
 and in a short time the boat returned and brought 
 back Private Dew of the Marines and his sentry-box. 
 The man was in a half-dazed condition and is either 
 recovering from drink or from the effects of some 
 drug. He is unable to give any coherent account of 
 how he got on the Mother Bank. He is now a 
 prisoner at the fort, under charge of the surgeon.' 
 
 This was signed by the officer in charge of the 
 guard at Blockhouse Fort. 
 
 Well, to make a long story short, the smuggler 
 rogue had drugged me, and, until the surgeon brought 
 me to myself at Blockhouse Fort, I was ignorant 
 of all that had happened. 
 
 When I did come to, I was, in pursuance of the 
 Colonel's orders, marched off under an escort to the 
 Clink, as we soldiers called the military prison, and 
 there I remained for two days suffering much shame 
 in spirit, and an object of curiosity to the soldiers 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 45 
 
 who were my fellow-prisoners and to the men 
 who formed the prison guard. The fear of being 
 flogged, and perhaps shot, for deserting my post, and 
 the open gibes of my comrades, made those days live 
 long in my memory, and the lesson they gave me, 
 more than anything else, made strict attention to 
 duty, utterly regardless of private friends, my very first 
 consideration. And though no man ever escaped from 
 such a neglect of duty as lightly as I did, the fright I 
 had in those two days lasted me all my life in the 
 Service. 
 
 After some days, the colonel in command of the 
 Portsmouth Division of Marines sent for me, and I 
 was escorted to Weevil Barracks to be, as I thought, 
 tried by court-martial and flogged for deserting my 
 post. 
 
 The colonel was seated at a table with three or 
 four other officers, including the captain of my 
 company, and, to my great joy and comfort, for I knew 
 I had a friend in him, Lieutenant Fairfax. 
 
 I saluted and stood to attention, and the lieutenant 
 smiled encouragingly at me. 
 
 ' Now, my lad,' said the colonel, ' don't be 
 frightened. There's no need to let your hair stand 
 up like priming wires. Tell us the whole truth 
 about this affair, and I will do what I can for you. 
 Your captain says you have the making of a good 
 soldier in you, and you have a friend here in Lieutenant 
 Fairfax. I don't believe in flogging men who get 
 
ifi A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 into trouble through inexperience, and if you can 
 but show me some reason for leaving your post and 
 taking a cruise in your sentry-box and mounting a 
 new guard at the Mother Bank, miles from your post, 
 by George ' (and I saw the old fellow and the rest of 
 them trying hard to avoid laughing), 'why, I'll for- 
 give you.' 
 
 Then, with a shamed-faced air, I have no doubt, I 
 told them about the smuggler and my former acquaint- 
 ance with his sort, and asked Lieutenant Fairfax to 
 confirm my story that far, which he did, adding that 
 I was a mere inexperienced boy, that the scoundrels 
 had taken advantage of me, and then, like the kind- 
 hearted Gentleman he ever was, he added that he had 
 no doubt that this second lesson in the wickedness of 
 the smugglers would last me all my life. 
 
 ' That it will, gentlemen,' said I, my heart taking a 
 great leap of courage at his good words, ' for if ever I 
 drop across the rascal again it will go hard with 
 him.' 
 
 When they had questioned me fully as to the 
 manner of my being drugged, the colonel turned to 
 his fellow-officers. 
 
 'Well, gentlemen, it is plain that the lad was 
 drugged by this man, and that, when the drug had 
 taken effect upon his silly head, the smugglers ran 
 their cargo, and then, curse their impudence, out of 
 bravado carried away the sentry and his box in the 
 lugger and left him on the Mother Bank on their 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 47 
 
 way back to their haunts at the back of the Isle of 
 Wight, or the coast of France.' 
 
 'No doubt, sir, that is what did take place,' said 
 Lieutenant Fairfax ; ' and he had a narrow escape of 
 being drowned, for the tide often covers the spot by 
 several feet where they found him.' 
 
 ' Now, my lad,' continued the colonel, ' I will give 
 you a chance. This affair has got about. All the 
 garrison has heard of it, from the General downwards, 
 and everyone is looking to see you get a flogging, and 
 I'm not sure that you don't deserve it for being such a 
 fool. However, as I said, I'll give you a chance. We 
 want volunteers for the fleet now preparing to sail 
 for Botany Bay. Lieutenant Fairfax is one of the 
 officers of the Marine force going there, and he has 
 asked me to let you volunteer as one of the Marine 
 convict guard. I can't get our men to come 
 forward very readily, the frightened rascals, and 
 volunteer for the Service.' (And then aside to my 
 captain, 'And I'm hanged if I don't think they are 
 right.') But some of you must go. Now, if you will 
 volunteer cheerfully, I'll contrive to hush up this piece 
 of foolishness on your part. Come, what is it to be ? ' 
 
 Shame and grief at this ending to my ambition to 
 become a soldier brought the tears to my eyes, and I 
 hesitated for a moment and then thought of the 
 greater shame of the cat and triangles, and I 
 answered, — 
 
 ' Thank you, sir, for giving me the chance. I 
 
48 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 am sure your honour won't think the worse of me 
 being disappointed at losing the chance to serve in 
 foreign wars. I didn't join the Service to become a 
 gaoler.' 
 
 'Tut, tut, my lad, never mind, you'll get your 
 chance some day. Meanwhile, do your duty on this 
 service, and don't let these gaol birds make a fool of 
 you as easily as the smugglers • did. Release the 
 prisoner, and, Captain Weston, enter Dew's name on 
 the list of volunteers for the Sirius.' 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 I AM AGAIN FOOLED BY THE SMUGGLERS 
 
 The First Fleet, as the Expedition was soon after 
 named, was now all assembled and lying off the Mother 
 Bank, that shoal in the Solent on which I had been 
 left by the smugglers when they played their scurvy 
 trick. 
 
 The Fleet was expected to sail in a day after the day 
 I had joined the Sirius, and little leisure was given me 
 to say farewell to my father and the Solcombe folks ; 
 so I wrote a few lines wishing them good-bye, sent 
 the letter over to the island by a Ryde fisherman 
 and settled down to my duty. 
 
 When I was rated on board the Sirius on Monday 
 the sixth of May, 1787 — a date ever to be remembered 
 by me — I was astonished at the great state of con- 
 fusion upon her decks. Everything was so vastly 
 different to all I had heard of the neatness and clean- 
 ness of a ship of war, but all this arose from the 
 nature of the undertaking in which the ship was 
 engaged. All sorts of strange stores had to be carried, 
 and so many things to be provided, that it was no 
 
 D 
 
50 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 wonder that those in authority on board the Fleet were 
 at their wits' ends where to stow them. 
 
 Each transport, in addition to the ordinary stores, 
 carried a great quantity of implements of agriculture, 
 seeds and such like things, and some extra clothing, 
 such as woollen stockings, shoes, hats and slops of 
 various kinds. The Marines, besides getting a little 
 extra pay, were also provided with some light clothing 
 suited to the climate of Botany Bay, where we expected 
 to remain about five years, and these things had by some 
 means been sadly mixed with the prisoners' clothing, 
 through some of these articles having been put on board 
 the Sirius in place of the powder and shot -she would 
 have carried in a more honourable service. So, owing 
 to all the hurry and confusion, my awkwardness on 
 first doing duty on shipboard "was not noticed, and I 
 escaped the curses and jibes that the Marines generally 
 come in for from the sailors when the red-coats go to 
 sea for the first time. 
 
 The principal officers on the Sirius were Captain 
 Phillip, Captain Hunter (the second in command), 
 Major Ross (our commanding officer) and Lieutenant 
 King. Besides these, there were the surgeon and 
 Judge-Advocate Collins, and some other Gentlemen 
 whose names now I cannot recall. 
 
 Even amid all this turmoil I thought very often of 
 Mary Broad and Will Bryant, and long before had 
 asked Lieutenant Fairfax in a respectful manner if he 
 knew aught of them. 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 51 
 
 ' Yes, Dew,' he replied, ' and I'll willingly tell you 
 all I know about them. Bryant is embarked on one 
 of the transports — which one I do not know — and my 
 father has interceded so far on his behalf as to have 
 secured ia promise from the authorities that he shall 
 be a free man shortly after our arrival, but he will 
 not be allowed to return till his sentence has expired.' 
 
 ' That was very good of the Squire, sir,' I said ; 
 ' but what of the misguided young woman ? ' 
 
 ' By George ! Dew, Mary may be a misguided young 
 woman, but she has a devilish fine spirit all the same ; ' 
 and with that he told me that the Squire had sent the 
 Parson to see her at Winchester Jail, so that he might 
 get her in a humble frame of mind, and then he was 
 to endeavour to procure her a pardon. 'And what 
 think you, she said ? ' asked the lieutenant. 
 
 ' I suppose, sir, she expressed her sorrow for her 
 folly, and thanked the Squire.' 
 
 ' Nothing of the sort. She begged the Parson to do 
 his best to get her sent away with Bryant, or at all 
 events, with the female prisoners going out with us. 
 So the Squire said as that appeared to be all she 
 was good for — my sister and myself couldn't see any 
 reason why she shouldn't have her own way — he would 
 do his best to get her exiled. That will do, Dew, I 
 have nothing further to say to you.' 
 
 That was the way the lieutenant always finished 
 up these little chats of ours, as a reminder, I suppose, 
 of the difference in our rank, which was very proper 
 
52 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 on his part, for 'twas a great piece of condescension for 
 a commissioned officer to talk of old times like this 
 with one of his men. 
 
 This was all the news I could get of the unfortun- 
 ate smuggler or of Mary, and, although I did make 
 inquiries of the guards on the other ships, the prisoners 
 were always kept in such a way that, right up to the 
 day of our sailing, I never learned whether or not any- 
 one I knew was on board of the transports. All I 
 heard was that most of the prisoners were selected 
 from the county jails on account of their supposed 
 knowledge of agriculture, but the women were nearly 
 all the most depraved characters taken from Newgate ; 
 and, somehow, I did not think Mary would be among 
 them. 
 
 And now I come to my last adventure with the 
 smugglers, and when I look back at it now, I think it 
 quite a wonder that I was not transported for my silly 
 way of being taken in by these people, who seemed to 
 mark my ignorance and pursued me with their tricks 
 in quite a marvellous manner. 
 
 The lieutenant, full of consideration for my inexperi- 
 ence, and, perhaps, because he liked to have me about 
 him, called me to him one day, and said, — 
 
 ' I have sent for you, Dew, to make you an offer 
 which you are at liberty to refuse or accept as you 
 please. By the rules of the Service I am entitled to 
 one of the men in my company to attend upon me. 
 You can act in that capacity if you like. Of course, 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 53 
 
 Dew, I can understand that a young farmer, as you 
 were, may have some scruples about acting as a servant, 
 but all the privates are of equal rank here, and this 
 duty may relieve you, perhaps, from still more menial 
 work at sea, for, I can tell you, the Marines are thought 
 precious little of by these coarse, dirty sailors.' 
 
 I thanked the young Gentleman heartily for his 
 offer, and gladly enough accepted it, and, though our 
 positions are very different now, I say with truth that 
 I am proud of having served so good and honourable a 
 master. 
 
 A day or two after this, the first cutter was sent 
 ashore to the Point at Portsmouth to bring off some 
 stores for the ship, and, in addition to the boat's crew, 
 Lieutenant Fairfax came with us to perform some duty 
 on shore, and another Marine and myself were sent 
 with the boat to help in embarking the stores. 
 
 While I was helping to put some of the stores into 
 the boat, an old waterman rowed his wherry into the 
 landing-place, and calling to me asked if our party 
 belonged to the Sirius. 
 
 ' Yes,' said I. 
 
 'Oh, that's all right, then,' said he. 'What 
 officer is with you ? ' 
 
 ' My lieutenant, Mr Fairfax,' said I ; 'he will be 
 back to the boat directly.' 
 
 ' Ah ! that's the very thing. Well, you'd better 
 bear a hand and get on with the job so as to be ready 
 to shove off when he comes back.' 
 
54 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 'What job?' 
 
 ' Why, you see this cask of ale ? ' pointing to a big cask 
 marked thus, XXX. ' Well, he wants this changed. 
 They have sent off the wrong ale, and it goes agin his 
 stummick, I suppose, and I've just brought it from 
 your ship. They told me aboard that I'd find him 
 at the Point, and some of his boat's crew would lend 
 me a hand.' 
 
 ' What are we to do ? ' 
 
 'Help me roll it up the street to the "Star and 
 Garter," that's where he got it from.' 
 
 And so, after four of us had got the cask out of the 
 boat, I helped the man roll it up the High Street, and 
 very quick we were about it, for the old fellow said 
 that Mr Fairfax would kick up a great row if the job 
 wasn't done quickly, as the ale should have been 
 changed long before. 
 
 As soon as we had rolled the cask up the roadway 
 from the Point to the street, a Preventive Service 
 officer stepped up, took a look at it and turned 
 enquiringly to me. 
 
 ' Officers' stores,' said the waterman, without wait- 
 ing to be questioned. 
 
 'Cask of ale returned by my officer, Lieutenant 
 Fairfax,' I added. 
 
 'All right, my lads,' said the officer, and he 
 made a chalk mark on the cask and away we 
 rolled it. 
 
 The ' Star and Garter ' was not far up the street, but 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 55 
 
 it was, owing to a turn in the road, out of sight of the 
 Point. When he reached the door of the inn, the old 
 waterman turned to me, and said, 'Thank you, my 
 lad, here's the price of a glass of ale for you, and some 
 day I'll do you a good turn — by George ! I'll do you 
 one now. Take my advice, and when you get to 
 Botany Bay keep your weather eye lifting a bit more 
 than you are doing now.' 
 
 ' What do you mean ? ' said I, angrily, 
 
 ' I'll tell you,' he answered, with a rude grin, ' but 
 take my advice and don't tell anyone else. This cask 
 is not going to the " Star and Garter." 'Cause why ? 
 'Cause it's going to my place. It's not ale, it's best 
 French brandy.' 
 
 ' What do you mean ? ' I again asked. ' Does not 
 the cask belong to my lieutenant ? ' 
 
 ' Certainly not, my young lobster. It's smuggled 
 brandy.' 
 
 ' You infernal old rascal ! I see you have taken 
 advantage of my uniform to land your cask of brandy, 
 and this time I shall be ruined. Never mind, what- 
 ever happens, I'll go at once and inform the Preventive 
 Officer.' 
 
 'Oh, no, you won't. No one will know if you 
 keep your mouth shut, but if you inform the officer 
 you will only get yourself into trouble.' 
 
 'Ah, here comes Lieutenant Fairfax, and he has 
 seen me with you. I'll tell him and see what he has 
 to say about the matter.' 
 
56 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 ' Yes, tell him, Joey ; he'll only laugh at you. 
 Hang me ! I'll tell him myself.' 
 
 Mr Fairfax, seeing me talking to the man and so 
 far away from the boat, stepped over to us, and the 
 old waterman, touching his hat, said, — 
 
 'Beg pardon, yer honour, but I borrowed the loan 
 of one of your Joeys, who seems pretty green ; ' and 
 then to my shame, he unblushingly told him the 
 whole story. . 
 
 Mr Fairfax laughed heartily, and said, 'You old 
 rascal, you deserve the brandy for your smartness. 
 We'll say no more about it,' and, turning to me, he 
 added, 'but I really think, Dew, that this should be 
 the last of your smuggling adventures. It is a good 
 job for the pair of you that we sail for the other side 
 of the world in a few days, or you would both hear 
 more about it. However, the best thing we can do 
 is to forget it now, and remember, my lad, that this 
 sort of thing won't do in the future. We shall have 
 you letting some of our prisoners escape if you don't 
 use your wits more than you have been doing lately. 
 That will do, Dew. Get into the boat.' 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE FLEET FOR THE COLONISATION OF BOTANY BAY 
 
 It is proper, before going further with the Nar- 
 rative of my life, that I should give you some 
 account of the preparations that were going on for 
 the despatch of the Expedition. It is not my desire 
 to attempt a history of the Settlement in New 
 Holland, or, as it is now called, New South Wales ; 
 you must go to the books for that. Such things as 
 I have set down are just facts taken from my notes 
 in the rough diary of my life, set down without 
 any scholarly skill, but yet truthfully. 
 
 The fleet was made up of two war vessels and 
 nine transports. The Sirius of twenty guns, six 
 hundred and twelve tons, and one hundred and sixty 
 men, flew the broad pennant of Commodore Arthur 
 Phillip, who commanded the Expedition, and who 
 was to be the first governor ot the settlement. The 
 Sirius was supposed to be a frigate, but she was 
 never built for war, and the sailors did not speak 
 well of her sea-going qualities, so that we Marines, 
 in addition to the other miseries we suffered, 
 57 
 
58 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 did not feel at all safe on board of her. She was 
 built on the Thames to trade to the East, but, on 
 loading her with her first cargo, she took fire and 
 was nearly destroyed. This was in the year 1781, 
 and the Government, wanting a store-ship, purchased 
 her, and she made a voyage to the American colonies 
 and back under the name -of the Berwick. Then 
 she made another voyage to the West Indies, and 
 was then laid up in ordinary at Deptford Yard, until 
 the time came when the Government planned this 
 Expedition, and the shipwrights overhauled her and 
 fitted her out to fly the flag of Commodore Phillip. 
 
 The Supply was a little, armed tender of one 
 hundred and seventy tons and eight guns and fifty 
 men. Lieutenant Ball had command of her. The 
 rest of the ships were transports taken up for the 
 Service, and, although I took pains to find out many 
 details concerning the Expedition, I will not here set 
 them down lest I make this Narrative too tedious ; 
 so of these transports I need but say that their 
 complement, not counting their seamen, was as 
 follows : — Alexander, one hundred and ninety-four 
 male convicts, thirty-five Marines; Lady Penrhyn, 
 one hundred and one female convicts and some 
 Marine officers ; Charlotte, one hundred and six male 
 and female convicts, forty-two Marines ; Friendship, 
 ninety-seven convicts, forty Marines ; Prince of Wales, 
 two male and forty-seven female convicts, twenty- 
 nine Marines ; Scarboro, two hundred and five male 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 59 
 
 convicts, forty-four Marines. And then there were 
 three store-ships — the Fishburn, Golden Grove and 
 Borrodale. On the two war vessels there were no 
 convicts — or prisoners, as it became the custom of 
 the Service to call them — but there were several 
 officers and civil officials appointed to serve on the 
 staff of Captain Phillip when he should assume the 
 governorship of the Settlement. On the Sirius 
 there was a Marine guard of a sergeant, six privates 
 and two drummers, and I was mightily pleased that 
 I was not chosen to do duty on one of the trans- 
 ports. Altogether the number of people on board 
 the various ships who were to form the settlement 
 was about one thousand and twenty. I must not 
 forget to say that among the officials were a chaplain 
 (who brought with him his wife) and a surgeon 
 and five assistant surgeons ; and terrible botchers 
 were some of these last. 
 
 The transports varied in tonnage from three hundred 
 and fifty tons to two hundred and seventy-five tons, 
 and every one of them was crowded in a very dread- 
 ful manner, and, long before the fleet got under weigh, 
 sickness broke out both among the prisoners and the 
 crews and the Marines ; indeed, on the Alexander, 
 some of the Marines died of a malignant sickness, 
 caused by the foulness of the air between decks. 
 
 At this time the trial of Lord George Gordon, 
 the impeachment of Warren Hastings and other great 
 State affairs, so disturbed the minds of the Govern- 
 
6o A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 merit that they gave but little thought to the fear- 
 ful condition of the wretched creatures who were 
 going to Botany Bay, although the case of the wife 
 and children of a Marine, who nearly perished of 
 starvation on board one of the transports, was made 
 public in some way. 
 
 But bad as things were, even for us Marines, they 
 would have been worse but for Major Ross, who 
 fought hard to get us proper food and berthing space, 
 and, finally, we got pretty well served as far as food 
 went, for the rations allowed to each man for one 
 week were as follows : — Seven pounds of bread (hard 
 ship biscuit), four pounds of beef, two pounds of 
 pork, two pints of pease, three pints of oatmeal, 
 three and a half pints of rum, six ounces of butter — 
 and terribly rank-smelling stuff it was— three-quarters 
 of a pound of cheese and half a pint of vinegar. 
 These were to be added to in case we touched at 
 any port where fresh provisions could be had, and 
 we were in this matter fed the same as seamen in 
 the King's ships. As for the prisoners, they were 
 rationed in much the same way, but, in case of bad 
 conduct or breaches of discipline, they were made 
 to suffer by having their rations cut down. But 
 many of these articles that I have mentioned were 
 not fit for human food ; indeed, I heard Major Ross 
 tell Captain Hunter that the butter, cheese and beet 
 were such that a well-conditioned hog would have 
 turned away from them with a sickness of stomach. 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 61 
 
 As to the manner in which the transports were 
 fitted up I will speak briefly. Abaft the mainmast 
 in each ship was built a strong bulkhead of thick 
 wood, and in the forward side — that is, the convicts' 
 side — this bulkhead was studded with stout, sharp 
 spikes, and loopholed so that the guard could fire 
 upon the prisoners in case of mutiny. The hatches 
 were battened across with thick bars, bolted and locked 
 to the coamings,-and railed round with strong, high, 
 wooden stanchions, so as to guard against a sudden rush 
 from below. Of course, sentries were placed over 
 each hatchway and at different parts of the ship, 
 and the main-guard was always kept under arms on 
 the quarter-deck with loaded muskets. On the upper 
 deck, abaft the mainmast, was built a barricade of 
 stout planks studded along the top with sharp, iron 
 prongs, and in the space between this and the head 
 of the ship the convicts were exercised. 
 
 Truly, it was a dreadful sight to see them caged 
 up like this, and yet more dreadful to hear their foul 
 and blasphemous talk among themselves, and their 
 horrible jests about their sad condition — for most 
 of them were utterly steeped in wickedness. Many 
 of them, before being sent on board the fleet, had 
 been kept in hulks at Portsmouth, Plymouth and 
 the Thames, and some of the transports had em- 
 barked their loads of human misery at these places, 
 and sailed round to the rendezvous before I joined 
 the Sirius. The Alexander and Lady Penrhyn had 
 
62 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 embarked their prisoners in the Thames, and she 
 had convoyed them round to Spithead early in the 
 year, and they lay close to where the Royal George 
 had sunk three or four years before this time, her 
 masts being still to be seen sticking up out of the 
 water. Long before I joined, the Scarboro and Prince 
 of Wales and the three store-ships were already lying 
 at anchor off the Mother Bank, and, indeed, were there 
 on the very night when I cut such a pretty figure 
 on the shoal. 
 
 On the sixth of March all the prisoners were em- 
 barked, and the Charlotte and Friendship sailed round 
 from Plymouth and dropped anchor with the rest of 
 the fleet ; yet it was not until the second week in 
 May that our good and esteemed Commodore, Captain 
 Phillip, arrived from London, and great was the anger 
 he showed at the deplorable state of confusion and 
 misery that existed on board the ships of the Expedi- 
 tion, which seemed fated to be continually delayed 
 from this or that cause, so that not only Captain 
 Phillip but everyone else on board was sick and 
 wearied at heart and anxious to get away. The 
 Commodore spent most of his time running back- 
 wards and forwards to the dockyard people, trying 
 to get them to make the rascally contractors serve 
 us honestly, and as for Captain Hunter and his officers, 
 they were too busy to trouble much about the 
 Marines, and so we spent most of our time in 
 looking after the officers' luggage and such work. 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 63 
 
 At last we did draw near the day of our sailing. 
 The ships' companies of the Sirius and Supply were 
 paid a two months' advance, and, forthwith, many of 
 them got drunk with the bad grog brought off by 
 the bumboat women of Portsmouth and Gosport, 
 and assailed many of my comrades with extraordinary 
 foul words and blows, and this increased the vexa- 
 tions and difficulties of our getting under weigh. 
 Then, even when the warships were ready, the trans- 
 ports were not. The seamen of the Fishburn then 
 refused duty, owing to a quarrel with the master, 
 and, almost at the same time, those of the Alexander 
 had to be replaced by a crew from the Hyana frigate, 
 because the poor fellows in the transport had not re- 
 ceived their wages from the contractors, and refused 
 to sail. 
 
 A strong westerly wind at the last moment still 
 further delayed the fleet, and so it was not until 
 Sunday, the twelfth of May, that the voyage fairly 
 began, and we were not clear of the Needles for 
 twenty-four hours later, and I think that every man 
 must have said, ' Thank God ! ' For all the many 
 delays and trials had had one good effect — there 
 were no sorrowful farewells to add to the misery of 
 the main body of our unhappy voyagers. They had 
 all been made long before. The sorrowing wives, 
 mothers and sweethearts of freemen and bondmen 
 alike, had long since dried their tears and gone back 
 to their homes, where, for many a weary day, they 
 
64 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 waited to hear tidings of the exiles. In those days, 
 you must remember, there were no railway, trains nor 
 fast steamships, and folks travelled but little, so most 
 of the good-byes were said far away from the rendez- 
 vous. In the case of the convicts, of whom the 
 greater number came from jails and hulks all over 
 the kingdom, there were few free people who came 
 to say good-bye to them at Portsmouth ; but the 
 wives of some of the officers and men of the Marines 
 came there to see us off, but the great delay had 
 exhausted the moneys of the poorer sort, and 
 they had long before returned to their homes. 
 As for me, my father wrote and wished me 
 well, and hoped that I would do my duty, but 
 he came not near me, and I felt that he had 
 not forgiven me the disgrace I had brought upon 
 him. 
 
 I heard afterwards, that the prisoners on the trans- 
 ports — and the women in particular — grew quite 
 cheerful at the sounds of the seamen heaving up 
 the anchors, and many of them, in their horrible 
 prisons below, joined in the sailors' choruses as the 
 men tramped round the capstan. None would have 
 thought that the poor creatures were banished from 
 their native land and for ever, but the English 
 prisons and the hulks were fearful places in those 
 days, and 'twas no wonder that while I, and freemen 
 such as I, saw the white cliffs of the Isle of Wight 
 sink gradually out of sight with sorrowful feelings, 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 65 
 
 that these poor creatures thought only of the horrors 
 they were leaving behind them. 
 
 Our Commodore had already given proof that he 
 was a humane and good man — a man not to be 
 trifled with in his duty, but anxious to be just and 
 do what was right in the sight of God, and a man 
 of this quality was just the sort of governor to earn 
 the respect of the class he had to deal with. I 
 remember Lieutenant Fairfax telling me that one 
 day when the Commodore had boarded the Prince 
 of Wales, and had seen the horrible condition of the 
 women's quarters that his eyes had filled with tears 
 of pity, and he had used some pretty strong words 
 about the cruelty of the thing, and said it was worse 
 than a slaver's hold in the Middle Passage. 
 
 As soon as the fleet was fairly under weigh, the 
 Commodore directed the master of the Sirius to heave- 
 to, and then signalled for the commanding oificer 
 on the Supply, with a Marine officer and assistant 
 surgeon from each transport, to come on board our 
 ship. Each one, as he came on board, went on to 
 the poop, saluted the Commodore and waited with 
 some curiosity as to what he desired of them. 
 
 I was stationed as sentry over the stern life- 
 buoy, and heard all that was said when they were 
 assembled. The Commodore, looking intently into 
 their faces and speaking very earnestly and clearly, 
 said, — 
 
 ' Gentlemen, I have sent for you all, now that we 
 
 E 
 
66 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 are fairly under weigh, to repeat the instructions I 
 have before given to you individually. I know you 
 are all good officers, and anxious to do your duty 
 to His Majesty; no doubt on that score troubles 
 me. But I beseech you, Gentlemen, to endeavour 
 to do all in your power to treat, your prisoners with 
 every consideration that will be likely to encourage 
 them to good behaviour. We know that they be- 
 long to the lowest and most depraved class of our 
 countrymen, but this Expedition has not been formed 
 to punish them on that account, but ' rather to give 
 them an opportunity to redeem themselves in a new 
 world. So, with a view to preparing them for their 
 new life, I should like you to avoid as much as 
 possible treating them in the style they have hitherto 
 experienced in the jails and hulks in England.' 
 
 He paused for a moment, and then, in somewhat 
 quicker and more decisive tones, resumed, — 
 
 'But, Gentlemen, at the same time I should like 
 you to bear well in mind that insubordination must 
 be punished with even greater severity than it would 
 be on land. Therefore, let your prisoners understand 
 that any attempt at mutiny or escape will be punished 
 with instant death. Of course, irons must never be 
 placed upon the women, no matter how bad or 
 dangerous their conduct may be, and as soon as we 
 are clear of the Channel remove the irons from the 
 men, so that they may be able to keep their bodies 
 clean, and rest like human beings at night. This, 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 67 
 
 Gentlemen, with your written orders and my previous 
 injunctions, is all I have to say to you to guide you 
 in your responsibilities until we arrive.' 
 
 He ceased, and the officers, respectfully bowing, 
 were about to leave the quarter-deck when Captain 
 Phillip raised his hand, and said in his gentlest tones, 
 * Stay, Gentlemen ; one -word more. While we were 
 in Portsmouth I heard one of you — and I beg of him 
 to take no offence at what I now say — remark that 
 we were employed upon a service that would bring 
 us neither credit nor distinction, but rather contempt. 
 I implore you, Gentlemen, not to entertain such an 
 unworthy opinion, for what can be more honourable 
 than devoting ourselves to ameliorating and raising 
 to a higher level in society these unfortunate outcasts 
 and criminals ? May God assist us to fulfil, not only 
 our duty to His Majesty the King, but our duty to 
 the Amighty Himself.' 
 
 Then the Commodore shook hands with every one 
 of them, a cheerful smile lightening up his face the 
 while, and the officers returned to their ships, the 
 yards were swung round, the sails filled and we stood 
 away on our course down Channel. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 CONCERNING SOME INCIDENTS THAT HAPPENED 
 ON THE VOYAGE 
 
 The Hycena frigate accompanied us until we were 
 clear of the Channel, and then on May the twentieth 
 she hove-to for Captain Phillip's last despatches, and 
 left us to return to Plymouth. 
 
 Ere she had signalled ' good-bye ' to us, the first 
 trouble with the convicts began. Mr John Marshall, 
 the master of the Scarboro, came on board the Sirius 
 and reported that there was a plot among his prisoners 
 to seize the ship. 
 
 Lieutenant Fairfax and the whole of the Marines 
 in the Sirius were at once sent away to the Scarboro 
 to bring back the ringleaders. When we got on 
 board we were drawn up on either side of the main 
 hatchway, and then the surgeon, Mr Fairfax and 
 Mr Marshall went down the ladder to the 'tween 
 decks and spoke through the barricade to the prisoners, 
 who had all gathered together behind the heavy 
 wooden grating, peering anxiously through the bars 
 and wondering what was to happen to them. 
 68 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 69 
 
 ' Now, my lads,' said the surgeon, ' we know all about 
 it, and know the ringleaders. We want those men. 
 As for the rest of you, your treatment depends upon 
 your future conduct. Stand back from the grating 
 all of you.' 
 
 They all fell back several paces. 
 
 ' Now, men,' continued the surgeon, * we have 
 plenty of Marines here ready to fire into you if you 
 attempt any tricks, so remain where you are except 
 numbers four hundred and seventeen and two hundred 
 and nineteen. Phillip Farrell and Thomas Griffith, 
 advance to the grating.' 
 
 They stepped out. The Marine sentry, at a sign 
 from the surgeon, unlocked the gate, the surgeon 
 beckoned them to come out and the instant they 
 did so the gate was locked again. 
 
 ' You men will hear no more of this if you mind 
 your bearings,' said the doctor, as he turned to ascend 
 the ladder. 'As for these two fellows, I don't think 
 they will try any more games of this kind.' 
 
 We brought numbers four hundred and seventeen 
 and two hundred and nineteen to the Sirius, and they 
 had to face the Commodore who, to my mind, gave 
 them a very mild reproof considering the serious 
 nature of their offence, cautioned them about their 
 future behaviour and promised to hang them at the 
 yard-arm if he heard more of them. Then he 
 ordered them to receive six dozen lashes each, and 
 accordingly they were seized to a grating and flogged 
 
70 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 by two of our drummers, and afterwards placed on 
 board the Prince of Wales. The spectacle was a 
 very dreadful one, and I shall never forget the feeling 
 of horror that I experienced in witnessing their 
 punishment. There were no signs of mutiny after 
 this from the day of sailing to the time we cast 
 anchor in Botany Bay, and the demeanour of all 
 was, on the whole, humble and regular, save on one 
 occasion, of which I shall speak later on. 
 
 By this time I was acting as a ward-room servant, 
 in addition to my duties in attending upon my 
 lieutenant. In this situation I heard, while waiting 
 upon the officers, many things that otherwise would 
 never have come to my ears. My comrades were 
 all very ignorant rustics recruited from Hampshire 
 and Sussex, and of the Marine privates on the Sirius, 
 I was the only one who could read and write, and 
 perhaps, for that reason was made more of by my 
 superiors. All the officers on the ship were keeping 
 some kind of a journal of the Expedition, it being such 
 an extraordinary undertaking that none on board 
 the Sirius had ever embarked in the like before. My 
 comrades being such poor and unsuitable companions 
 even for a man of my humble attainments, the example 
 of my superiors, and the many things I heard at the 
 officers' mess, gave me the idea that I might take 
 advantage of my learning and likewise keep a Diary, 
 and so this record of my life was at this time begun. 
 Fortunately, I was no lover of grog, and so I used 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 71 
 
 to change my allowance with the sergeant for all 
 the spare paper he had, and my lieutenant furnished 
 me with quills and ink, so that, I was soon set up 
 with all that" was necessary. This incident of chang- 
 ing my grog allowance reminds me that, strange to 
 relate, the poor prisoners suffered more from the want 
 of strong drink and tobacco than from any other hard- 
 ships, for I heard Surgeon White tell the Commodore 
 that they pleaded very piteously for these things. 
 
 The fleet arrived at Teneriffe.on the third of June, 
 and great joy did it give the Marines and ships' 
 companies, for everyone was allowed a pint of wine 
 a day and fresh provisions all the time we lay in the 
 port of Santa Cruz. The convicts, too, were well 
 treated,- for the Commodore ordered each of them 
 to be given a pound of beef and a like quantity of 
 soft bread. 
 
 During our stay at Santa Cruz, more than one 
 incident happened, the which I set down with great 
 care in my diary. The first matter I overheard was 
 that the officers were not a little troubled over us 
 Marines having been sent away with a very scant 
 supply of musket balls, and there were no armourers' 
 tools in the whole fleet. This was kept as secret 
 as possible, but the guards in the different ships got 
 to hear of it, and it made them mighty careful to be 
 on the alert to check any attempt at mutiny. Both 
 Captain Phillip and Captain Hunter were greatly 
 vexed at this neglect of the Government, and I heard 
 
fz A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 the latter gentleman say that he had written a very 
 plain letter to the Government, which he was then 
 waiting a chance to forward. 
 
 Our ships had hemp cables in those days, and 
 we had to keep them as straight up and down as 
 possible by means of buoys, to prevent them being 
 chafed by the shingle ballast thrown overboard by 
 the Spanish merchantmen. This had accumulated 
 in heaps in the anchorage, and the wisdom of Captain 
 Phillip's order concerning this was shown by one 
 of the transports neglecting it and nearly getting 
 adrift, through the strands of her cable getting chafed 
 through. 
 
 The Sirius was so cumbered up with stores on 
 the gun deck that we were unable to salute the 
 Spanish governor of the island — the Marquis of 
 Branceforte. We were at peace with Spain then, and 
 so our Commodore had to apologise very handsomely 
 for this apparent discourtesy. 
 
 I had never seen foreigners at home before, and 
 I am bound to say they treated us with great con- 
 sideration, and I left Teneriffe with a much better 
 opinion of the black-whiskered Dons than when I 
 entered it. 
 
 But the most notable event that occurred while 
 we were here was this, — At daybreak one morning, 
 when I was on sentry at the gangway, a boat from 
 the Alexander came alongside, and an officer asked 
 to be shown down to the Commodore. In a few 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 73 
 
 minutes we learned that a prisoner named Joseph 
 Powell had got away about midnight from the 
 Alexander, and had not been recaptured. 
 
 Just then my relief appeared, and I was going 
 below when I was ordered to keep under arms and 
 form one of a search party after Powell. Boats were 
 lowered, and a regular search of the shores of the 
 harbour began, two boats from the Supply lending 
 us a hand. It appeared that a boat had been left 
 hanging astern of the Alexander, and Powell by 
 some means had managed to get into her and cut 
 her adrift without being discovered ; in fact, it was 
 not until four in the morning, when the guard was 
 relieved, that he was missed. Just astern of the 
 Alexander, a Dutch Indiaman was lying, and Powell 
 worked the boat over to her and offered himself on 
 board of her, but they would have none of him. He 
 got into the boat again, and was supposed to have 
 gone over to the west side of Santa Cruz. 
 
 With us in the boat was the master of the 
 Alexander, who was in a great state of mind over 
 the affair, for he was under a penalty of forty pounds 
 for every man that escaped. We could not but laugh 
 at him for the way in which he urged the rowers 
 to their work, and his constant lamentations about 
 his ill-luck. However, his troubles soon came to 
 an ending, for, as we rowed along the west side ot 
 the harbour, the lieutenant of the guard on the 
 Alexander, who was in our boat, suddenly called upon 
 
74 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 the men to stop, and we all turned our eyes to the 
 land. 
 
 There, at the foot of a great rock which it appeared 
 he had been trying for many hours to climb, lay the 
 poor, hunted wretch, too exhausted to move, or even 
 to speak. Quick as lightning the officer grasped my 
 musket. 
 
 'Don't shoot, sir,' I could not help saying. 
 He took no notice of me, but levelling the piece, 
 called out to the fugitive, — 
 
 'Surrender, you Powell, or I'll fire.' 
 Poor creature ! He did not utter a word, but 
 merely turned his white, ghastly face, streaked here 
 and there with blood, towards us, and the lieutenant, 
 still keeping his musket at the present, the boat was 
 rowed close in to the rock. 
 
 ' Two of you get out and bring him into the boat,' 
 ordered the officer, and myself and a comrade got 
 out, and lifting him up carried him into the boat. 
 I shall never forget the look of utter despair in that 
 man's face ; it seemed to come from his very soul. 
 
 We took him on board the Sirius, where, on the 
 following day, he was given twelve dozen and sent 
 back to his ship, and kept in irons till we put to 
 sea again. . 
 
 While we were at TenerifFe, one of the convicts, 
 who was a coiner, tried to practise his villainy, but 
 met with swift retribution. It came about by reason 
 of our seamen, who had taken very kindly to the 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 75 
 
 fruit of the country, but had not the wherewithal to 
 buy it, getting this dangerous rogue all the pewter 
 spoons and other metal they could lay their hands 
 upon. With this material the fellow made some 
 exceedingly good imitations of the silver dollars of 
 the island, and the sailors set about to pass them off 
 on the island vendors, paying the coiner for his evil 
 work with tobacco. But the very first attempt to 
 pass the money failed, and the sailors, to save them- 
 selves, confessed the whole plot. Their grog was 
 stopped by way of punishment, and the rogue was 
 soundly flogged, suffering a double punishment, for 
 he was cursed as well most heartily by the sailors 
 and the prisoners for depriving them of their spoons 
 to so little profit. 
 
 We only stayed a week at the island, and then the 
 ships weighed and once more we were under full 
 sail for our next port of call, which was to be Rio 
 de Janeiro in the Brazils"; and, until we reached 
 there, nothing of moment occurred, save that the 
 Supply gave much trouble by the fearful manner in 
 which she rolled and shipped great quantities of 
 water. She could not carry much sail, even in 
 moderate weather, for she nearly buried herself when 
 on a wind. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 I HEAR TIDINGS OF MARY BROAD AND WILL 
 BRYANT, AND WE ARRIVE AT THE CAPE OF 
 GOOD HOPE 
 
 All this time the fate of Mary Broad and Will 
 Bryant was much in my mind, for, although when I 
 had written to my father I had asked for news of the 
 unhappy girl who had thrown herself away on such a 
 worthless person as Will Bryant, he had in no wise 
 answered my questions. But though I call Will a 
 worthless man— as, indeed, he was when weighed 
 against the girl — yet, as a man, he had many good 
 qualities in his character, as will be shown. 
 
 As I have said, the last I had heard of the two was 
 that Squire Fairfax was endeavouring to secure a 
 reprieve for Will Bryant, and that Mary had petitioned 
 to be sent to Botany Bay, and Lieutenant Fairfax 
 had told me that it was likely her petition would be 
 granted. I made many inquiries among the Marines 
 doing duty in the transports as to whether a man 
 named Bryant and a woman named Broad were 
 among the prisoners they were guarding, but the 
 76 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 77 
 
 convicts being all known by numbers and not by 
 their names, no one could give me any clue to my 
 unhappy acquaintances. In the case of Bryant this 
 caused me no wonder, but I thought that Mary's 
 great beauty, were she on board, would easily make 
 her distinguished from her companions, and so at 
 last felt pretty sure that she was not with the Fleet. 
 I did not like to ask Lieutenant Fairfax anything of 
 the matter, for in those days discipline was very 
 severe, and for a private to venture upon familiarities 
 with his officer would have been most improper. 
 
 But one day, after we had left Teneriffe, the 
 lieutenant himself broached the subject. I was clean- 
 ing liis accoutrements when he came up to me and 
 said quite suddenly, — 
 
 ' Dew, did you ever hear what became of Bryant 
 and that poor girl, my sister's maid ? ' 
 
 ' No, sir,' I replied, ' but I should be very pleased 
 to know for certain that the girl was left in England.' 
 
 ' I am sorry to say that she is, without doubt, on 
 board one of the transports. I had an opportunity the 
 other day to speak to the Commodore on this matter, 
 and he, kindly turning up his papers, found that 
 William Bryant and Mary Broad are both on the 
 list of prisoners.' 
 
 ' God help them both, then, sir,' said I, and there 
 flashed through my mind the awful faces and vile and 
 blasphemous talk so common among the female con- 
 victs in the transports. 
 
78 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 Then the lieutenant said, ' I had hope, Dew, 
 when that fellow Powell got away at Teneriffe that 
 it was Bryant, and, hang me ! I should have been glad 
 if it had been Bryant and he had got away. 'Tis a 
 sad pity such a fine fellow should have met with such 
 a fete.' 
 
 ' Worse for the misguided woman who has thrown 
 herself away on him, sir,' replied I. 
 
 The lieutenant fixed his keen, grey eyes on me 
 for a second or two and then said quickly, — 
 
 ' Yes, that is true. By the way, Dew, I think you 
 were a little sweet in that quarter, eh ? ' 
 
 'That was long ago, sir, before I became a man 
 and a soldier, and she would have none of me.' 
 
 I saw my dear master smile as he turned away his 
 face, but the next instant his eyes met mine. 
 
 'Well, Dew, we must try to help better their 
 condition when we get to Botany Bay. Only duty 
 first, you know Dew. We must not let private 
 feelings interfere with duty, my lad.' 
 
 ' I believe, sir,' I said, ' and I am proud to say so, 
 that you, sir, have made a good soldier for the King 
 out of William Dew.' 
 
 'That's right, Dew. I am glad to hear you say 
 this. Keep on as you are going. That will do, 
 my lad.' 
 
 It pleased me very much that the lieutenant 
 should talk so much to me, and that he took such an 
 interest in my welfare. But yet it was a blow to me 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 79 
 
 to hear that Mary was on one of the transports after 
 all, with such depraved and wicked companions. I 
 had hoped to the last that the authorities would not 
 transport her, despite her petition. 
 
 We arrived at Rio de Janeiro on August the 
 fifth, and once more the people of the Expedition 
 were put upon fresh provisions, which was a great 
 boon to us all. We had been at sea since May the 
 twelfth, and during that time fifteen prisoners and 
 one of a Marine's children had died. I heard 
 Captain Phillip one day tell Mr Morton, the master 
 of the Sinus (for he was most condescending to all 
 his officers), that considering the dreadful condition 
 of the foul and overcrowded transports, and the warm 
 weather we had met with, that it was only by God's 
 mercy that half of our human cargo had not perished 
 miserably. During the passage, a great deal of rain 
 fell, which would have caused more sickness, but that 
 the surgeons frequently exploded -small charges of gun- 
 powder on the 'tween decks of the transports ; and by 
 this means, and a constant use of oil of tar, the dark, 
 ill-ventilated prisons Were kept in as good a state as 
 was possible under such bad conditions. 
 
 Well, and now to Rio. Our Commodore had 
 once served with the Portuguese, and, on the arrival 
 of the Fleet, the town was- illuminated in his honour 
 and great kindness was shown to all our people, and 
 besides this, our ships were excused from paying all 
 dues to the port. 
 
80 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 The Commodore here made purchase of all sorts of 
 seeds and vegetables for use in the Settlement, and 
 also acceded to an urgent request of our major for a 
 supply of musket balls, the which, I can assure you, 
 made our minds much easier. Almost one of the 
 first things that our good Commodore attended to 
 when we arrived was to convey ashore and see well 
 cared for, the master of the Strius, Mr Micah Morton, 
 who had injured himself while we were unmooring 
 ship at Teneriffe, and two midshipmen who had been 
 ailing all the voyage. He was, in all that concerned 
 the welfare of his people, a most kind and tender- 
 hearted Gentleman. 
 
 During our stay at Rio de Janeiro, the Supply, 
 which had been sailing badly, was altered in her rig ; 
 and then, embarking our stores, we took our departure 
 for the Cape of Good Hope on September the twenty- 
 first. The voyage across was a very rough one, and 
 the Sirius rolled terribly, and our anxieties were 
 increased by the carpenter discovering that the ship's 
 waterways were in a rotten condition, and, indeed, so 
 badly had she been fitted out by the rascally navy- 
 yard contractors, that it is a wonder she did not roll 
 her decks out, guns and all. 
 
 Between Rio and the Cape there was a plot formed 
 on board the Alexander to seize the ship, but, provi- 
 dentially, it was discovered in time in a very simple 
 manner. Some boxes of candles were found to have 
 been broached, and one of the officers secreted himself 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 81 
 
 in the hold, thinking to surprise the thieves on- the 
 next visit. He was hidden near the forward bulkhead, 
 close to the crew's quarters, and, as he lay watching, he 
 heard the men discussing a plot they had formed with 
 the prisoners to seize the ship. Indeed, the villains 
 had already stolen and concealed a number of crow- 
 bars, which were to be served out to the prisoners 
 when the proper moment came to overpower the 
 guard. 
 
 As soon as this was reported to the master of the 
 Alexander, he signalled to the Sirius and, being to 
 windward of us, ran down under our stern and hove- 
 to while Captain Phillip dealt with the matter. This 
 he went about very quickly. The ringleaders of the 
 plot were seized and ironed to ringbolts on the deck, 
 and four of the seamen were brought on board 
 the Sirius, and their places taken by four of our 
 men. 
 
 On the seventh of October, the master of the Lady 
 Penrhyn signalled to the Commodore that a convict 
 woman on board his ship had given birth to a son, and 
 on the thirteenth day of the same month we arrived" 
 in Table Bay at the Cape of Good Hope. Here we 
 obtained fresh provisions, and took on board the trans- 
 ports a great number of animals for breeding purposes 
 at the new settlement. All these lumbered the ships 
 up very much, and the seamen got to calling their 
 vessels Noah's Arks. The day after we anchored, 
 Mynheer von Graffe, the Dutch governor at the 
 
 F 
 
8z A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 Cape, a fine, soldierly-looking man, came on board 
 the Sirius, and was pleased to say that we Marines 
 were a fine body ot men. 
 
 All being in readiness lor our departure, the Com- 
 modore now determined to haul down his flag on the 
 Sirius and go on ahead of us in the Supply, taking with 
 him, among other officers, our commander, Major Ross. 
 The brig was the fastest sailer in the fleet, and Captain 
 Phillip thought to get on ahead of us, so that he might 
 put the settlement in some sort of order before the 
 main part of the expedition arrived. The Alexander, 
 Scarboro and Friendship were ordered to try and keep 
 up with the Supply, and a number of carpenters, 
 surveyors and blacksmiths were selected from the 
 convicts, and placed upon those ships. And now I 
 come to what was the most affecting incident of this 
 memorable voyage, and that was the meeting between 
 Lieutenant Fairfax and Mary Broad. 
 
 As I have said, three of the transports were ordered 
 to sail under convoy of the Supply, and this left the 
 Sirius with the Charlotte, Lady Penryhn, Prince of 
 Wales and the three storeships, the Fishburn, Golden 
 Grove and Borrodale. These changes made it neces- 
 sary to put some extra prisoners on the Lady Penrhyn, 
 the complement of this transport being made up chiefly 
 of females, but there were also a small number of men. 
 On the day that this change was made, Mr Fairfax 
 was on board of the Lady Penrhyn, taking over some 
 papers from her marine officer who was going on with 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 83 
 
 the Commodore's squadron. Mr Arthur Bowes was 
 the surgeon on this ship. 
 
 I was not present at what took place on this day, 
 but Mr Fairfax described the scene to me, and, as 
 nearly as I can, I will endeavour here to set it down 
 as it took place. 
 
 The master of the ship, Mr William Sever, Captain 
 Campbell and Lieutenants Collins and Fairfax and 
 Surgeon Bowes were in the ship's cabin talking over 
 matters of duty when the mate knocked at the door 
 and informed them that four female convicts and two 
 children had arrived alongside in a boat from the 
 Friendship, and that the sergeant of their escort wanted 
 to see Mr Bowes. 
 
 The surgeon went upon deck, and returning pre- 
 sently said to the officers who were chatting in the 
 cabin, — 
 
 ' I have some more ladies given into my care. I 
 shall begin to think that the Commodore has a high 
 opinion of my virtue if he sends me many more of 
 them.' 
 
 'Oh,' says Mr Fairfax, not knowing that Mary 
 Broad was among the women he was joking about, 
 ' you need not boast of your virtue. The women, if 
 all accounts I hear be true, are neither beautiful nor 
 virtuous, so that you are under no great tempta- 
 tion.' 
 
 ' Come on deck and take a look for yourself, Mr 
 Fairfax, at one of my latest additions to the flock, and 
 
84 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 I think you'll own yourself wrong as to their want of 
 beauty.' 
 
 So thereupon they all trooped up on deck, laughing 
 and joking. They came to the break of the poop, 
 and looking down upon the main deck, they saw stand- 
 ing together in the ship's waist the women who were 
 waiting to be disposed of by the surgeon. 
 
 ' Which is your swan, Mr Bowes ? ' said my 
 lieutenant, merrily. 
 
 At the sound of his voice, one of the women turned 
 sharp round and looked up into his face. Then with 
 a little cry she stepped a pace or two forward, and put 
 her hands together as if she would crave a boon. 
 
 ' By George, Fairfax ! the girl knows you,' said 
 Captain Campbell. ' I saw her jump at the sound of 
 your voice.' 
 
 ' Alas ! ' said my lieutenant, ' I know her well, poor 
 girl, she was once my sister's maid,' and then, seeing 
 them looking at one another in a very knowing 
 manner, he divined what was passing in their minds, 
 and added somewhat hotly, 'Gentlemen, you quite 
 mistake the situation ; the poor girl is as honest as 
 the day, but 'tis her love for a notorious smuggler 
 named Bryant, belonging to my native place, that has 
 got her into this dreadful situation.' 
 
 Then he told them the sad particulars of Mary's 
 history, and, being honourable men, they showed great 
 sympathy for the poor girl. Mr Bowes, the surgeon, 
 said he would see to it that her lot on the ship should 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 85 
 
 be as comfortable as possible, and he would go and tell 
 her so forthwith. 
 
 In another moment he was talking to the poor girl, 
 and presently he beckoned to my lieutenant to come 
 and join them. 
 
 As he came up to the group, the other women and 
 Mr Bowes drew back so as not to overhear their talk. 
 
 ' Mary, my girl, how have you fared ? ' said Mr 
 Fairfax, and I well know how his kind tones must 
 have wrought upon her woman's heart. 
 
 ' Very well, sir, thank you. I have nothing to 
 complain of,' said the girl, but yet her dark eyes 
 glowed, and she clasped her hands tightly together, 
 and her mouth worked. She was dressed in a very 
 humble fashion, in some common woollen gown, with 
 a shawl, such as all the prisoners wore, thrown over 
 her black, wavy hair. But, despite the poverty of her 
 attire and the dreadfulness of her surroundings, said 
 my lieutenant, her great beauty shone out like as 
 would a bright star in a sky of darkness, and there was 
 the same fire in her eyes as in the old days when she 
 set my heart a-throbbing on Solcombe Cliffs ; indeed, 
 all the suffering she had gone through in mind and 
 body had not changed her ever so little. 
 
 For a moment or two she did not speak but gazed 
 downwards to the deck, and then her voice came to 
 her, as, with a sudden gush of passion, she laid her hand 
 upon his arm. 
 
 ' Charles Fairfax, you made love to me once, told 
 
86 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 me that I was fitted to be a lady and offered to dis- 
 grace yourself and break your good father's heart by 
 marrying me when you found I was no simple country 
 wench to play with and then cast aside. Was there 
 enough truth in your words to help me now ? God 
 knows how much you can help me.' 
 
 ' Mary,' he began, when she placed both hands upon 
 his arm, and, tossing her shawL back from her head, 
 looked into his face with a very great expression of 
 pleading misery. 
 
 'Mr Fairfax, forgive me. I am only, after all, a 
 poor, weak woman, and I have done wrong to bring 
 back to your memory words that I have forgotten 
 long ago ; but, sir, I beseech you, as an honourable 
 gentleman and a King's officer, to do what I ask. 
 You are the first man I have ever asked a favour of. 
 Grant it me, and, perhaps, some day God may give 
 me the power to show you my gratitude. Grant it, 
 sir ; Charles, for Heaven's sake, don't refuse me, or I 
 shall go mad with suspense,' and then, although she did 
 not weep, she shook and quivered from head to foot, 
 and but that she held his arm would have fallen to the 
 deck. 
 
 This laid the lieutenant all aback, and he hesitated 
 a moment. Then said he, ' Mary, I was infatuated 
 then, and your beauty made me make a fool of myself, 
 as you say. Besides, you would have none of me. 
 Bryant was, and is, the man you love.' 
 
 ' True, indeed,' said the girl'; ' I do love him in a 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 87 
 
 way that you fine folk know nothing of. But only 
 my good sense saved you from linking yourself to me, 
 and at least you owe me gratitude for that,' and with 
 that she drew back from him with a proud look. 
 
 ' Tell me what you want, Mary. I have sufficient 
 regard to do anything for you consistent with my duty, 
 but you know that it was your own wish to come with 
 this—' 
 
 ' Oh, heavens,' and a swift gleam of fire came into 
 her eyes, and her voice grew marvellously hard, ' don't 
 preach to me. Do you think that I want to go back 
 with what I have begun ? All I ask of you is that 
 you will speak to that fool of a surgeon, or the head 
 jailer, or whoever is your master, and get me sent into 
 the same ship as my Will is on.' 
 
 ' What good can that do, Mary, we leave here in a 
 day or two, and then shall see no land until we reach 
 the settlement, so that if you hope to escape — ' 
 
 ' Escape ! I have no such thoughts, but cannot 
 you see that I, who have gone through so much that 
 I might some day speak to Will again, am eating out 
 my heart in waiting for that time, and that even to be 
 on the same ship with him would help me to bear the 
 rest with patience, even though we might not speak 
 together,' and again her voice grew tender, and ended 
 in a sob. 
 
 ' Very well, I will try to do what I can, but I don't 
 even know what ship Bryant is in.' 
 
 ' Neither do I, but, oh, Mr Fairfax, for the sake of 
 
88 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 those days gone never to return, try all you can to do 
 this for me ; ' and then, said my lieutenant, one, but 
 only orte, tear fell upon his hand. 
 
 ' I will, Mary, I will do my best,' and then he said 
 with a laugh so as to cheer her up, ' Good-bye, Mary, 
 I suppose you know the name of the place where we 
 now are, don't you ? ' 
 
 She smiled back at him. 'God bless you, Mr 
 Fairfax. I have good hope, indeed, now.' 
 
 Then the lieutenant turned away, and the surgeon 
 spoke to the girl and told her to behave herself and 
 he would do what he could for her. 
 
 Mary replied in a very humble way, and then, with 
 her fellow prisoners, went below. 
 
 The lieutenant told all that had taken place to the 
 others, and then for the first time learned that Will 
 Bryant was on board of the Charlotte; the strange 
 part of the matter was that he had actually been 
 transferred to that ship from the Lady Penrhyn the 
 previous day, to take the place of a carpenter who was 
 going on with the commodore. As so many women 
 were on the Lady Penrhyn, it had been determined to 
 take the few men out of her and thus reduce the 
 chances of a mutiny and the need for so strong a 
 guard, some of the Marines being put on board the 
 Charlotte where there was a great number of male 
 prisoners. 
 
 After some further talk in the matter, Mr Bowes 
 and the others said they would not object to Bryant 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 89 
 
 being returned to the ship if Mr Fairfax would men- 
 tion it to the Commodore, and obtain his consent, and 
 to that end my lieutenant sought to put himself in 
 the way of Captain Phillip before the Supply sailed. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 A MARRIAGE SCHEME IS ARRANGED WHICH DOES 
 NOT ALTOGETHER MEET WITH MY APPROVAL, 
 AND WE ARRIVE AT OUR DESTINATION. 
 
 It so happened, that on the very day of the meeting 
 between Mary Broad and my lieutenant, that Captain 
 Phillip dined in the ward-room with all the officers who 
 were not actually on duty, for we were to sail the 
 next day, and it was always his kindly nature to associ- 
 ate as much as possible with those under him and join 
 in their conversation, and this he did without in any 
 way sacrificing his great dignity and courtesy of 
 manner. 
 
 After dinner, he explained over some wine what 
 were his intentions immediately after the expedition 
 landed in Botany Bay, where he expected to arrive 
 some time in advance of the rest of the fleet, as, 
 although the whole of the ships were to get under 
 weigh together on the morrow, Captain Phillip 
 thought that the Supply and the three transports with 
 her would far outsail the rest of the fleet. Mr Fairfax 
 was not present, being then at the time on the Lady 
 
 Penrhyn. 
 
 90 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 91 
 
 I was in attendance at the table, and my heart 
 jumped to my throat when I heard the Commodore 
 utter these words, — 
 
 'One of the first things to be attended to after 
 the landing will be the pairing of some of these 
 unfortunate females with suitable male prisoners. 
 Heaven knows, gentlemen, we need to encourage 
 morality among them, and I propose to marry as 
 many couples as possible. There are not enough 
 single women or widows to go round with the 
 number of single men, but I daresay we shall be 
 able to procure native women who will be willing 
 to mate with the male prisoners we cannot provide 
 with European wives.' 
 
 The only chaplain we had with us was Mr Johnson, 
 and he was a Methodist, and I felt sure it was he 
 who had put this matter into the Commodore's 
 head. 
 
 Said Captain Hunter, ' And how do you propose to 
 sort out all these precious couples, sir ? ' 
 
 When the Commodore first put his idea before his 
 officers, it did not give me a great shock, for, thought 
 I, this will come in well for poor . Mary who has come 
 so far for the sake of the man she loves, but the next 
 words of Captain Phillip, in answer to Captain Hunter's 
 question, quite took me aback. 
 
 ' I think the fairest way will be for them to draw 
 lots,' he said. 
 
 ' A devilish good idea,' said my officer, Major Ross, 
 
92 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 and I could have struck him for saying it, although he 
 was my superior, and a good officer. 
 
 'Better let me pick them out according to their 
 physical fitness,' suggested Dr White, the chief 
 surgeon to the expedition. 
 
 ' That is a good idea, doctor,' said Captain Phillip, 
 gravely bowing to him and raising his glass. 
 
 ' I should think, sir, that it would be well to leave 
 this matter as much as possible to me,' said Mr John- 
 son. ' If it be necessary, sir, to pair off these lost 
 creatures like cattle, pray let me, who will have to 
 perform the holy ceremony of marriage, endeavour to 
 find out the spiritual condition of some of them, 
 and by a judicious selection make good citizens of 
 them.' 
 
 The officers tittered and one or two laughed out- 
 right, for none of them loved the parson, but the 
 Commodore's voice made them cease. 
 
 'The chaplain is right, gentlemen. I shall form a 
 committee of selection, to consist of Mr Johnson, the 
 doctor and myself. By this means we may, out of 
 very bad material, breed some very good subjects for 
 His Majesty.' 
 
 Then there was more talk of what was to be done, 
 and we who were waiting at the table were told that 
 we might leave the ward-room, and so I heard no more, 
 but I determined that Mr Fairfax should be told what 
 had taken place directly he came on board, in the 
 hope that this ofF-hand marriage scheme might be so 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 93 
 
 arranged as to benefit rather than injure the unhappy 
 pair in whom we were both so painfully interested. 
 
 Accordingly, when the lieutenant returned, I took 
 the first opportunity of telling him all about the 
 matter, though I was by no means sure how he would 
 take such a liberty on my part. 
 
 'Why, Dew,' said he, 'this is very singular. I 
 must see the Commodore at once, whatever comes 
 of it.' 
 
 It was then that he told me of what had taken place 
 on board the transport, without, of course, entering 
 into all those particulars I have given in my diary — it 
 was long years afterwards that I learned all the cir- 
 cumstances of the interview. The lieutenant at this 
 time merely informed me that he had seen Mary 
 Broad, and that she was still infatuated with Will 
 Bryant, and was anxious to make the rest of the 
 voyage in the same ship as he was. 
 
 ' Which,' said Mr Fairfax, ' I have promised to ask 
 the Commodore to consent to.' The lieutenant did not 
 ask me for my opinion, and so I dared not say anything, 
 but I must say that I could see that no good could 
 come out of such a matter, but I held my peace, 
 and my betters decided the thing wisely enough with- 
 out me. 
 
 So Mr Fairfax got leave to go off to the Supply that 
 afternoon, and, having the consent of Major Ross to 
 interview the Commodore on this matter, and Captain 
 Phillip being willing to see him, he was shown into 
 
94 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 the little cabin of the Supply and told his story and 
 what he wanted in as few words as possible. Long 
 afterwards, I was told all that took place, but on the 
 lieutenant's return he sent for me and said, 'Dew, 
 my lad, the Commodore has refused to put these 
 two on one ship, but has promised that they shall 
 be among the first couples married as soon as we 
 arrive. That will do, let us hear no more of the 
 matter.' 
 
 With this I had to be content, but I afterwards 
 heard what took place. Said the Commodore, ' This is 
 quite a romance you tell me, lieutenant, but, from 
 what you yourself say, Bryant and this woman are 
 scarcely the persons to put on board the same ship. 
 Either one of them has spirit enough to attempt an 
 escape, and this woman, by your own showing, is a 
 prison breaker. No, I cannot have that.' 
 
 'As it pleases you, sir,' answered the lieutenant, 
 'but may I entreat you to interest yourself in these 
 unfortunate persons' future ? ' 
 
 'Sir, pray understand I interest myself and feel 
 deeply for everyone of these people, and I cannot 
 undertake to separate any one or any two of them 
 from their fellows in such poor endeavours as I am 
 capable of towards effecting their reform.' 
 
 ' I quite understand that, sir,' answered my lieu- 
 tenant, who was a little ruffled at what he thought 
 was an unnecessary reminder that his personal feelings 
 must be smothered where duty was concerned, ' but I 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 95 
 
 understood you had some idea of arranging for the 
 marriage of some of these people, and — ' 
 
 'Quite true, Mr Fairfax, and this suggestion of 
 yours shall receive every consideration, 'tis reasonable 
 enough'— and here the gallant gentleman placed his 
 hand on the lieutenant's shoulder with a kindly 
 smile — 'that this man and woman should be married 
 to each other, if the circumstances of the case are as 
 you understand them. In fact, I will promise you 
 that, if the chaplain and the doctor find no fault with 
 the arrangement, this Bryant and the young woman 
 Broad shall be the first couple I will have spliced when 
 the pairing off begins.' 
 
 My lieutenant thanked the Commodore, and re- 
 turned to the Sirius, and the next day, which was the 
 thirteenth of November, the whole fleet got undeY 
 weigh again, and on the twenty-third we had cleared 
 the land, and the Supply and her convoy had parted 
 company. 
 
 The routine was now the same as before, except that 
 we had a great deal of bad weather and sighted many 
 large whales. In the bad weather, the Prince of Wales 
 lost a man from the main-yard when snugging down 
 one night, and no little damage was done to the sails 
 of the convoy. 
 
 On January the second, we saw for the first time 
 the long-looked-for land. This was the South Cape, 
 which years afterwards was found to be an island and 
 was named Van Diemen's Land. 
 
96 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 From this point we shaped our course for Botany 
 Bay, and again made the land on January the nine- 
 teenth, seventeen hundred and eighty-eight, and stand- 
 ing off and on during the night for the convoy to 
 come up, we entered the bay on the following day, 
 and found the rest of the fleet waiting us. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 BOTANY BAY 
 
 To-day I have reached the allotted age of man's life, 
 and I know that presently, when I enter the best 
 parlour, I shall be welcomed by many dear faces 
 ready with kindly greetings and affectionate tokens, to 
 remind me that my seventieth birthday is not for- 
 gotten by the loving hearts about me. 
 
 How different it all is in this year of our Lord 1834 
 to that time forty-six years ago, when our storm- 
 beaten and battered ships, with their cargoes of sin- 
 stained and suffering humanity, dropped anchor off the 
 wild shores of Botany Bay. 
 
 Since then that settlement, the first seeds of which 
 were sown amid the sighs and groans and tears of the 
 wicked and worthless, and the swish of the dreadful 
 cat and the clank of iron gyves upon weary limbs, 
 has become a free and flourishing colony, and the 
 memories of the sad past are well-nigh forgotten. 
 And indeed, though I did see much that sickened me 
 of the swift and stern punishment that was the fate of 
 
 G 
 
98 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 these evil-doers who sought to renew their crimes in 
 a' new land, and though some of those in authority 
 were cruel and heartless, yet do I honestly believe 
 that most of those who were then my superiors were 
 good and conscientious men, who sought to do their 
 duty to their country and their King. And I shall 
 ever take pride, my dear children, in the thought 
 that it was my honoured lot to serve under such men 
 as Captain Arthur Phillip and Captain Hunter and 
 Lieutenant King ; for not only were these gentle- 
 men good officers, but they were better — they were 
 good and clean-living men amid all that was wicked 
 and vile. 
 
 Since those days, Captain Hunter, Colonel Collins, 
 and Captain Tench and Mr White, our old surgeon, 
 have written full accounts of all our early sufferings 
 and misfortunes and the ups and downs of the brave 
 hearts who, in spite of endless adversities of famine 
 and shipwreck, made good their footing upon those 
 distant and then savage shores. 
 
 But there, this journal of mine is no place to record 
 those moving adventures and strange events, and I 
 make no pretensions to write a history of the settle- 
 ment, for in truth I really took but very little part in 
 the colony's history after our arrival, being one of a 
 party of Marines told off to remain on board the 
 Sirius to act as a small reserve.* Thus it is that 
 
 * The reader is referred to the Introduction by the Editors. As a 
 matter of fact, much of Sergeant Dew's journal ha9 been here omitted, as 
 the matter can be read in any history of New South Wales. 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 99 
 
 much that I have here set down I learned from my 
 comrades, who were doing duty on shore. 
 
 It was on Sunday, January the twentieth, that we 
 sailed into the bay, and then we learned that the 
 Supply had arrived on the previous Friday night, 
 while the transports had only got inside the previous 
 evening, so that the brig had not so greatly out-sailed 
 us after all. 
 
 Lieutenant King, the second lieutenant of the 
 Sirius, Lieutenant Dawes of our detachment, and the 
 Commodore, who had gone on in the Supply, had 
 landed directly the brig was at anchor, and begun 
 exploring the shores of the bay for a suitable site for 
 the settlement. The land disappointed them, for it 
 was very much like an English moor, and dull and 
 unpleasing to the eye for the most part. They saw 
 some natives, quite naked, but these were peacefully 
 inclined, and though rather timid at first soon began 
 to make friends with our people. But although so 
 timorous of our people, they yet fought very fiercely 
 among themselves; for soon after our landing at 
 Port Jackson, the Governor was a witness to a 
 battle fought among themselves, which shows they 
 are not lacking in courage. Captain Phillip was 
 exploring the northern side of the harbour, near 
 the entrance, when he saw this encounter, and 
 the brave way the natives fought so impressed the 
 Governor that he named the little bay in which this 
 matter happened, Manly Cove. 
 
ioo A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 A further examination of the shores of Botany Bay 
 made the Commodore so dissatisfied with the place 
 that he resolved to make a boat expedition to the 
 northward, and examine Broken Bay and Port 
 Jackson — two bays sighted and named by Captain 
 Cook. 
 
 On the twenty-first, the Sirius and her convoy 
 having got safely to their anchors, the Commodore, 
 with Captain Hunter, the judge-advocate (Mr 
 Collins), and the masters of the Sirius and Supply set 
 off" in three boats to examine the coast north, while 
 Mr King and Mr Dawes had orders to search the 
 shores of the bay for good fresh water, the want of 
 which was the Commodore's chief objection to forming 
 the settlement at this place. Meanwhile, however, a 
 party of the prisoners were set to work clearing an 
 open space of ground, so that, should the Commodore 
 decide to remain, a beginning would have been made. 
 
 We on board the Sirius were not allowed to lose 
 time waiting, for our people were employed getting 
 up cases of saws and such like implements, in making 
 seine poles and getting fishing gear ready. A saw- 
 pit was made on shore by a party of the prisoners, 
 but before it was finished the order came to knock 
 off and bring the gear on board. 
 
 On the twenty-third the commodore returned, 
 and we soon learned that Port Jackson, about nine 
 miles to the northward, had been fixed upon for the 
 settlement. On the twenty-fifth the Supply weighed, 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 101 
 
 having on board a party of our men and some fifty 
 convicts. She got in the same night, and the next 
 morning at daybreak the Jack was hoisted on shore 
 and the land taken possession of for His Majesty, our 
 men firing a volley, and the officers drinking the 
 health of the King. 
 
 Before sunset the same night the transports and the 
 Sirius had also anchored in the harbour, and I saw for 
 the first time the place of the new settlement. The 
 site was at the head of a cove on the larboard arm of 
 the bay, which is full of inlets and is a fine, safe 
 harbour. Just at the head of the cove a clear rivulet 
 empties itself, and the soil, though thick with trees and 
 rocky near the shores, seemed to us very fair. 
 
 On the twenty-seventh the convicts and our men 
 were landed and encamped on the west side of the 
 stream of water, and the Governor and the principal 
 officers, with a guard, were encamped opposite to 
 them. 
 
 I must not forget to mention that, just after the 
 Supply left Botany Bay, two French ships which had 
 been cruising about trying to get in, made the port. 
 These were La Boussole and V Astrolabe, commanded 
 by Monsieur de La Perouse, and bound on a voyage 
 of discovery. 
 
 They had been unfortunate in their voyage, as we 
 afterwards heard, having had some of their officers 
 massacred by the savages of the islands they had 
 visited. 
 
102 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 Our Commodore sent some of the officers to visit 
 the Frenchmen, and they went round to the bay in 
 our ship's cutter, and I believe took some dispatches 
 which the foreigners said they would deliver when 
 they got back to Europe, and we took some dis- 
 patches of theirs to send to England by the first 
 ship. 
 
 Long afterwards we heard that they never reached 
 home again, and their fate to this day has never been 
 discovered, though it is supposed that when they left 
 Botany Bay they foundered in a gale.* 
 
 * The unfortunate La Perouse and all with him were, it has since 
 been ascertained, lost on the island of Vanikoro. — Editors. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 I TAKE A SMALL PART IN A VERY IMPORTANT 
 CEREMONY 
 
 I was landed from the Sirius to do duty with the 
 main guard on the Governor's side of the Tank 
 Stream in Sydney Cove — as it was afterwards called, 
 in honour of Lord Sydney, though there was some 
 talk at first of calling the settlement Albion. 
 
 Day and night for a week, when not on sentry 
 duty, I had to remain close to the guard tent, for 
 in it were placed the colours of the detachment, 
 which Major Ross had had trouble enough, as he 
 said, to get permission to bring with us, and which 
 had to be guarded. Besides the pair of colours 
 there were many important boxes, containing papers, 
 ammunition and the like, and the guard tent was 
 the rallying point in case of a mutiny, or of an 
 attack by the natives. 
 
 In the bustle and excitement of the first week 
 after our landing, I saw nor heard nothing of Will 
 and Mary. 
 
 103 
 
104 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 Only some of the prisoners had as yet been landed, 
 and these were at work on the other side of the 
 Cove, felling the great trees and erecting rough huts 
 and tents in readiness for the general disembarka- 
 tion, while no women were allowed on shore for 
 the first week. But on my side of the stream the 
 live stock and plants and seeds were landed, and 
 stock was taken of our possessions. It was then 
 found that we had four mares, two stallions, four 
 cows, one bull, one bull calf and a few sheep, poultry, 
 goats and hogs, all of which Captain Phillip had 
 bought at the Cape. 
 
 On the afternoon of Tuesday, February the fifth, 
 five women were landed and escorted to our side of 
 the Cove, and as I saw them coming towards where 
 I was keeping guard, I thought one of these might 
 be Mary Broad. But she was not among them, 
 and it afterwards turned out that these women were 
 destined for Norfolk Island, whither Lieutenant 
 King was bound in the Supply. 
 
 However, on the following day, all the ships' boats 
 were got out, and by sunset that night, every prisoner 
 in the fleet was landed and encamped. When all 
 were on shore a muster roll was called, and it was 
 found that from the day we left England until our 
 arrival, the number of deaths of all parties in the 
 expedition only numbered forty-eight. 
 
 It was a very dreadful night, for before the tents 
 could be properly secured, an awful storm came upon 
 
- A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 105 
 
 us, with such thunder and lightning and rain as I 
 had never dreamed of, and man as I thought myself 
 to be, my heart was filled with fear. Many of our 
 live stock were killed by the hurricane, and Major 
 Ross lost five sheep, in which he took great pride, 
 but I confess I was not sorry to lose them, for I 
 had been given the charge of them, and they cost 
 me much trouble bj straying away, and I feared to 
 meet with natives when searching for them. 
 
 Lieutenant Fairfax I had seen very little of during 
 this first week on shore, for the Governor, as we 
 now took to calling our good Commodore, had found 
 him a great deal of work surveying the ground, he 
 being much skilled in this science. 
 
 There was terrible work that night among the 
 depraved characters who were landed, and I shuddered 
 when I heard afterwards, from my comrades doing 
 duty on that side of the Cove, of the fearful scenes 
 which they had witnessed, when I thought that Mary 
 was among the women who, 'twas said, had led to 
 all the riot, although, poor girl, she had nought in 
 common with the vicious wretches by whom she 
 was surrounded. 
 
 The next morning at ten o'clock everybody belong- 
 ing to the settlement was assembled on the banks 
 of the little rivulet, to hear Governor Phillip read 
 his Commisson. 
 
 We Marines were all under arms, and only one 
 sentry was left at the guard tent. Our colours were 
 
106 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 unrolled, and our drummers and fifers played good 
 music as we fell into line. 
 
 The prisoners were all drawn up at a short dis- 
 tance, and then the Governor, and all the officials 
 of the settlement, and our regimental officers and the 
 ships' officers, assembled in front of us. 
 
 A camp table stood handy, and on this were a 
 lot of papers, which Mr Collins read out in a clear 
 voice. These documents were the commissions of 
 the Governor and our commandant (who was 
 appointed lieutenant - governor), and Mr Collins 
 himself, who was the j udge- advocate ; the parson 
 and the surveyor-general ; all had their commissions 
 read also, and everyone was much impressed with 
 the ceremony. 
 
 The Governor very prettily thanked the detach- 
 ment for its services, and then he ordered the convicts 
 to sit down, as he wanted them to pay attention to 
 what he had to say. 
 
 Then it was that among the crowd of abandoned 
 felons I saw, for the first time since I had left 
 England, Will Bryant and Mary Broad. They 
 were seated together holding each other's hands, and 
 seemingly quite indifferent to all that was going on 
 about them ; and I saw that every now and then 
 the girl would let her eyes dwell lovingly upon the 
 face of the man for whom she had dared so much. 
 
 I learnt afterwards that this was the first time 
 they had met since leaving England. The male 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 107 
 
 prisoners had been marched on to this parade ground 
 from our direction, and the females from another, 
 and then, for the first time, many of the men and 
 women recognised among their fellow-exiles some old 
 acquaintances. 
 
 Mary and Will were, strange though it seemed, 
 but little changed from when I saw them last, and 
 the girl looked pleased and happy, as if forsooth 
 'twas something to be proud of to be in such a 
 situation. 
 
 They did not see me ; the girl was too much 
 wrapped up in her lover to have eyes for any but 
 him, and as for Will, he held down his head, and I 
 thought looked as if he felt awkward and ashamed 
 at being so taken possession of by a woman. 
 
 Presently, the convicts all being seated on the 
 ground, Captain Phillip, in a clear voice that could 
 be heard by every soul present, addressed them, as 
 nearly as I could remember when I wrote the 
 speech in my journal, in these words. Said he : — 
 'Prisoners, I have given you a very fair trial during 
 the passage out, and I have had some of you work- 
 ing under my own eye for the last week, and I am 
 sorry to say that I think many of you are incorrigible 
 and case-hardened rogues, that nothing but severity 
 will induce to behave properly. Make no mistake 
 about it,' and here his voice grew terribly hard and 
 stern, 'if the scenes of last night are attempted to 
 be repeated, the guard has orders to fire upon you, 
 
108 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 to put a stop to your riotous debauchery. There- 
 fore, for your own sakes I implore you to take heed. 
 Out of some six hundred of you who ought to work, 
 not more than two hundred have shown an inclina- 
 tion to do so. Very well, I will take care that the 
 industrious shall not labour for the idle — those who 
 do not work shall not eat. In England, thieving 
 poultry is punished with death, and there poultry is 
 plentiful. Here a fowl is of the utmost consequence 
 to the settlement, for they are reserved to breed as 
 well as every other species of stock ; therefore, under- 
 stand me, whoever steals the most trifling article 
 of stock or provisions shall be punished with death. 
 It will be grievous to my feelings to exercise severity, 
 but the welfare of all demands most rigid execution 
 of the laws.' He stopped for a while, and then 
 resumed, in a milder tone : 'The work you will be 
 called upon to do will not even equal the labours of 
 the husbandman at home, but everyone of you must 
 and shall do your share towards making the com- 
 munity prosperous. And we shall begin by erecting 
 comfortable dwellings for the officers and men of the 
 Marine detachment, and afterwards suitable houses for 
 yourselves.' 
 
 Then the Governor spoke in still kinder tones, and 
 reminded them that the greater number had already 
 forfeited their lives to their country by their wicked- 
 ness, but by the leniency of His Majesty's Govern- 
 ment they were given this chance to redeem their 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 109 
 
 characters, and he would do all he could for those, 
 who deserved his clemency. 
 
 Then he concluded by saying, and you may 
 depend upon it that some of us paid strict attention 
 to his words : — ' I propose, as a means of settling 
 some of you in a comfortable manner, that such 
 among you as appear to wish it, and as are suitable, 
 shall be lawfully married, and begin a new life 
 respectably.' 
 
 After this we fired three volleys, and all the officers 
 had dinner with the Governor. The detachment was 
 marched back to the cheering sound of drums and 
 fifes to its encampment, and the convicts to their 
 rough huts and tents. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 WILL BRYANT AND MARY BROAD ARE MARRIED 
 
 The next day or two went by quickly enough. The 
 prisoners were set to work at building, and our detach- 
 ment was occupied in guarding them. 
 
 One afternoon Lieutenant Fairfax came to the 
 guard-tent where I was on duty. 
 
 ' Dew,' said he, ' I am afraid you can no longer act 
 as my servant. The Governor says we are to have 
 convict servants in future, and that the red-coats are 
 wanted for duty.' 
 
 ' I have spoken to the Governor,' went on the 
 lieutenant, 'and Mary Broad and Bryant are to be 
 married next Sunday.' 
 
 ' It is about time they were, sir,' I replied. ' May I 
 make bold to ask if you saw how the young woman 
 behaved herself last Thursday when we were paraded ? ' 
 
 ' Oh, yes, I saw them, and I saw nothing to find 
 fault with in Mary's behaviour. She has shown that 
 she is deeply attached to Bryant, and 'twas natural 
 enough she should be pleased to see him. What fault 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY m 
 
 have you to find with her for that ? ' and he wheeled 
 about and faced me. 
 
 1 No fault, sir, if you think her conduct becoming 
 in a modest young woman,' said I, somewhat timidly. 
 
 'Look here, Dew, my lad, I am afraid that you 
 are a deuced sight too virtuous and easily shocked in 
 matters of love-making to understand such a woman 
 as Mary. I am quite certain that no young woman 
 of your choosing will ever get transported on your 
 account.' 
 
 I saw that the lieutenant did not half like my bold- 
 ness in having been so free with my opinions, so I 
 only saluted by way of reply. 
 
 But Mr Fairfax was only putting me in my proper 
 place, as I, having more sense now, well understand, 
 and he was by no means annoyed with me, for he 
 went on, — 
 
 ' I am going exploring for some days directly, and I 
 sha'n't have much opportunity of seeing you. Re- 
 member, Dew, do your duty like a soldier and a man, 
 as you have been doing, and you will get along all 
 right. I have spoken well of you to the officers, and 
 'tis likely that they will not forget my recommenda- 
 tion. That will do, Dew, for the present. Good-bye.' 
 
 'Good-bye to you, sir,' said I, and was about to 
 salute again when he caught my hand and shook it, 
 saying — 
 
 ' 'Tis no crime against military law to shake hands 
 with an honest comrade, so let us shake hands first 
 
U2 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 and salute afterwards, then all will be according to 
 Cocker.' 
 
 Then he slewed on his heel and walked off, leaving 
 me very much affected by his good-natured conde- 
 scension. 
 
 On Sunday, February the tenth, the Reverend 
 Richard Johnson held divine service under a big tree, 
 the detachment and all the prisoners being paraded to 
 hear the service read. 
 
 Then after the service Mr Collins stepped to the 
 front and read from a piece of paper a list of men and 
 women who were to be married, and the first two 
 names he read out were Mary Broad and William 
 Bryant. When their names were read out, Mary and 
 Bryant stepped forward, and Mr Fairfax, who was 
 standing with a group of officers near the Governor, 
 smiled encouragingly at them, and the girl's face 
 seemed to me to suddenly grow more beautiful than 
 ever, as her eyes lit up with an answering smile, but 
 yet could I see that her whole frame was shaking like 
 an aspen leaf. 
 
 The Governor said a few words in an undertone to the 
 parson, and then he turned to the lieutenant and said 
 something to him, and the lieutenant saluted, and I 
 could see he was explaining to the Governor that these 
 two were the prisoners on whose behalf he had spoken. 
 
 Then Captain Phillip bade Will and Mary approach 
 closer to him, and he spoke to them in a kindly way, 
 but not so quietly that we could not hear what he said. 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 113 
 
 ' You, Bryant,' said he, ' and you, Mary Broad, I 
 have determined shall be the first couple married in 
 the settlement. Lieutenant Fairfax has spoken to me 
 about you, and has told me your history. He says I 
 can take his word for it that you will turn out good 
 settlers. I hope you will justify the interest he takes 
 in you, and that you especially, William Bryant, will 
 remember that in the love of this young woman you 
 have a very sheet-anchor to hold you to a life of honest 
 endeavour and good conduct. I shall take you to be 
 a very poor and paltry fellow, indeed, despite your 
 bodily strength, if you go to leeward with such an 
 incentive to a good life as I believe this girl Mary 
 Broad will prove. Now, Mr Chaplain, proceed with 
 the ceremony.' 
 
 Will Bryant held up his head, saluted the Governor, 
 and spoke up like a man. 
 
 'God bless your honour. You may rely upon it, 
 sir, that I will do my duty, and that Mary here, my 
 wife that is to be, will make me as good a man as you 
 have among us prisoners.' 
 
 ' It will go hard with you, sir, if she does not make 
 you a better,' answered Captain Phillip, quickly, but 
 still I saw he was pleased with Bryant's words. 
 
 And then Mary, not a whit abashed, although her 
 hands shook and her bosom heaved as she spoke out so 
 that we could all hear her, said : ' And I thank you, sir, 
 too ; and I thank Mr Fairfax for this good act. But, 
 sir,' and here her black eyes flashed and sparkled as in 
 
 H 
 
ii4 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 the old days, and ione hand stole out into Will's, ' but, 
 sir, we are not criminals but as honest as any man or 
 woman here, bond or free.' 
 
 'Tut, tut, girl,' said the Governor, somewhat im- 
 patiently — for how was he to know that Will and 
 Mary were different from any other law-breakers — 
 and I half-feared he would get angry and knock the 
 ceremony on the head at once, but my lieutenant 
 again said something in a low voice to him, and then 
 he smiled, and said, — 
 
 ' Well, well, I know no distinctions at present, but 
 plenty of distinctions will be made in the future as 
 people by their conduct deserve them. Smugglers, 
 thieves, and all the rest of you make a fresh start from 
 to-day. Now, Mr Chaplain, go ahead and splice them. 
 You know there is a long list of names to go through 
 yet, and we have no time for speech-making over each 
 couple.' 
 
 Then the parson solemnly read the service, and a 
 ring which was lent by the Governor himself for the 
 purpose was used for the ceremony, but the parson 
 only put it on the woman's finger and took it off again 
 and made it go the rounds, and then returned it to the 
 Governor. 
 
 Our commandant, Major Ross, made a little joke ot 
 this, about the danger of letting such people see gold 
 rings, and the care the parson took not to let it out of 
 his hands. 
 
 But the Commodore soon put a stop to this. Said 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 115 
 
 he, ' No, no, major, no joking, please. These people 
 have feelings, you know, and it is not necessary or 
 seemly to be always reminding them of the past.' 
 
 And so Mary Broad became Mary Bryant, and as I 
 was marched off from the parade ground I felt that I 
 had quite got over any weakness I once had in that 
 quarter. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE SETTLEMENT AT PORT JACKSON 
 
 In order that I may get to that part of my life's 
 experiences which I wish to relate fully, it is necessary 
 that I give but scant account of what happened in 
 the settlement up to the month of October, in the 
 year 1788, when I left it for some months and made 
 a voyage to the Cape of Good Hope in the Sirius. 
 
 As I have said, Lieutenant King was dispatched 
 in the Supply, with stores and implements of all kinds, 
 to form a settlement at Norfolk Island, a very fertile 
 spot situated about three hundred leagues from the 
 mainland ; it being in the Governor's mind that 
 the island would grow crops for the main settlement, 
 where the soil was not so good as it was at first 
 thought to be. 
 
 Mr King took with him Mr Cunningham, the 
 master's mate of the Sirius, Mr Thomas Jamison, 
 surgeon's mate, Mr Roger Morley, an adventurer 
 who had been a master weaver and had volunteered 
 for the expedition to teach the people how to weave 
 flax, which it was thought would thrive well on the 
 116 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 117 
 
 island, two Marines and one seaman from my ship, 
 nine male and six female convicts. All the convicts 
 selected were men of good build and strength, for it 
 was thought that, besides their other labours, they 
 should cut down some of the tall pines growing on 
 this island, which might serve to supply masts to ships 
 calling at Port Jackson in the future. 
 
 The Supply sailed out from between the headlands 
 of Port Jackson on February the fifteenth, and on the 
 seventeenth discovered and named an island after the 
 first Lord of the Admiralty — Lord Howe. This 
 place, though small in extent, is yet of some fertility, 
 and is about one hundred and thirty leagues from 
 the mainland. Although barely two leagues in length, 
 the south end rises to a great height, and about ten 
 miles away is a vast, pyramidal rock, which was named 
 after Lieutenant Ball, who commanded the Supply. 
 The expedition arrived safely at Norfolk Island, and 
 the brig returned to port on the nineteenth of March. 
 
 Our settlement now began to show signs of pro- 
 gress. The married convicts, for the most part, were 
 industrious, and the Governor had given to each couple 
 a small plot of land to cultivate, and the Bryants, so 
 I heard, were getting to be well liked for consistent 
 efforts and steady industry. The country all around 
 the cove being so poor, a farm was begun at a place 
 called Rose Hill, some miles up an arm of the waters 
 of Port Jackson ; a fine brick house was built for the 
 Governor, and a hewn-stone hut for the lieutenant- 
 
n8 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 governor ; store-houses were also built of stone, and a 
 barracks for our men was begun j meanwhile, both 
 we Marines and our prisoners had to lodge in roughly- 
 made huts. Each of our officers was allowed a grant 
 of two acres of land and a convict labourer to cultivate 
 the soil. 
 
 Soon after we landed there began a serious difference 
 between our commandant, Major Ross, and the 
 Governor, about the duties of the marines, and the 
 people in the settlement took sides in the matter. 
 The trouble came about in this way. One of my 
 comrades, Private Joseph Hunt, struck another, named 
 Will Dempsey, and was tried by court-martial. The 
 sentence of the Court was that Hunt was either to 
 ask public pardon before the detachment of Dempsey, 
 or receive one hundred lashes. The major regarded 
 this sentence as contrary to military law, because 
 it gave the prisoner a choice of punishments, and 
 ordered the Court to alter the sentence, and this the 
 Court refused to do. Then Major Ross ordered the 
 officers of the Court under arrest, and as they were 
 wanted for duty the Governor tried to square the 
 matter between the major and his officers. The 
 officers held to their sentence, and the major held 
 to it that he would have them under arrest, and so, 
 after some weeks of pursuasion, and finding that no 
 good came of it, Captain Phillip ordered the officers 
 to return to their duty. This was the beginning of 
 the trouble between the military and civil authorities, 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 119 
 
 and it lasted till the detachment returned to England, 
 and was a source of great worry and vexation to our 
 good Governor during his time of office, to see men 
 that he liked personally at loggerheads. Major Ross 
 knew his duty, and was perhaps a little sensitive about 
 the dignity of the detachment. He did not, for in- 
 stance, like the notion of our men being employed as 
 gaolers ; but Captain Phillip considered that it was our 
 duty to help push on the work of building by seeing 
 that the prisoners laboured hard. Our major thought 
 our duty was simply to form an armed guard for the 
 defence of the settlement, against mutiny on the part 
 of the convicts or attacks by the natives. Captain 
 Phillip also wanted our officers to form part of the 
 civil Court, but they did not consider their com- 
 missions entitled them to act in such a capacity. 
 Another cause of ill-feeling was, that the Governor 
 thought it wise to form into constables the better 
 behaved of the prisoners, and some of these fellows 
 had the impudence to make prisoners of some of 
 the men of the detachment, and Major Ross was, as 
 I think he well might be, very indignant about it. 
 
 The prisoners were a miserable lot of creatures, 
 who knew little or nothing of agriculture, and less, 
 if possible, of the useful building trades and such like 
 arts, and so we progressed very slowly in these things, 
 and suffered many hardships. 
 
 We were constantly trying to make friends with 
 the natives, who seemed harmless enough but very 
 
izo A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 stupid. They were quite naked and had no habita- 
 tions, except for a kind of screen made of the bark 
 of trees, which they erected as a protection against 
 the wind and rain, and under the lee of which they lay 
 down. They seldom appeared in numbers exceeding 
 twenty or thirty, and they lived chiefly by fishing. 
 Their only arms were clubs and roughly-made spears 
 and a kind of curved javelin, which they could throw 
 in such a clever manner that it would describe a circle 
 in the air and return to them. Although they were, 
 as a rule, terribly frightened of our firearms, yet they 
 were by no means to be despised, on account of their 
 treachery, and, indeed, the Governor was actually badly 
 wounded by one of them, who threw his spear at 
 His Excellency with unerring aim ; but yet, Captain 
 Phillip would never revenge himself upon the savages. 
 
 There were no wild beasts or other monsters to add 
 to the terrors of our position, except very ferocious 
 sharks, with which the waters of the bay were infested. 
 There was one curious animal, called a kangaroo, 
 which walked and leapt upon its hind legs in a very 
 diverting manner, and there were hundreds of bright- 
 coloured parrots. 
 
 Notwithstanding the Governor's expressed deter- 
 mination to put down vice with a strong hand, one of 
 the sailors of the Alexander was caught in the women's 
 tents a day or two after our formal landing, and the 
 rascal was drummed out of the camp with his hands 
 tied behind him, our drummer playing the ' Rogue's 
 
" A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 121 
 
 March,' and one of our own men was given one 
 hundred lashes for the same offence. 
 
 I must not forget to mention that the first settler 
 was a prisoner named James Ruse. To him the 
 Governor lent thirty acres of land, at a place called 
 Parramatta; this was in November 1789. This 
 man married and had one child, and being a very 
 industrious man was able to support himself in a year 
 or so ; whereupon His Excellency, being greatly 
 pleased thereat, granted him the land as his own, 
 and it was formally deeded to him on February the 
 twenty-second, 1792, under the name of Experiment 
 Farm. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 SHOWING HOW A ROGUE LED CAPTAIN PHILLIP TO 
 LOOK FOR GOLD,* AND HOW MATTERS PRO- 
 GRESSED AT THE SETTLEMENT. 
 
 The convicts — or at least the greater part of them — 
 were sad rogues, and it became necessary to flog and 
 hang many of them before they could be got in any 
 sort of good order. A week after we had landed, the 
 triangles were rigged, and a few days later a gallows 
 was put up just within cry of the little town we had 
 made, and we soon had occasion to use them ; indeed, 
 hanging was the only cure for some of the wickedness 
 that throve apace in the settlement ; as for flogging, 
 they seemed to take but little account of that, and 
 would take the risk of it with great cheerfulness, 
 by committing all sorts of petty thefts and such 
 • rogueries. 
 
 Not long after the expedition had landed there 
 began to be some talk of the country containing gold, 
 and indeed I had heard much of this on the voyage out, 
 for many persons in the expedition had said that it was 
 
 * Gold was not discovered in Australia until many years after 
 Sergeant Dew was dead. 
 
 122 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 123 
 
 likely that gold would be found. Perhaps this was 
 because that there were among us, people whose 
 ancestors could remember the talk about the South 
 Americas in the days when every adventurer strove to 
 reach that part of the world where it was supposed that 
 gold abounded ; and so, in one way or another, the 
 idea we had taken into our heads when we were very 
 young got about among us again, that the metal was 
 to be found in every unexplored country. Of course, 
 too, the convicts, who always kept their ears open, 
 soon grew to talk about the matter as well as the free- 
 men, and we soon had an example of how one of the 
 rogues made use of the common belief that gold was 
 in the country. This fellow was a man named Daly, 
 a big, bony Irisher with cunning, grey eyes. He had 
 been transported for coining, and was a most incor- 
 rigible villain ; and after I left the colony was hanged 
 for breaking into the Government stores. 
 
 Well, one day up comes this fellow to one of our 
 officers with a piece of metal resembling gold, and a 
 story that he had discovered the place where it lay in 
 astonishing quanties. If, he said, with many a twist 
 and roll of his villainous eyes, his Honour, the 
 Governor, would obtain his pardon and send him home 
 with a certain female prisoner with whom he was 
 intimate, he would reveal its whereabouts. He told 
 this story with such a truthful air that he was believed 
 by the Governor himself; or at least Captain Phillip, 
 when Daly was brought before him, treated him with 
 
124 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 so much consideration that the rascal was inclined to 
 brazen the matter out. 
 
 I was one of two Marines told off, as an escort over 
 the man, to take him to Captain Phillip, and I heard 
 all that took place. 
 
 Said the Governor, ' Now, Daly, my man, tell us 
 all about this great discovery of yours and we will see 
 what we can do for you.' 
 
 Then the fellow, pulling his forelock, and looking as 
 demure as a village rustic in spite of his rogue eyes, 
 answered that 'twas true he had found gold, and that 
 he had sold some of it for good coin to a gentleman 
 belonging to the Golden Grove. 
 
 Then the Governor had a general muster and 
 ordered the fellow to point out who 'twas that he 
 had sold the gold to. But this he could not do, 
 yet, notwithstanding, persisted in saying that he could 
 point out the spot, so an officer and twenty men — I 
 being one of them — were despatched with him in 
 search of the place. After going about ten miles into 
 the bush the fellow suddenly bolted and we had a 
 great search for him, but could not find him, and 
 returned to the camp, where the rascal was discovered 
 sitting upon a log and laughing at us. 
 
 Major Ross then ordered us to seize the man and 
 lash him to the triangles, and the Governor told the 
 major to flog him until he confessed the truth. It 
 took three hundred lashes to bring him to reason, and 
 between every hundred he was asked to own that his 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 125 
 
 story was a lie, but he stuck to it until the three 
 hundred, and then confessed that he had lied from the 
 beginning and that his only object was to lead the 
 Marines on a wild-goose chase and fool our good 
 Governor. 
 
 As time went on, our detachment became very 
 discontented with the situation, for the Marines were 
 now treated by the Governor with great severity for 
 the slightest breach of discipline. A prisoner who 
 struck a Marine was only punished with a hundred and 
 fifty lashes, while a Marine who was found in one of 
 the women's tents was given a hundred lashes ; so there 
 was much grumbling, but our officers were good and 
 loyal men, else their would have soon been a mutiny, 
 for they too were much discontented. 
 
 The first execution took place in February, when 
 James Barrett, a prisoner, was hanged for stealing 
 from the Government stores. This seems a very 
 dreadful punishment for such an offence, but I will 
 say for Captain Phillip that he was a very mild man 
 and neither hanged nor flogged these rogues unless 
 they richly deserved it, and he had often warned 
 them of their fate if they stole food ; but notwith- 
 standing this, before I left the settlement in October 
 many rascals were swung at the gallows, and flogging 
 had become quite common. 
 
 In May my old master, Lieutenant Fairfax, returned 
 to Sydney Cove from a long excursion into the country 
 to Rose Hill, where he had been superintending the 
 
iz6 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 erection of an observatory and the laying-out of the 
 principal farm of the settlement. 
 
 By his good exertions on my behalf I was pro- 
 moted to the rank of corporal, and considering the 
 short time I had been in the Service, I had good 
 reason to be, and was, very proud of the honour, I can 
 assure you ; and my comrades envied me much. I 
 was promoted in the place of the corporal who was 
 in charge of an island which was close to the settle- 
 ment, and where a garden had been made to grow 
 vegetables and such like produce for the use of the 
 Siriui and Supply. The place was called on that 
 account Garden Island. The corporal in charge and 
 a seaman were severely punished for grievously wound- 
 ing a comrade in a quarrel, and these men's misfortunes 
 led to my advancement. 
 
 The Governor about this time hit upon an idea to 
 punish lazy prisoners instead of flogging them. There 
 was a small rock near the entrance to the cove, which 
 we called Rocky Island, and on this, when a man would 
 not work, he was placed for a week on bread and 
 water until he came to his senses, which, as he was 
 alone and was not allowed more than a bare ration, 
 did not take long, and he dared not try to swim back 
 on account of the ferocity of the sharks. Rock Island 
 on this account soon came to be called Pinchgut, and 
 the device of the Governor proved very effective. I 
 ought to mention that the Governor did not forget to 
 keep up the King's birthday, and a whole batch of 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 127 
 
 rogues who were to be hanged in that week were 
 pardoned, so that they might have cause to remember 
 His Majesty's goodness. 
 
 After a while, as we began to get fairly settled 
 down, the transports left one by one for England, 
 and soon the Sirius and Supply were the only ships 
 left in the cove. Before leaving, the masters of the 
 transports hove them down and overhauled them, and 
 Captain Hunter told the Governor that the frigate — 
 for so he called the Sirius, though she had little claim 
 to that title — would have to be served in the same 
 way, for her hull was in a very bad condition, and 
 when at sea and rolling badly, the timbers in her top- 
 sides opened and shut in a very alarming manner. 
 
 Our farms at Rose Hill and on the shores of the 
 settlement were not yet of much benefit to us, and 
 rations were beginning to run pretty short, and the 
 Governor began to get anxious, as soon as it became 
 evident that our first year's crops would come to no 
 good, all the seeds having got heated and spoiled on 
 the long voyage. It leaked out, too, that Captain 
 Phillip had expected a supply of stores from England 
 soon after our arrival, and was now somewhat 
 despondent, believing that the Government at home 
 took but little heed of our necessities. 
 
 As for Norfolk Island, our hopes in that direction 
 were all well enough for the future, but of course 
 Mr King could not be expected to send us supplies 
 for many months to come ; and so it came about 
 
iz8 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 that the poor, old, battered and worn-out Sirius had 
 to be despatched to the Cape of Good Hope to bring 
 us stores for the settlement. 
 
 The fishing, which we had hoped would have 
 helped us so much, also turned out a failure, and the 
 great shoals of fine, large, pink-coloured fish with 
 bony foreheads, which at first were plentiful in the 
 Cove, and were especially thick about the small rocky 
 island which we afterwards called Pinchgut, suddenly 
 left, and nothing but hungry sharks seemed to fill the 
 waters of the harbour. Then, in addition to our many 
 other troubles, the Indians, as we then called the 
 black native inhabitants, began to get troublesome, and 
 I cannot but help thinking that much of this was 
 brought about by the good-nature of th&Governor, who 
 would not suffer them to be treated with anything but 
 the utmost kindness ; and when, as was often the case, 
 one of our men or a prisoner was injured by them, 
 and took a just revenge, the Governor always punished 
 the white man ; for, said he, ' I have seen enough of 
 these people to know that they are a mild-tempered, 
 innocent race, and I am convinced that they must 
 have received provocation before they would do any 
 of you an injury.' 
 
 All the same, there is no doubt in my mind the 
 savages of this country are a treacherous race, 
 and I will give you one instance of their murderous 
 inclinations. 
 
 On the thirtieth of May two men were cutting 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 129 
 
 and gathering rushes at a bay near the settlement, 
 and as they did not return at the time appointed, a 
 party of our men was sent out to search for them. 
 Their bodies were found in the bush, quite dead and 
 with many of the spears of the natives sticking in 
 them. The savages had carried away the rush-cutters' 
 tools. I knew these two fellows to be quiet, inoffen- 
 sive prisoners, as I had often guarded them at work. 
 The Governor himself, with a squad of our men, went 
 out to try and find the murderers, and by-and-by he 
 came upon a party of them, but he refused to punish 
 them, saying that he was sure they must have had 
 some provocation and the best way to treat them was 
 to teach them better, and so he merely made signs to 
 them that such conduct was very wrong. 
 
 This was, of course, humane treatment on his part, 
 but I agreed with our major's opinion as I had often 
 heard him express it, that it would have been better to 
 have been a little more lenient with our detachment, 
 and expended more powder and shot on the savages. 
 
 As soon as it was decided to dispatch the Sirius to 
 the Cape, and she was got ready for sailing, her crew 
 took up their quarters on board, but some of the 
 officers and a few handy men, such as carpenters' 
 mates, were to be left behind as useful to the settle- 
 ment. 
 
 The Marine afterguard, the Governor thought, 
 ought to be left behind, but as it was necessary by the 
 regulations that the ship, being one of His Majesty's 
 
 1 
 
130 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 frigates, should have some Marines on board of her, 
 it was decided that four privates and a corporal in 
 charge should accompany the ship for guard duty, 
 and very proud was I when I learned that I was to be 
 the corporal selected for this important post. 
 
 By this time our settlement had grown into quite 
 a big town as towns go, for it consisted of over a 
 thousand persons, and so you can easily understand that 
 there was not much intercourse between the Marine 
 detachment and the prisoners. We were forbidden to 
 make friends with the convicts, and all the self- 
 respecting men among my comrades had little to say 
 to the men and women prisoners. 
 
 For these reasons I had not seen anything of the 
 Bryants, and had no wish to renew my acquaintance 
 with them, especially as my position had so changed 
 that I had to be very careful not to jeopardise my 
 superiors' good opinions of me. However, just before 
 I embarked on the Sirius, Lieutenant Fairfax had a 
 conversation with me on this matter. 
 
- CHAPTER XVII 
 
 MERIT REWARDED 
 
 I was, indeed, very proud the day that saw me made 
 a Corporal of Marines, but I take pleasure to think 
 that I bore myself with all due modesty. The 
 lieutenant was good enough to congratulate me 
 upon my elevation. 
 
 Said he — 'Good-day, Corporal Dew, I am glad to 
 hear of your promotion.' 
 
 'Thank you, sir,' said I. 'I hope to do my duty 
 as a non-commissioned officer as well now as in the 
 days when I was of more humble rank.' 
 
 ' I am sure you will,' replied the lieutenant, 
 'only, Dew,' and here he placed his hand on my 
 shoulder, 'only try and be kind to the privates under 
 you ; remember you were once a private yourself, 
 you know.' 
 
 The kind manner in which this was said brought 
 a lump to my throat, and at first I could find no 
 words to answer him. 
 
 Then he laughed quietly, and I had some idea that 
 '3> 
 
132 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 he was making fun of me, though I could see little 
 enough to laugh at in my new responsibility. 
 
 Presently he said, 'Have you heard or seen any- 
 thing of your friends, the Bryants ? ' 
 
 I thought this was scarcely the way to speak of 
 such persons, but I answered, ' No, sir ; of course, 
 I have no intercourse with prisoners, it is against 
 the regulations.' 
 
 ' Oh, no ; of course, I might have known that you 
 would not break a regulation of this kind,' and I 
 thought his grey eyes flashed quickly, 'but their 
 position has been greatly improved of late. You 
 see, the Governor, learning that Bryant was a good 
 boatman, has put him in charge of a fishing party, and 
 it is hoped that he may be able to get some fish out 
 of the Cove where less experienced men have failed.' 
 
 I guessed at once that this was the lieutenant's 
 doing, and I thought it was very good of him to 
 take so much interest in people of this description. 
 So I remarked that I hoped these persons would 
 recognise the leniency of their treatment. 
 
 Then the lieutenant suggested that it would 
 perhaps do no harm if I were to say farewell to 
 the Bryants, and if I cared to do so, he would give 
 me a written permit to visit them in their hut. 
 
 I did not relish the idea very much, but Mr 
 Fairfax seemed to think that my elevation might 
 perhaps serve as an example to them that good con- 
 duct was not overlooked by our superiors, and so I 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 133 
 
 said with a good grace, that if he thought it right, 
 of course, I would go over and see them. 
 
 Accordingly, the Sunday before we got to sea, 
 after church parade, I walked over to the Bryants' 
 quarters. 
 
 Port Jackson contains many little bays and inlets, 
 Sydney Cove being almost at the head of the harbour. 
 On the east side of the cove there is a regular row 
 of bays for the whole way to the southern headland, 
 a distance of about six miles. In the first of these 
 bays, next to Sydney Cove, our town farm was made 
 and we called it Farm Cove ; it was here that the 
 Bryants' hut was situated and the fishing boat was 
 kept. 
 
 When I got to the hut, Will Bryant was sitting 
 outside the door on the grass, mending a seine net, 
 and as I approached him he rose from the ground 
 and advanced to meet me. 
 
 At Solcombe, the last time I had spoken to him, 
 he was a fine, stalwart, young fellow of about six 
 or seven-and-twenty, and looking his age and no 
 more. In those days, scarcely two years gone by, 
 he was as straight as a musket-barrel, and he looked 
 you in the face with his light blue eyes in a way 
 that told you he was as honest a man, smuggler 
 though he was, as any in the village. Then he had 
 fair, curly hair, and kept himself cleanly shaved and 
 smart-looking, as such a properly-built young man 
 should do. 
 
134 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 In the few times that I had seen him since we 
 had landed, it was always at a distance, or I was 
 too much occupied with looking at his wife to take 
 much notice of him, and so I saw in him, but little 
 change; but now that I was thus brought face to 
 face with him, I saw that he was no longer the Will 
 Bryant I had known at Solcombe. 
 
 He was clad in the coarse, canvas clothing which 
 had been served out to the prisoners, and which was 
 all of one pattern, and stamped the men who wore 
 it as being different to their fellows. Instead of the 
 clean-shaven, well-cut features and crisp curly hair 
 that had made a good-looking fellow of my old 
 acquaintance, he now wore a grizzled beard. His 
 hair looked as if it had not been combed for many 
 a day, and his face was roughened and grimy, and 
 there was a strange, hardened look in it. 
 
 ' Good-day to you, Bryant,' said I. 'I hope that 
 you are pretty comfortable, and that your wife is well.' 
 
 'Good-day to you, Corporal Dew,' he replied. 
 ' I am sure it is very good of you to ask. I am doing 
 well, as well as I deserve, no doubt, being nothing 
 but a common felon. My wife is_ well, our rich 
 fare and gentle life, with all the comforts it gives 
 us, you may depend, agrees with her. And what, 
 may I make so bold as to ask, has brought you to visit 
 us to-day ? 'Tis something like two years since you 
 have spoken to me.' 
 
 ' Oh, I only came : to wish you good-bye as an old 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 13; 
 
 acquaintance ; I am going away in the Sirius. Of 
 course, we have not spoken to each other since you 
 got into trouble ; circumstances are different now 
 to what they were at Solcombe.' 
 
 'I am sure it is very good of you to be so con- 
 descending, Corporal Dew. Here is my wife ; no 
 doubt she will appreciate your kindness.' 
 
 Then Mary came out of the hut, and looking 
 at me very straight in the face, she said, ' And 
 what might you want, William Dew ? ' 
 
 ' I merely came to say good-bye, Mrs Bryant ; 
 being old acquaintances, I thought you might like 
 to say farewell, as I am leaving in the Sinus.' 
 
 'Oh, indeed. I thought you had said good-bye 
 to the like of us before — long before — ' 
 
 'Yes, when I got into trouble,' said Bryant, look- 
 ing steadily at me. 
 
 'Yes, when William Dew and yourself got into 
 trouble, and his skin was saved, thanks to you,' said 
 Mary. 
 
 I felt there was a bitterness in this meeting, and 
 I thought it would have been better not to have 
 brought it about. 
 
 ' I suppose you are coming back with the Sirius, 
 and so you will have another opportunity, when you 
 are made sergeant, of showing how well you are 
 doing. Good-bye, I wish you well,' said Mary ; and 
 then she just gave me her ringer- tips and a flash of 
 her black eyes and went inside the hut again. 
 
136 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 'You must forgive us, Mr Dew,' said Bryant. 
 ' We are strange, perhaps, to you, but then, you know, 
 things are not what they were, and you are in a 
 different position to us now.' 
 
 I began to feel that somehow I was not showing 
 to advantage, and that, perhaps, I had forgotten too 
 readily how easily I might have made one of the 
 prisoners betwixt whom and myself I was so ready to 
 draw nice distinctions. Besides, I had begun to see 
 that if Bryant had been less generous, and had not put 
 the whole blame of my share in our smuggling 
 adventure upon himself, he might have suffered less, 
 and I might not have escaped scot-free. And so 
 a feeling came over me that made me extend a hand 
 to Bryant and say, as I turned to go away, — 
 
 'Good-bye, Will. If anything that I can do in 
 the future will benefit the little one as yet unborn, 
 remember, that Corporal of Marines though I am, 
 the child will have a friend in me.' 
 
 Will Bryant pressed my hand, and before he could 
 say some words that I could see he was struggling 
 to get out, but which somehow he seemed too much 
 upset to utter, I walked rapidly away to my quarter 
 of the settlement. 
 
 Once only did I happen to look back, and I saw 
 him standing where I had left him, with his hands 
 clasped together and his face bent to the ground ; 
 then Mary came out from the hut, took his hand 
 in hers as if he were a child, and led him inside. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE SIRIUS HAS A BAD TIME AND WE RETURN TO 
 SYDNEY COVE 
 
 I will not here weary you with all the details of our 
 voyage in the Sirius to Table Bay and back, save to 
 say that before sailing we had to land eight of our 
 guns and much of our shot to lighten the old craft 
 and make room for the stores we were to bring back, 
 and when we sailed out from Sydney Cove we saw 
 Lieutenant Fairfax mounting these guns on a redoubt 
 at the west side of the Cove. Our voyage was a very 
 wearisome one, for the old ship made very bad weather 
 of it, and soon after leaving Port Jackson the scurvy 
 broke out among our crew, and three seamen were 
 buried at sea. This scurvy is indeed a most dreadful 
 and malignant sickness, and the spectacle of our suffer- 
 ing crew filled me with horror and dread. Then, 
 later on, we sprang a leak and we were heartily glad to 
 cast anchor in Table Bay after so perilous an experi- 
 ence. As soon as we got to speak to the people of the 
 place we heard that some of the transports on the way 
 
 137 
 
138 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 home to England had come to grief, and we thought 
 we were well-to-do in having escaped shipwreck our- 
 selves, for our sailors said the old ship was so rotten 
 that they feared the voyage back, and many would 
 have deserted but that we Marines kept too strict a 
 guard upon them. 
 
 On the twenty-second of February we set out on 
 our voyage back, and on the night of the nineteenth 
 of April, when off a little island about twelve miles 
 from the coast of Van Dieman's Land, we were nearly 
 lost in a fierce, southerly gale ; indeed, so perilous was 
 our position that Captain Hunter said to the second 
 lieutenant, who had succeeded Mr King, — 
 
 ' This is beginning to look serious, Mr Fowell. We 
 are making lee way very fast and the land must be 
 close to. Bear a hand and repair the storm mizen 
 staysail, and get it and the reefed foresail set.' 
 
 ' Ay, ay, sir,' said the lieutenant, ' but I fear, sir, 
 that the foresail, instead of lifting her rotten old carcass 
 to the sea, will only bury her into it.' 
 
 'We must do it, however, Mr Fowell,' said the 
 captain, in his quiet way. 'The men are getting 
 nervous, and we must give it to her.' 
 
 So for three hours the old Sirius plunged madly into 
 the mountainous seas, every now and then huge green 
 seas toppling over the waist and filling her decks, and 
 all hands stood by and looked out to leeward in fear 
 and trembling, for already we could discern the black 
 loom of the land. And all the while Captain Hunter 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 139 
 
 stood aft near me and my men who were at the reliev- 
 ing tackles at the rudder, and spoke words of caution 
 and encouragement to us. 
 
 I shall never forget the horrors of that night, but I 
 shall always remember with pride that whenever I 
 looked at the features of our brave captain as he came 
 near the binnacle light, that my heart seemed to grow 
 suddenly big, and that all fear seemed to vanish from 
 within me. Once Mr Fowell came and spoke to him, 
 and said, — 
 
 'What will they do for stores now, sir, at the 
 settlement ? ' 
 
 The captain placed his hand on Mr Fowell's 
 shoulder. ' God help them, indeed, if we go ashore ; 
 their necessities are very great, and I pray that we 
 may get out of this mess for their sake.' 
 
 For this was the nature of this good seaman and 
 honourable gentlemen ; he ever seemed to think of 
 every other person before himself; indeed, hot and 
 short-tempered as he was sometimes, he was yet a 
 man beloved by all on board the Sirius. 
 
 But it pleased the Almighty to save us that night, 
 for after a while we managed to get the mainsail and 
 another staysail set, and although she plunged and 
 reared like a maddened horse, and great seas continu- 
 ally swept over the waist and into the cabins, yet she 
 dragged through it somehow, and when daylight broke 
 we saw that we had just weathered a high, rocky head- 
 land which lay about half a mile away from us. 
 
140 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 Then, although we had escaped so far, we had yet 
 to undergo a further terrible experience, for although 
 we kept a great press of canvas on the ship to work 
 her off the land, she strained and laboured so heavily 
 in the truly awful sea that Captain Hunter thought all 
 hope of saving her was past. So fierce and resistless 
 were the huge waves which every now and then leapt 
 bodily upon the decks and swept everything before 
 them, that the condition and appearance of the ship 
 was most pitiable to look at. All that day we 
 struggled hard along the savage-looking coast line, 
 upon which the surf beat with astounding fury, and 
 not for one moment did Captain Hunter leave the 
 deck, although his officers besought him to take a 
 little rest. About midnight the wind shifted a couple 
 of points to the southward, and we began to work off 
 shore a little, the ship still staggering madly along 
 under a great pressure of canvas, and every now and 
 again taking huge seas over on the starboard side. 
 That night was indeed a dreadful one, and when day- 
 light broke through the black, lowering mist to the 
 eastward, we saw that we were still close to the shore. 
 Then our hearts failed us, especially when, a few 
 minutes afterwards, some of the crew seeing the sea 
 breaking heavily all around us called out that we were 
 among the breakers, and the helmsman became so 
 frightened that he threw the ship up in the wind, and 
 sea after sea crashed down upon the poor old vessel, 
 and fairly buried her for a few minutes. But after a 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 141 
 
 while she freed herself, and Captain Hunter, seeing 
 that there was not room to wear, stood on, and in 
 another hour or two we saw that the land began to 
 trend to the northward, and the sea moderating a 
 little, the captain kept the ship away a point, and 
 although she rolled terribly and still shipped monstrous 
 seas, she steadily worked off this forbidding coast, and 
 we breathed again, thankful to the Almighty for His 
 mercies. From that time the weather steadily im- 
 proved and the wind hauled to the southward, so that 
 on the morning of May the eighth we once more saw 
 the headlands of Port Jackson, and in the afternoon let 
 go our anchor in Sydney Cove. 
 
 So heavy was the press of canvas we had carried 
 during that terrible gale, that the figurehead was 
 washed away, and the head rails and knees of the head 
 were so much damaged that we were obliged to get 
 lashings round the cutwater to secure it to the stem. 
 
 When we entered the Cove we presented such a 
 shattered appearance that the ship was not known. 
 When they found out who we were they gave us a 
 warm welcome, for soon after we sailed the flour had 
 run so short that the allowance to each person was 
 reduced by a pound a week, and this was restored on 
 our arrival. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 SOME DESCRIPTION OF OUR TOWN AND THE SORE 
 STRAITS WE WERE IN FOR FOOD 
 
 Almost as soon as the anchor was down we, the 
 Marine guard of the Sirius were relieved by some 
 of our comrades from the settlement ; for Captain 
 Hunter had sent word ashore that we were quite 
 done up and worn out with the hardships of our 
 terrible passage. 
 
 The first news we heard was that a comrade of 
 mine, named Tom Bullmore, had been killed in a 
 fight with some of our men, and four of the Marines 
 had been tried and sentenced to two hundred lashes 
 each for the crime. Jim Rogers, another Marine, 
 and a very respectable, quiet man, had been lost 
 in the woods somewhere near the rush-cutters' cove, 
 and his remains were never found, although great 
 search had been made for him ; some supposed that 
 he had been captured and killed by the savages. 
 
 A great deal of work had been done in our absence, 
 and I will try and tell you what our town looked like. 
 
 The country round about the settlement was called 
 142 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 14.3 
 
 Cumberland, after the Duke or Cumberland, and its 
 boundary in a westerly direction was at Rose Hill, 
 where our principal farm was situated. At this place 
 a number of prisoners were kept at work, and a 
 country house had been erected for the Governor. 
 An officer and a company of Marines did duty in 
 this wild and lonely place, in spells of three months 
 about. 
 
 In a northerly direction the Governor had explored 
 as far as Broken Bay, but no settlement was formed 
 there. To the south Botany Bay was our limit, and 
 there a fishing party was stationed to help eke out 
 our provisions. 
 
 On the southern headland, at the entrance to Port 
 Jackson, Mr Southwell, a master's mate of the Sirius, 
 was stationed with a small party, and their duty was 
 to keep a lookout for the arrival of store ships, which 
 we were now anxiously expecting from England. 
 They had built a few huts and a lookout place, and 
 erected a flagstafF, and with this and one of the 
 guns of the Sirius they were to signal arrivals, but, 
 alas ! nothing had arrived for them to signal. 
 
 The old Sirius rode at anchor close to the mouth 
 of the harbour, and the Supply was moored on the 
 west side near a cove in which we had, before sailing 
 for the Cape, hove the old ship down. Near the 
 headland, on the north shore of the harbour, were 
 fixed our scientific instruments, and this we called 
 the Observatory. Then on the west side of the 
 
H+ A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 Cove were the hospital buildings, and a main street 
 was surveyed and laid out near here, its direction 
 being about south-west from the shore. Barracks 
 and temporary huts were close by, and also a prison 
 for the ill-behaved. 
 
 On the east side of the cove the Governor's resi- 
 dence was placed, and near to it the main guard. 
 A quarter of a mile inland were the officials' houses 
 and our officers' quarters, and then beyond were more 
 huts for prisoners. The workshops were near the 
 prisoners' huts, and then on the outskirts of the 
 settlement was the magazine. The triangles and 
 the gallows were erected outside of all, up towards the 
 head of the stream of fresh water, and not far from 
 this was a burial ground. In the next cove towards 
 the east was a small farm, and the fishing party to 
 which Bryant belonged was hutted there. 
 
 A number of the Marines had brought their wives 
 and children with them, and these married men's 
 quarters were near the huts of the best class of 
 married prisoners ; but, as you may well believe, 
 the wives and families of my comrades had too much 
 self-respect not to keep well apart from the felons. 
 Yet it was in somewise hard for the children, as 
 I remember the wife of one of our men telling me 
 that some of the convict children were as well trained 
 as any in the settlement, but she, for one, would never 
 let her children so much as speak to a felon's child. 
 This was because two of a prisoner's children had 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 145 
 
 sought to join in some childish game with her 
 children. I could not but commend her for her 
 caution, although, as I have said, it bore hardly upon 
 the innocent offspring of both free and bond. 
 
 The daily work of the settlement was carried on 
 with very proper regularity, and we were a busy 
 community. In one place you would see a party 
 cutting wood, in another a blacksmith's forge blazed 
 and smoked, in another a gang of prisoners would 
 be dragging stones for building purposes, and at short 
 spaces you could everywhere see the bright coats 
 and glitter of the muskets and bayonets of the 
 Marine sentries on guard over the prisoners at work. 
 Then, every now and then, Captain Phillip would 
 be walking quickly about, looking at this or that 
 gang as they worked, but never saying a harsh word 
 to any one of them ; indeed, some of them had so 
 far gained his confidence that they had been ap- 
 pointed to supervise gangs of their fellows. 
 
 Bryant, I soon learned, had been given charge 
 of a gang told ofF to fish the waters of the Cove, 
 and he had behaved himself well, and was well 
 liked by his superiors. I also heard that a boy-child 
 had been born unto him, which he and Mary had called 
 Emanuel, after one of our officers who, with my 
 lieutenant, had shown much interest in them. 
 
 All this time, however, the stores were steadily 
 running short, although the Supply had twice brought 
 us a little from Norfolk Island, where Mr King had 
 
 K 
 
1 46 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 made good progress, although there had been an 
 attempt at mutiny there. The Supply had, on both 
 voyages, taken down more prisoners, and the guard 
 being small, the villains thought to overpower them. 
 But Lieutenant King was not the man to be trifled 
 with, and he soon put a stopper on that sort of work. 
 
 By-and-by matters came to such a bad pass for 
 the want of provisions that six men of our detach- 
 ment robbed a public store, and were speedily hanged 
 for it ; it was a terrible punishment, for we were all 
 suffering sore temptation through our great hunger. 
 
 At last Captain Phillip, despairing of the arrival of 
 the store-ships from England, determined, as Norfolk 
 Island seemed to be flourishing, to send a part of 
 our community thither ; and to that end the Sinus 
 and Supply were got ready for sea. Two companies 
 of our detachment were embarked under Major Ross, 
 who had orders to relieve Mr King, who was to 
 return to the settlement. 
 
 I was sorry that once more I was to be separated 
 from Lieutenant Fairfax, who was to remain at 
 Sydney Cove while I took up my old station on the 
 Sirius, though I was not sorry for the trip, as, when 
 we left, I was on the books of the Sirius, and not 
 in the detachment told off to remain at Norfolk 
 Island. Our numbers were made up of sixty-five 
 officers and men, with five women and children from 
 the detachment and the civil department, and one 
 hundred and sixteen male and sixty-seven female 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 147 
 
 convicts, with twenty-seven children. This would, 
 on our arrival, bring the numbers on the island to civil 
 and military and free people, ninety ; male convicts, 
 one hundred and ninety-one ; female convicts, one 
 hundred ; and children, thirty-seven. 
 
 We got under weigh on March the sixth 
 1790, with orders to return to Port Jackson as 
 quickly as possible, for we were to voyage to 
 Batavia for supplies. The day we left, the Governor 
 put every adult person in the settlement, without 
 excepting any one person, including himself, upon 
 a weekly ration of four pounds of flour, two and 
 a half pounds of pork and one and a half pounds 
 of rice. 
 
 So away we sailed for Norfolk Island, little know- 
 ing what was to befall us there. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 WE SEE THE LAST OF THE SIRIUS, AND I GET 
 A GREAT REWARD 
 
 We made a fine-weather passage down to the island, 
 the appearance of which my comrades and myself 
 liked mightily, for its great greenness and profusion 
 of rich verdure was very pleasing to the eye ; but 
 yet it was sad to think that a spot of such beauty, 
 endowed, as we afterwards found, by an all-bountiful 
 Providence with the choicest gifts of scenery, climate 
 and fruits of the soil, should so soon be. turned by man 
 into a veritable hell, and, as one of my officers said, 
 disfigured by crime, loathsome vice and misery. 
 
 We were lucky enough to land most of our 
 passengers on the fourteenth of March, when the 
 wind began to blow with much force, and then we 
 had to stand off and on till the nineteenth, landing 
 the remainder of the people as best we could, together 
 with the light baggage. 
 
 There are but two or three landing-places on the 
 island, the best being at Sydney Bay and at Cascade 
 Bay. The latter bay is a very beautiful place, the 
 148 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 149 
 
 shores being fringed with pleasant-looking clusters of 
 richly-foliaged trees, over the tops of which tower 
 great giant pines ; but in the interior the prospect 
 is still more beautiful, and in places the country re- 
 sembles nothing so much as some of the great parks in 
 the south of England. Sydney Bay is on the south 
 side of the island, and there is a very ugly coral reef 
 here which shows its jagged teeth very plainly when 
 the tide is out. About a league from Sydney Bay is 
 a small, high island which was named Phillip Island, 
 after our Governor. 
 
 Almost touching the mainland there is another 
 island separated by a deep, narrow channel, and 
 shaped somewhat like a horse-shoe, the open part 
 facing to the east. In height it is about seventy 
 feet, and in length, perhaps a third of a mile, and 
 this, too, was covered with a thick, dense verdure of 
 small trees. I have been told that, some five or 
 six years after I left Norfolk Island, there came 
 several very severe earthquake shocks which greatly 
 terrified the inhabitants, who, on looking towards 
 this little island, saw that part of it, nearest to the 
 mainland, subside with a violent commotion under 
 the sea, so that the channel was increased to half a 
 mile in width. 
 
 The main island appears a precipitous spot, rising 
 with great abruptness from the sea and furrowed by 
 deep, storm-worn channels along its densely-wooded 
 sides. To land at Sydney Bay the boat has to pass 
 
ISO A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 through a narrow passage in the reef I have spoken 
 of, and the landing is altogether very dangerous. 
 
 We landed most of our people at Cascade Bay, 
 and some of the baggage, but none of the provisions, 
 and Captain Hunter began to get greatly worried, 
 for he knew that the stock of food on shore was but 
 little, and that the people would soon suffer hunger, 
 if the weather did not take up and enable him to get 
 some of the supplies to them. 
 
 The Supply^ having oustailed us, had managed, she 
 being a much smaller ship, to get into Sydney Bay, 
 and anchor without much difficulty ; and so being, 
 as I have said, fretful and anxious about the straits 
 of those ashore, Captain Hunter determined to venture 
 in close with the Sirius rather than box about to 
 and fro off the island and perhaps get blown away 
 altogether. The breeze being strong, he soon worked 
 the ship close into the land, and then brought to, head 
 off shore, and got out our boats and began loading 
 them. 
 
 After the boats had sheered off, the wind began 
 to. drop a little, but there was a very heavy sea, and 
 the captain saw that the ship began to set very much 
 to leeward. Most of the crew being away in the 
 boats, we who remained were at once set to get 
 sail on her. But, notwithstanding all that we did, 
 it soon became apparent that the ship could not 
 weather the reef, and then, too, the wind shifted a 
 couple of points against us, and she broke off in an 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 151 
 
 alarming manner. Captain Hunter at once threw 
 her in stays, but she missed, and made a stern-board ; 
 but, providentially, the current carried her just clear 
 of the breakers. Had we struck just at that part of 
 the reef not a soul would have lived to tell the tale, 
 for the sea was rolling on the jagged rocks with 
 astonishing noise and fury. Once clear of the 
 point of the reef, we filled again, and then brought 
 to the wind on the other tack, but the ship still 
 drifted fast towards the shore, and another attempt 
 was made to stay her ; this, too, failed, for the poor 
 old ship was very much out of trim, and we could 
 see by the weary, slow manner in which she came 
 to the wind that she would never go off on the 
 other tack. The moment the captain saw there 
 was no prospect of her staying, he gave the order 
 to let go all sheets and halliards, and our starboard 
 anchor was let go, but before it reached the bottom, 
 the ship struck with violence on a jutting ledge of 
 the reef. 
 
 It was my first experience of the kind, and the 
 dreadful noise and great shocks that followed each 
 other with alarming quickness very much terrified • 
 me at first. The first time time she struck, the 
 rudder was torn away from the stern-post, and then 
 for a moment or so she hung by her heel on the 
 reef, with her stern high up and her bows so deep 
 down that the sea poured in over the head and filled 
 her decks to the waist. 
 
1 52 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 In a few seconds, however, she lifted again to 
 another huge roller that seemed to tower up far 
 over the fore-yard, and then she was hurled, still 
 stern up, farther back upon the reef, and then settled 
 down with a terrible crash, bilging in the whole 
 larboard side like a rotten egg-shell. Most fortun- 
 ately for our lives, the ship's bows were head on to 
 the seas, which now dashed over her with incredible 
 fury, otherwise, so huge were the rollers that had 
 they struck us broad-side on, we should have been 
 capsized and rolled over and over like a log. In a 
 few minutes after first striking, a great green wave 
 leapt bodily upon her, and, lifting her forward, swung 
 her round somewhat ; she gave a frightful roll to 
 starboard, and the fore and mainmasts went by the 
 board, followed presently by the mizzen. 
 
 Encouraged by the example of the captain and 
 master and other officers, our crew sprang to the 
 work of cutting away the wreckage of the masts 
 from the ship's side with a will, for there was a 
 terribly strong back -wash, and every moment we 
 feared that the great mass of masts and spars would 
 be swept back over our decks again by the retreat- 
 ing waves and kill or maim every soul on board. 
 I can well remember — so often do the veriest trifles 
 at such times prove a matter of future interest to 
 one's memory — that just as the main deck, from 
 the terrific rolling, began to work loose, the master 
 called out to those upon it to come aft to the 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 153 
 
 quarter-deck, which he knew was safer, ' for,' said 
 he, 'do you fellows think you are going to wait till 
 the ship rolls her deck out so that you can all 
 get ashore in it comfortably ? Lay aft here, you 
 lazy dogs.' 
 
 Now, thought I, if the master can make a jest 
 out of such a terrible situation as is ours, why should 
 I, who know nothing of shipwrecks, be in any way 
 afraid. So this gave me good courage, and from 
 that moment my alarm ceased. However, within 
 a few minutes I saw the wisdom of the master's 
 banter, for the ship gave another heavy roll to star- 
 board, and I saw a great gape begin to show on the 
 larboard side between the deck and the bulwarks, and 
 soon after the whole main deck worked right out of 
 her and was washed away. 
 
 By this time the people on shore, under the 
 guidance of the officers of the Supply, had managed 
 to get a line out to us, and bent a hawser to it. 
 Our end of this we bent to the stump of the 
 mizzenmast, and the shore end was made fast to a 
 tree. Having plenty of men ashore, they soon got 
 a whip and traveller to work, and then Captain 
 Hunter, calling upon three of our ship's boys, sent 
 them ashore one after another. One of them, being 
 terribly frightened at the look of the seething surf 
 through which he had to pass, clung to Captain 
 Hunter's legs, but the master grabbed him by his 
 slacks, lashed him securely for his trip, and he was 
 
1 54 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 dragged through and landed on shore nearly dead 
 with fright and exhaustion. 
 
 It took us nearly two hours before we were all 
 landed ; many of us, including Captain Hunter, 
 were badly hurt in being hauled ashore, but yet, 
 seeing that it had pleased God to spare our lives, 
 none of us grumbled at our bruised and torn bodies, 
 but rather thanked Him that we had any bodies left 
 with enough life left in them to feel our bruises or 
 wounds. 
 
 That night we were well cared for by those on 
 shore, and, although I was very sore and stiff when 
 I arose in the morning, I was yet determined to do 
 my duty like a man. The weather was now 
 moderate, and the surf no longer beat with savage 
 fury upon the reef, and we saw that the ship still 
 held together. Soon after mid-day an attempt was 
 made to save some of the provisions, and two 
 prisoners went ofF by the hawser to throw some 
 of the live stock, such as sheep, fowls and pigs, 
 overboard, and so give them a chance to swim 
 ashore. 
 
 Certainly these rascals did throw some of the 
 animals overboard, and then very quickly made their 
 way to the cabin and got drunk, and there they 
 remained until the evening, when they roused them- 
 selves, lit all the lamps they could find and then 
 burst open the ispirit room and made merry. By- 
 and-by as the wind died away we could hear the 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 155 
 
 villains singing and laughing with much hilarity, 
 and Major Ross, seeing that there was every chance 
 of these fellows setting the ship on fire, called for 
 volunteers to go off and toss the rogues overboard. 
 
 Thereupon I offered, and a young prisoner, one 
 John Ascott, joined with me, and we were hauled 
 off on the hawser, and not a moment too soon were 
 we, for one of the after cabins on the larboard side 
 — that which had been occupied by Major Ross — 
 was already on fire. We soon managed to put this 
 out, and then turned to our two gentry, who were 
 both lying down upon a pile of cushions in a very 
 comfortable manner in a drunken sleep. Although 
 Major Ross had told me to throw them overboard, 
 I ventured not to fulfil this order, as he did not 
 take it into account that they would be too drunk 
 to move ; so we dragged them on deck, made them 
 fast to the whip and they were hauled ashore in no 
 gentle manner by my comrades, who were sore 
 over the grog being drunk by two such villains. 
 Then Ascott and I followed. 
 
 As soon as we were landed, we reported ourselves 
 to Major Ross, who awaited us in company with 
 Mr King and other officers. Ascott, he made a 
 free man for his good conduct on the spot, but 
 merely told me to go and change my clothes and 
 take a few hours' rest. 
 
 The next day, however, he sent for me and said, — 
 ' Corporal Dew, you have always done your duty 
 
156 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 like a good soldier, and last night I consider you 
 earned a good reward. You have not been long in 
 the Service, but your future rank is that of Sergeant.' 
 That was the proudest moment of my life. 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 WE SPEND A WEARY TIME ON A LONELY ISLAND 
 
 The old ship held together for another day or two, 
 and we Marines assisted the sailors and prisoners to 
 save a good many of her stores and provisions ; then 
 it came on to blow again, a long, sweeping roll came 
 in from the southward, and in a few hours great curl- 
 ing seas flung themselves upon the battered hull, and 
 then we saw the last of the poor old Sirius reduced 
 to a few heaps of wreckage dashed upon the rocks of 
 Sydney Bay. 
 
 There is no doubt but that our major was a very 
 different kind of man to Governor Phillip ; and, with- 
 out making so bold as to draw comparisons between 
 them, Major Ross was, perhaps, too much of a soldier 
 for the kind of work we were performing, besides 
 which, he was a man of very hasty temper, which 
 oft outran his judgment. 
 
 The very moment almost that the Sirius struck the 
 
 reef, our drummers on shore beat to quarters, and the 
 
 commandant proclaimed that the island was under 
 
 martial law. 
 
 i57 
 
158 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 A meeting of the major and Captain Hunter and 
 Lieutenant King was held on the next day, and a 
 proclamation was then made, that there being no 
 civil court on the island any crime would be punished 
 with death, and this was necessary to prevent theft 
 and a general mutiny, perhaps, as well. We were 
 assembled to hear this proclamation read at eight 
 o'clock in the morning on the day after the ship- 
 wreck. 
 
 The Union was hoisted on a flagstaff near the 
 landing-place, and our detachment was drawn up in 
 two lines, leaving a space in the centre for the officers. 
 The Strius's crew were in the rear of one line, and 
 the prisoners in the rear of the other. 
 
 Then the drums beat a rally, and the colours which 
 we had brought on the ship, on account of having the 
 senior officer with us, were unfurled. The major read 
 the proclamation, and then said he, — 
 
 ' Officers and men of the civil and military detach- 
 ment, you have heard the law of the island read, see 
 that you observe it. Our position is a serious one, 
 and I give you fair warning that it will be my duty 
 to enforce, with the utmost severity, the penalty for 
 infringement of the regulations.' 
 
 Then turning to the convicts he went on, — 
 
 'As for you, be honest, industrious and obedient, 
 and all will go well with you, but ' (and here his face 
 darkened visibly, and the row of felons behind the line 
 of Marines craned forward their heads to catch every 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 159 
 
 word he uttered) ' but take care how you offend. I 
 will have no mercy on idlers or plotters.' 
 
 Then we all gave three cheers, and every person, 
 beginning with the major, passed under the Union flag, 
 taking off their hats as they passed it in token of an 
 oath to submit to the martial law which was thus 
 proclaimed. And so began our life on this lonely 
 island under the rule of the stern and dreaded major. 
 
 The Supply was despatched on the twenty-fourth of 
 March to Sydney Cove to let them know what had 
 happened. She arrived there on April the fifth, and 
 caused great misery by, the news she brought. Lieu- 
 tenant King went back to Port Jackson in the brig, 
 and I heard one of the prisoners tell a comrade who 
 worked with him that the very worst behaved of them 
 was sorry that he had gone and left them to be dealt 
 with by the major. 
 
 Hearing this dangerous sort of talk, I threatened the 
 fellow, who, however, was very humble and said he 
 meant no harm. ' You see, sir,' said he, ' the lieu- 
 tenant kept us from going to the triangles, and only 
 sent us there when we deserved it, but the major 
 follows us about with them.' 
 
 Now I ought to have had this fellow reported for 
 his talk, but somehow his manner was so respectful 
 that I overlooked it. And, indeed, we were all sorry 
 to see the last of Lieutenant King, who, while he was 
 very severe upon evil-doers, was very just to all who did 
 their duty. When he arrived in Port Jackson, he was 
 
160 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 ordered to England by Captain Phillip with despatches 
 reminding the Government of the great urgency of 
 sending us aid. Mr King went by way of Batavia, 
 to which place the Supply was sent for food on the 
 eighteenth of April. 
 
 For eleven long, weary months we remained at this 
 place, and those months, despite the great beauty of 
 the island and the constant round of duty that gave 
 me but little time to fret, were the hardest to bear 
 that I, with even all the sad experiences I had under- 
 gone, have suffered. You must know we lost many 
 things in the wreck of our old ship, all our energies 
 being devoted to saving what was likely to be useful 
 to us all in common, and so many of us went short of 
 clothes and other comforts. My duties while I 
 remained on the island were to take my turn with 
 the other sergeants in charge of a squad of Marines 
 who watched the prisoners at their work upon the 
 roads, the buildings, or the farms of the settlement. 
 This was called chain gang guard duty, because the 
 prisoners for most part worked in chains shackled 
 together. Truly it was a sad and heartrending 
 spectacle, for, although these men were nearly all 
 double-dyed villains and ruffians of the worst class, 
 yet one could not but feel some degree of pity for 
 their awful lot, and the everlasting clank, clank of 
 their chains amid the beauties of Nature about us 
 and them seemed to me a very strange and terrible 
 contrast. 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 161 
 
 Under Lieutenant King the settlement had made 
 great progress. He had erected many good and sub- 
 stantial buildings and made excellent roads about the 
 island, and had some fine crops growing on the place. 
 But all this had not been effected with the lazy 
 rascals who were supposed to do the work with- 
 out much wholesome punishment, and the convicts 
 for the most part had had the impudence all taken 
 out of them by a free use of the triangles when we 
 landed on the island. For although Lieutenant 
 King was naturally a fair man, he was a better 
 officer. 
 
 The attempt to grow flax had, however, been a 
 failure, though it was expected, as time went on, the 
 settlers would by experience succeed in their efforts, 
 and profit by the skill of Mr Morley, the gentleman 
 adventurer of whom I have spoken, and who had 
 accompanied Lieutenant King to teach the prisoners 
 how to manufacture the raw material. Indeed, long 
 after this, one of the following Governors at Port 
 Jackson thought much of raising flax on the island, 
 and a ship was sent to New Zealand from Port 
 Jackson to capture some of the native Mowrees, 
 as the savages of that country are called, and bring 
 them to Norfolk Island, for they are well skilled in 
 its cultivation, and Captain Cook had seen them manu- 
 facture it into a rude cloth. 
 
 The island reminded me very much of my old 
 home. It is a beautiful, fertile spot, all hills and dales, 
 
 L 
 
i6z A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 and bright green grass, and was very like the Isle of 
 Wight, but not so large. 
 
 However, we were all too miserable and anxious to 
 be relieved to think much of these things then, I can 
 tell you, and very joyous we were when at the end of 
 the eleven months the Supply hove in sight off Sydney 
 Bay, and we lucky ones of the detachment who be- " 
 longed to the ship's company of the Sirius marched 
 down to the shore with drums beating and light hearts, 
 and tumbled into the boats to take up our quarters on 
 board the brig, which was taking us back to Port 
 Jackson. 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 THE SECOND FLEET ARRIVES AND WE HEAR 
 NEWS FROM HOME 
 
 The gallant little Supply landed us in Port Jackson 
 on the twenty-sixth of February, 1791, and as soon 
 as we had disembarked we heard that many important 
 events had happened during our absence. 
 
 When we left the settlement for Norfork Island, 
 the Governor had wisely put every person on short 
 rations, but when the news came of the disaster to 
 the Sirius, they were still further reduced, and then 
 the prisoners became too weak to work very much. 
 The rations served out were only two pounds and 
 a half of floor, two pounds of pork, and two pounds 
 of rice, to seven persons for one day. 
 
 So the Supply was sent to Batavia, under Lieutenant 
 Ball, for all the provisions she could carry, with 
 orders to get back as quickly as possible, and the 
 poor, hungry folks on shore watched her sail away 
 with very depressed hearts, knowing it would be 
 long, weary months ere she returned. And, indeed, 
 163 
 
1 64 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 it was nearly six months ere she came back, but 
 sad to say, she brought back but eight months' 
 supplies for her own people, for provisions were 
 scarce at Batavia ; but Lieutenant Ball gladdened 
 the hearts of the people by informing Captain Phillip 
 that he had chartered the Dutch snow Waaksam- 
 heyd to follow him with a cargo of stores. The 
 Dutchman, however, did not arrive till December, 
 and in the meantime the Lady Juliana had arrived 
 from England, so the Dutch skipper, whose name 
 was Smith, was not so welcome as he would have 
 been had he arrived a little earlier. 
 
 The Lady Juliana was the first ship to arrive in 
 Port Jackson of the second fleet of convicts sent to 
 the colony. This second fleet consisted of the 
 Justinian store ship, the. Surprize, Neptune, Scarbaro, 
 and the Lady Juliana convict transports, carrying 
 between them nearly one thousand three hundred 
 prisoners, and the Guardian man-o'-war, converted 
 into a store ship, and which was injured by an ice- 
 berg and beached at Table Bay. The fleet left 
 England in the middle of the year 1789, and the 
 Lady Juliana brought letters and despatches up to 
 July twenty-eighth of that year. When she was 
 sighted at the look-out point on June the third, 
 1790, the flag was run up signalling that a ship was 
 in sight. 
 
 A very exciting scene followed this news, many 
 of the people actually weeping for joy. As she was 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 165 
 
 working in between the heads, the Governor put off 
 to her, but his return damped the joy of the unhappy 
 people when it was known that she had brought 
 with her over two hundred female prisoners, and 
 only a few provisions saved from the Guardian. 
 
 She brought exciting news. A bloody revolution 
 was going on in France, and our own King, George 
 the Third, had been so ill that a Regency was 
 appointed to govern the kingdom, but our people 
 at the settlement rejoiced that he was now quite 
 recovered. 
 
 She brought letters for many of the poor exiles, 
 and Lieutenant Fairfax heard of the death of the 
 old squire, his father. Miss Charlotte Fairfax wrote 
 this letter, and the lieutenant was so good as to 
 read portions of it to me when he saw me on my 
 return from Norfolk Island, and his sister had actually 
 remembered me, for she wrote : — ' Tell the lad 
 Dew, who sailed for Botany Bay with you, that his 
 father's health is breaking and that he grows anxious 
 for his return.' Then in another part of the letter 
 Miss Fairfax urged the lieutenant to come home as 
 soon as possible and bring me with him, that I might 
 comfort my father in his old age. Indeed, her kind 
 words concerning so humble a person as myself 
 brought the water to my eyes, and affected me quite 
 as much as did the sad news about my poor father's 
 health. 
 
 The wreck of the Guardian was a serious disaster 
 
1 66 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 to us, for she was a fast ship, and had a fine lot of 
 stores for the settlement, and by her loss we were 
 left with a great increase to our population, but 
 with no sensible addition to our means of feeding 
 them. Fortunately, seventeen days later, the Justinian 
 arrived laden entirely with stores, and within eight 
 days the Surprize, the Scarboro and the Neptune had 
 all made the port. The fleet had had a terrible 
 voyage, for on the three last - named ships alone 
 two hundred and sixty-seven persons had perished 
 out of one thousand and six who sailed, and three 
 weeks after the ships arrived, fifty more had died 
 and four hundred and fifty were on the sick list, 
 the remainder being too ill to attend to themselves. 
 The voyage had been full of mutinies, and dread- 
 ful bloodshed and troubles of all sorts ; and everyone 
 of the officers on board, so my comrades told me, 
 looked worn out with the terrible days of ceaseless 
 anxiety they had gone through. The sight the 
 prisoners presented when they were landed, many 
 of them still heavily ironed, was a very horrid one, 
 and the filthy condition of some of the most dangerous 
 of them was revolting to the eye of every decent 
 person. 
 
 There was a great fuss made about this voyage 
 in England afterwards ; but all this is another story, 
 and I must come back to what concerns me alone. 
 
 The guards on these ships were furnished by men 
 from a new regiment called the New South Wales 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 167 
 
 Corps (the I02d Regiment), which was raised for 
 service in the settlement. The remainder of this 
 regiment was coming out in a third fleet of trans- 
 ports, and on board of His Majesty's ship Gorgon, 
 which was to take the Marines home to England. 
 Our battalion was told that the men might re-enlist 
 for service in the colony in the new regiment ; but 
 you may depend very few of our men volunteered, 
 and there was much rejoicing and looking forward 
 to the arrival of the Gorgon to take us home. Indeed, 
 I think the sight of the landing of the people from 
 the second fleet proved too much for many of our 
 men, and made them eager to be away from such 
 horrors. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 THE LIEUTENANT AND MYSELF MEET WITH A 
 GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT, AND I MAKE THE 
 ACQUAINTANCE OF THE DUTCH CAPTAIN OF 
 THE WAAKSAMmm 
 
 According to the dispatches that Captain Phillip 
 had received from England, the Gorgon ought to 
 have arrived long before we returned from Norfolk 
 Island in the Supply, and as month after month 
 went by, and there was no sign of her, the governor 
 determined to send the ship's company of the Sirius 
 home in the Dutch snow,* the JVaaksamheyd, which 
 was taken into the service as a transport, and we 
 were greatly rejoiced at the prospect of a speedy 
 return. Already the men of the new regiment 
 and the Marines were at loggerheads, and we 
 had fights occurring very frequently ; the new men 
 were certainly, to my mind, a very indifferent and 
 badly-disciplined regiment when compared to my 
 corps. 
 
 In those times much of the discipline of the 
 
 * A snow was a vessel with fore and main masts, and with another 
 short mast stepped very far aft. 
 
 168 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 169 
 
 service was relaxed, and so it was that Lieutenant 
 Fairfax, who was now a much older and graver- 
 looking man, would get talking to me, when I was 
 off duty, quite familiarly. 
 
 The Bryants, he one day told me, were doing 
 very well now. A second child had been born to 
 them, and I thought it no little presumption on 
 their part, and very good-natured of Mr Fairfax not 
 to be offended, that they had named the child 
 Charlotte, after Mary's former mistress, Miss 
 Fairfax of Solcombe Manor House. Will Bryant 
 had now charge of the settlement fishing station, 
 and, with his crew, was employed in fishing about 
 the numerous bays in Port Jackson, he being 
 allowed to cruise in any part of the bay inside 
 the heads. 
 
 Only a few days after the lieutenant had told 
 us about the chartering of the JVaaksamheyd, he 
 came to me with a very long face. 
 
 ' Sergeant, this is indeed hard lines ; we are not 
 going home after all until the Gorgon arrives. 
 Only the actual ship's company of the Sirius go 
 home in the snow.' 
 
 ' How then, sir,' said I, ' do we not belong to 
 the Sirius f 
 
 ' The Governor has had my name taken off her 
 books ever since she left for the Cape of Good 
 Hope, and I have to do guard duty here until 
 relieved by the remainder of the new regiment. 
 
170 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 And as you belong to my company, Dew, you, 
 too, will have to remain. The Governor said he 
 was very sorry for us both, but duty, you know, 
 sergeant.' 
 
 This was sad news for me, and as the lieutenant 
 walked moodily away I thought of my poor old 
 father, and wondered if I should see him again ; 
 but it was worse for Mr Fairfax, whose estates 
 badly wanted a man's management to put and 
 keep them in order. 
 
 And so it came about that our brave Captain 
 Hunter and the sailors of the Sirius went home 
 in the Dutch snow, and had a dreadful voyage, 
 meeting with bad weather and much sickness. 
 They sailed out of Port Jackson on the morning 
 of March the twenty-seventh, 1791, and arrived at 
 Portsmouth on April the twenty - second, 1792. 
 There Captain Hunter was tried by court-martial 
 for the loss of the Sirius, and was honourably 
 acquitted. 
 
 But before the Dutchman left Port Jackson on 
 this voyage, there occurred a very momentous event 
 in the history of Mary and Will Bryant, and the 
 master of the JVaaksamheyd was greatly concerned 
 therein, as.you will see later on. 
 
 His ship lay at her anchor off the Farm Cove, 
 after she had discharged her stores, and a gang of 
 mei\ were working on board, putting in some 
 fittings in her 'tween decks, to receive the men 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 171 
 
 from the Sirius. The captain of the snow was a 
 Dutchman, whose proper name, I have no doubt, 
 was Schmidt, but who always wrote it Smith, 
 I suppose, because he had the honour to sail under 
 English colours since the Governor had chartered him. 
 
 He was a big, fat, greasy-looking fellow, with 
 the look of a brewer's storeman disguised in a cloak 
 and Guy Fawkes hat, like all the Dutchmen I 
 had ever seen at Portsmouth looked. I got to 
 know him very well by sight before he sailed ; he 
 was such a coarse, gross-looking man that I could 
 not help disliking him even then. 
 
 At this time I had just been put in charge of 
 the Farm Cove guard-room, which was situated 
 some little distance from the water's edge, but 
 right on the road to the Governor's house, and 
 not far from the huts of the fishing settlement ; 
 and every time this great Dutch seal came waddl- 
 ing ashore, he had, in order to reach the main 
 settlement, to first pass the fishing huts of Will 
 Bryant and his party, and then the main guard- 
 room ; and as he always came ashore every day, 
 he soon became quite a familiar person to us all. 
 
 Now, as soon as I was appointed to my new post, 
 I knew that what I had dreaded from the first day 
 of my arrival at the settlement had come to pass, 
 and it had become my duty to act as gaoler over 
 poor Will Bryant and the woman whose love I had 
 once sought. 
 
I7z A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 A list of the prisoners in this fishing village was 
 furnished to me, and I was glad to read that I was 
 not in any way to interfere with them so long as 
 they behaved themselves. 
 
 As I have already said, Will Bryant was, by reason 
 of his good conduct, placed in charge of the gang, 
 whose names I will here set down on account of 
 the adventure in which they afterwards took part. 
 
 First, then, there was Will Bryant and Mary his 
 wife, and the children Emanuel and Charlotte. He 
 was described in my list as of first-class behaviour, 
 and the family, so my orders ran, having proved by 
 their good conduct that they were entitled to every 
 consideration consistent with the penal discipline of 
 the settlement, were to be interfered with as little 
 as possible. Then there were James Martin, James 
 Cox and Samuel Bird alias John Simms, all of whom 
 had landed with us in the first fleet, and who were 
 all ' good conduct ' men ; William Allen, John 
 Butcher, Nathaniel Lilley and William Morton, who 
 had been landed from the second fleet, and knowing 
 something of boats, had been sent to Farm Cove 
 to work in Bryant's gang. 
 
 The guard was made up of myself, a corporal and 
 four privates, and from these, sentries were found to 
 guard the Government buildings, which now stretched 
 from our guard-house across to Sydney Cove. But 
 one sentry was on duty at night-time, posted outside 
 the guard-room to give the alarm in case of sudden 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 173 
 
 outbreak, the only danger we feared. Our guard- 
 house was situated about half a mile from the shore, 
 where the boats were hauled up on the mud and 
 made fast by chains to posts. These chains were 
 secured by a pair of handcuffs, and it was the duty 
 of the corporal of the guard to see them locked and 
 then hang the keys up in the guard-room. 
 
 During the day-time Bryant was responsible for 
 the boats, and it was none of my business to interfere 
 with him so long as his gang did not idle their time 
 away, and kept good order. 
 
 Bryant was the only married man in the party, 
 and he lived with his wife and two children in a 
 hut some little distance from that occupied by the 
 other men. 
 
 I took charge of this post on the twenty-fourth of 
 March, 1791, at noon, and as soon as the relieved 
 guard marched off and I had seen my sentries properly 
 posted, I walked down to the shore to see the Bryants. 
 
 Will was busy, with the help of two of his men, in 
 putting a new plank in the big boat, and the rest of 
 the gang were away fishing in the harbour, or mend- 
 ing their nets some distance from us. 
 
 Mary sat at the door of the hut nursing her infant, 
 and her other child, a fine, sturdy little fellow with fair, 
 curly hair and blue eyes like his father, played at her 
 feet. I only caught one glance at her face, which 
 seemed to me to be thin and worn, but yet her dark 
 eyes had all their old beauty in them. 
 
174 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 ' I am glad to see that your good conduct has led 
 to your being given this job, Will Bryant,' said I ; 
 'keep going straight and I'll not interfere with you.' 
 
 'Oh, you are the new sergeant of the guard, sir,' 
 replied my old acquaintance. ' I thank you for your 
 kindness and will try to keep straight, as you say.' 
 I thought that remark of mine would serve the 
 purpose of hinting to Will that a man in my posi- 
 tion could not make his duty fit in with any intimacy 
 with him or his wife, and Will's answer showed, as 
 he stood to attention when he gave it, that he quite 
 understood my meaning. 
 
 'That is your wife over there, I think,' I went 
 on, as if Mary was a stranger to me, and nodding 
 towards the hut. Will was as quick to see my 
 meaning, and understood that I thought it best his 
 fellow-prisoners should not know of our former 
 intimacy. 
 
 'Yes, sir, that is my wife and children,' he 
 answered. 
 
 'Very good. You may tell her from me tha 
 while you go on as you have been doing all will 
 be well with you,' and with this I wheeled about 
 and marched off, never once looking towards Mary, 
 or giving her an opportunity of speaking to me. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 I TALK WITH CAPTAIN SMITH OF THE WAAKSAMHETD 
 AND A BREACH OF THE REGULATIONS IS 
 COMMITTED 
 
 As I have said, this fat Dutchman, Captain Detmar 
 Smith, of the Waakiamheyd, came on shore every 
 day, and I noticed that he always stopped at the 
 fishing settlement on his way to the Government 
 buildings, where he transacted his business. 
 
 On the second day after I had been placed at my 
 new post I saw that he had struck up an acquaint- 
 ance with the Bryants, and on nearly every other 
 day since I had seen him talking and laughing with 
 Mary. He always, after stepping out of his boat, 
 made his way to the fishing settlement, and waddled 
 up to the Bryants' hut, where he was in full view 
 from the guard-house. 
 
 It would have been my duty to put a stop to 
 this if the Bryants had been like ordinary prisoners, 
 but Will was now a kind of constable over his gang, 
 and as I had been expressly ordered by my superiors, 
 and by Lieutenant Fairfax in particular, not to 
 i75 
 
176 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 harass him in any way, I could not see my way 
 to interfere. 
 
 When the transports were lying at anchor in the 
 Cove, it was the custom to put a sentry on board 
 of them to keep the prisoners from stowing away 
 or stealing the ships' boats, but I had no orders to 
 do this with the Dutch snow, because it was well 
 understood that no prisoners were likely to stow 
 themselves on board of her as she was to take home 
 the crew of a King's ship. As to stealing her boats, 
 Bryant had already two boats of which he might 
 be said to have full charge, and no suspicion of his 
 loyalty ever occurred to my superiors, so that the 
 only matter I had to look to in connection with 
 the eleven souls who made up the little settlement, 
 was to see that Bryant and his seven men were in 
 their quarters at sunset. As to Mary and her two 
 children, of course I had no right to concern my- 
 self. 
 
 But, for all the trust put in Bryant's loyalty, I 
 thought it my duty to keep my eyes open so far 
 as his gang was concerned. I had no fear of the 
 man himself, with his wife and two infants. I was 
 sure he was safe enough ; but his men might, I 
 thought, at any moment take it into their heads to 
 make a dash for their liberty. 
 
 Prisoners were very foolish in this matter, and 
 although 'twas almost certain death to them, they 
 often ran away into the woods and were never more 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 177 
 
 heard of, dying, no doubt, by the hands of the savages 
 or by starvation. So foolish were they that a large 
 party once went away thinking they might reach 
 China by constantly walking north, while in 
 September, 1790, five men stole a punt from near 
 Rose Hill and sailed her outside of the heads, never 
 more being heard of; and, no doubt, they soon went 
 to the bottom. 
 
 And so, when I noticed this big, greasy Dutch- 
 man and the Bryants getting friendly, I wondered 
 very much what it meant, although I could in no 
 way at first connect this circumstance with any 
 attempt at escaping. 
 
 One day I thought I would see if anything was 
 to be got out of Smith, and so as he was passing the 
 guard-house and nodding a good-day to me, I stopped 
 him and said, — 
 
 ' Good-day, Mr Smith, I notice that you seem to 
 take an interest in the Bryants. Of course, you 
 know, it is against the regulations to have any deal- 
 ings with prisoners.' 
 
 He turned short round when I said this, and 
 stepped up close to me, and putting a fat, dirty 
 finger in a buttonhole of my tunic, rocked me to 
 and fro by the sheer weight of his flabby arm. He 
 spoke English but poorly, and he seemed to jerk the 
 words out in a fat, wheezy voice as if his inside were 
 lined with wool. 
 
 'Shoost look here, mein freindt, dake my advites 
 
178 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 und do not inderferes mit a man's loaf affairdts. 
 Der vrow of dis Bryandts is a very nice womans, 
 und I do lide to dork mit her ; und so, meinheer, 
 do you not trooble, but make some moneys by mind 
 you business.' 
 
 I could have struck the big, fat, oily fool as he 
 leered at me with his dead, fish-like eyes, but I 
 thought better of it, for I guessed he was not the 
 kind of man that a high-spirited woman like Mary 
 Bryant would fall in love with, and that, whatever 
 of love-making there was, was all on his side. So I 
 only answered, ' Very good, Mr Smith ; but, re- 
 member my duty is to see the regulations carried 
 out, and so there must be no trading or inter- 
 ference with these people. Speak to them in a 
 friendly way as much as you like, but don't make 
 too sure that Mistress Bryant is in love with you.' 
 
 'Yah, I onderstood der reguladions and I dakes 
 care nod to break dem. Got-day, young soldier 
 mans,' and then he waddled off to the Government 
 buildings. 
 
 On that same evening I saw the fellow meet 
 Mary Bryant some distance from her hut, when 
 her husband was on the shore making fast his boat, 
 and I saw him hand her a big canvas sailor's bag, 
 so heavy that, though she was no weakly woman, 
 she could scarcely drag it to the door of the hut, 
 where I watched her later on leave it. 
 
 But worse than this, the fellow held her hand -in 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 179 
 
 his, and sure enough, from where I watched, I could 
 see plainly enough that she was lending a willing 
 ear to his love-making. 
 
 Now this vexed me mightily. Clearly it was my 
 duty to interfere, for this great, greasy Dutchman had 
 no right to be giving bags of stores to prisoners, and 
 if Mary Bryant, by association with vicious and 
 wicked persons had come to this, I must not allow 
 my charges to be thus corrupted. 
 
 Mr Fairfax was the officer of the guard for the 
 next day, and when in the morning he visited the 
 guard-room, I called him aside and told him all 
 about it. 
 
 ' Sergeant,' said he, wheeling round, and looking me 
 square in the face, 'have you ever known me to 
 neglect my duty ? ' 
 
 ' Sir,' I answered respectfully, ' do you suppose I 
 would dare to think of such a thing ? ' 
 
 ' Very well, then. Let me give you a piece of advice. 
 You are the youngest sergeant in this detachment, 
 and, in consequence, you are apt to be a little over- 
 zealous. You see things that you ought not see, and 
 — and in point of fact, Dew, you are a devilish good 
 fellow in your way, but, for goodness' sake, don't be 
 so confoundedly fussy. I remember a certain little 
 matter before we left Portsmouth, in which you com- 
 mitted a breach of the regulations and helped an old 
 rascal to smuggle a cask of French brandy. Now, if 
 I— eh ? ' 
 
180 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 I hung my head at this and muttered, ' True, sir> 
 you were very good-natured to me and I was very 
 foolish.' 
 
 ' Quite so ; but remember, Dew, these "poor 
 Bryants, by a little flirtation on the part of Mary 
 with this fat Dutchman, have probably managed to 
 get a bag of flour for the youngsters, or something 
 of that kind, i and if you don't see, why, there's no 
 harm done. God knows the little children may need 
 a change of food.' 
 
 Then I saluted and he walked away ; but all the 
 same, the more I thought of it the more determined I 
 was to have a word or two with Mary on the subject, 
 and so I watched an opportunity, and the next after- 
 noon, which was the twenty-eighth, just before the 
 boats came in I walked over to the hut and called her 
 out to speak to me. 
 
 ' What do you want with me, Sergeant Dew ? ' she 
 asked in her old, quick way. 
 
 ' Mrs Bryant,' said I, ' 'tis a matter of duty that brings 
 
 me here. I have seen your goings on with the master of 
 
 the Dutch snow, and I warn you that you must not — ' 
 
 ' What have you seen ? ' and she turned upon me 
 
 with a dangerous flash in her dark eyes. 
 
 ' I have seen him give you a bag full of flour or 
 something of the sort, and I have seen him making 
 love to you and you encouraging him.' 
 
 ' Listen to me, Will, and forgive me for calling you 
 by the old name, you who are now so much above the 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 181 
 
 likes of me ; I have as much dislike to that Dutchman 
 as 'tis possible for woman to have, but,' and there 
 came a sad sobbing break in her voice that went 
 straight to my heart, ' my two poor infants are half- 
 starved and crave for more food. Will, Will, forget 
 for once that you are a sergeant, forget for once that 
 you are our gaoler, forget for once that Will and I are 
 marked by the hand of felony, innocent though we 
 are ; but remember, and surely you will remember, 
 Will, what I once was when you knew me in the 
 days gone by for ever.' 
 
 Now, man as I was, the woman's pleading voice 
 shook me strangely and as she stood there with her 
 hands clasped together, as she had clasped them the 
 day she had met Lieutenant Fairfax on the ship's 
 deck at the Cape of Good Hope, I had to turn my 
 face away. 
 
 She stood thus for a minute or so, and her bosom 
 heaved quickly under her poor, shabby gown, and her 
 great, black eyes, soft enough now, filled with tears, 
 and then she spoke again, her voice full of quavering 
 prayer. 
 
 ' For the sake of the old days, Will ; for the sake 
 of my innocent, suffering children who are as dear to 
 the sight of God, born as they are in a felon's land, 
 as if they had been born in England ; for theirs, and 
 mine and Will's sakes, do not take away from us that 
 which the foreign captain has given us. And, Will, 
 if I did by a little harmless trickery take this bag 
 
1 82 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 from him, it was because, as the Almighty is my 
 witness, that which was in it will prove our salvation. 
 So I pray you do not judge me too harshly.' 
 
 'Heaven forgive me, Mary, if I did so, but you 
 know that I must do my duty, and besides, what 
 would your husband say if he saw you holding that 
 fat fool's hand, as I did ? ' 
 
 ' Dear Sergeant Dew, my poor Will is too loyal 
 and true to the Governor; — Heaven bless him! for he is a 
 good man — not to be very angry with me if he had a 
 thought that I took aught from the Dutchman, so say 
 no more about it, and I promise you I will never 
 speak to the Dutchman again as long as the ship is 
 here ; ' and she dried her tears and smiled into my 
 face. 
 
 ' On that condition, Mary, there's an end of the 
 matter, and I am glad your husband knows nothing of 
 it,' and I turned to walk away. 
 
 ' Good-bye, sergeant ; won't you shake hands for the 
 sake pf the old times.' 
 
 ' Good-bye,' said I, ' and certainly I will shake 
 hands, but we shall often see each other, I daresay, 
 though I don't think it well to appear friendly with 
 you, because, duty, you know, forbids.' 
 
 Then I shook hands with her, and went back to 
 my quarters, feeling that Mary Bryant was at any- 
 rate an honest woman, and safe from temptation by 
 reason of the love she bore her children. 
 
CHAPTER XXV 
 
 A STILL GREATER AND VERY DARING BREACH OF 
 THE REGULATIONS IS COMMITTED BY WILL 
 BRYANT AND HIS GANG 
 
 The news of the wonderful voyage made by Lieu- 
 tenant Bligh in an open boat after he had been set 
 adrift with some good men by his mutinous mate, 
 Fletcher Christian, had reached our settlement by the 
 ships of the second fleet, and I often pondered over 
 it and thought it would be nothing to marvel at if 
 some of our prisoners tried something of this nature. 
 But I had no fear of Bryant. Happily married and 
 with two infant children, there was little fear that he 
 would dare upon such a hazardous venture, though I 
 did sometimes fear that some of his crew might steal 
 a boat and make the attempt. It was with some 
 thought of this in my mind that, when I returned to 
 the guard-house on the evening of my talk with Mary 
 Bryant, which was the twenty-eighth of March, 
 1 79 1, I took particular notice that the keys of the 
 locks on the boat moorings were hanging in the 
 183 
 
1 84 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 guard-room at ten o'clock, when I turned in for the 
 night. 
 
 I felt pretty easy in my mind, because our fishing 
 boats were very poor. The big boat was in use with 
 the fishing gang at Botany Bay, and the two boats in 
 Bryant's charge were much too small for venturing 
 outside the heads in. One of them was a small ship's 
 gig ; the other was rather larger, pulled six oars, and 
 was rigged cutter fashion. She had just been repaired 
 by the fishermen and was in good order, but I thought 
 it would be little short of madness, though the weather 
 was at this season fine, to venture to sea in her. 
 
 The next morning at daybreak I was awakened by 
 the cry of the sentry, ' Guard, turn out.' Every man 
 of us ran to the door, seizing our muskets on the way, 
 and wondering what had happened. 
 
 ' What is it, sentry ? ' said I, seeing nothing to call 
 us for in the dim morning light. 
 
 ' The boat, sergeant,' said he ; ' the biggest boat is 
 gone.' 
 
 Sure enough she was gone. 
 
 'Broken away from her moorings and drifted to 
 sea,' said the corporal. 
 
 'Don't be a fool,' said I. 'How could she get off 
 the mud and break her chain ? Fall in, and let us see 
 how many prisoners are left, for that's what's the matter. 
 Bryant's hut first ; he may be able to help us.' 
 
 And so we marched across to Bryant's hut, and 
 knocked loudly at the door, but to my great fear got 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 185 
 
 no answer to our knocking. Then without ceremony 
 we opened the door and walked in, and the next 
 moment I understood all that had happened. 
 
 There was no one in the place, and the clothes 
 which usually hung on its walls were missing. The 
 hut floor was boarded, and one of the boards had been 
 taken up, and was lying beside a hole scooped in the 
 earth, that 'twas plain had been used to conceal some- 
 thing in. 
 
 It was no use standing about looking at this, so I 
 marched my men to the hut in which the unmarried 
 prisoners were quartered, and found that the whole 
 seven of them were gone. But, placed in one of the 
 men's bunks where it could not be easily seen unless 
 strict search was made for it, was a big sheet of paper 
 folded and addressed to Sarah Young. This woman 
 was, I knew, a female prisoner that James Cox, one of 
 Bryant's gang, was waiting for permission to marry, 
 and so I seized the letter and made no scruple of 
 reading it. This is what it said, — 
 
 ' Dear Sarah, — Do you give over those vices that I have caught you at 
 more than once, or you will come to a bad end. If you had been a dif- 
 ferent woman I should not have joined these mad men, or I would have 
 taken you with me. We hope to reach Timor. We have a compass 
 and a quadrant which Will Bryant got from you know who, and there 
 are those among us who know how to use them. Good-bye. — Your 
 friend, 'James Cox.' 
 
 After reading this, I traced the footmarks of the 
 fugitives down to the boat's mooring post, where I 
 
1 86 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 found the chain was filed through, and scattered 
 about were some four or five pounds of rice, which the 
 fugitives had spilled in their hurry. The big seine 
 was lying in its place, but one that Bryant had been 
 making for use in the small boat, and which was 
 a very handy net, was missing, and I now remembered 
 that I had wondered why he had taken so long over 
 the job. 
 
 The next thing to do was to report the matter, and 
 so I sent a man post-haste to headquarters, and soon 
 Lieutenant Fairfax came to the guard-house. 
 
 As soon as he saw me he beckoned me over to him, 
 and said hurriedly, in a low tone, — 
 
 ' You remember our talk the other day ? Well, 
 what you said was quite right, and I was wrong. 
 For Heaven's sake be quiet about it. I am in no 
 good odour with my superiors now, and there will 
 be the devil to pay, and no pitch hot, if my careless- 
 ness comes to light.' 
 
 ' Have no fear, sir,' says I, 'for you'll find that you 
 can trust me, sir. I have been in a scrape myself.' 
 
 I couldn't help reminding him that once he had 
 obliged me by holding his tongue, and now I was to 
 oblige him, though 'twas mighty disrespectful. 
 
 ' Good man, Dew,' he answered, ' and when we get 
 out of this infernal settlement I'll settle down and lead 
 a quiet country life with no regulations to break, and 
 I'll buy you out, and you shall be my tenant as your 
 father was my father's.' 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 187 
 
 Then he said, so that the others could hear him, 
 — 'I am afraid we will never catch them, because 
 we have no boat to chase them with, and the chances 
 are, by the time we get the big boat round from Botany 
 Bay, they will be all at the bottom, or eaten by the 
 sharks.' 
 
CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 I AM HOMEWARD BOUND 
 
 The news of the escape of the Bryants spread like 
 wildfire among the people of the settlement, and 
 many of the prisoners showed their excitement very 
 plainly. At twelve o'clock Lieutenant Fairfax and 
 myself were brought before the Governor to give our 
 version of the matter. 
 
 His Excellency was greatly put about, but he could 
 scarcely blame me or my men, although he wanted 
 to know how it was the fugitives had got hold of 
 stores and water without the guard knowing anything 
 about it'; and he also wanted to know who was the 
 man referred to in James Cox's letter to the woman 
 Young. 
 
 I said I could not tell, but that I suspected. 
 
 ' Who do you suspect ? ' asked the Governor. 
 
 'Mr Smith, the master of the Dutch snow,' I 
 answered. 
 
 ' Why do you think he helped them ? ' 
 
 Before I could answer, the lieutenant broke in. 
 Said he,- — 
 
 'As a matter of fact, sir, Sergeant Dew reported 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 189 
 
 to me that this man was seen talking a good deal 
 to the Bryants, and I told him not to interfere ; 
 they were not to be molested while they behaved 
 themselves.' 
 
 'Oh, indeed,' said the Governor, 'that will do. 
 Sergeant Dew, I don't think you or your men are 
 to blame ; you may go.' 
 
 Then afterwards I heard that the Governor gave 
 the lieutenant a great talking to for taking things 
 so. easy, and by the way, said he,— 
 
 ' These are the persons you took so much interest 
 in on the voyage out, are they not, lieutenant ? ' 
 
 ' Yes, sir, but I hope you don't think I relaxed 
 my duty on that account.' 
 
 'We will say no more about it, Mr Fairfax,' 
 said Captain Phillip, rising from his seat. ' You will 
 be leaving the settlement shortly, and no good can 
 come of any fuss that is made now, and so I have 
 nothing more to say.' 
 
 And, so far, the matter ended ; but my lieutenant 
 told me, a few evenings afterwards, the Governor sent 
 for him again and, producing a chart, showed Mr 
 Fairfax the course that these wretched people would 
 most likely take, and although the Governor spoke 
 very angrily of Bryant and the other men, he said 
 to the lieutenant that, for the sake of the poor 
 woman and the tender children, he would be pleased 
 to hear that they had been picked up by some ship, or 
 had reached some haven of safety on the coast. That 
 
i go A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 they could ever reach the East Indies was, of course, 
 quite out of the question ; and then the two fell 
 to talking of the strange and wonderful voyage of 
 Lieutenant Bligh, who had navigated his boat four 
 thousand miles from Otaheite to Cowpang without 
 losing a man. Captain Phillip, it appeared, thought 
 that the fugitives would soon see the folly of their 
 attempting a similar voyage in such a wretched 
 cockershell, and would run ashore somewhere on the 
 coast near Port Jackson, and live hiding in the woods. 
 
 The time now began to hang heavily upon our 
 hands waiting for the Gorgon to take us home, and 
 she was so long on the passage, that we really 
 began to entertain fears for her safety. 
 
 Up to the time of her arrival, which was on 
 the twenty-first of September, nothing of great 
 moment happened that I need record here, except 
 that the natives were occasionally very troublesome, 
 and the Governor tried all in his power to make 
 friends with them, even going the length of captur- 
 ing one or two of them, and trying to teach them 
 civilised manners and customs. 
 
 The Marines, both officers and men, were offered 
 a choice of becoming settlers in the country, and 
 some of them were also asked to join the New 
 South Wales Regiment. Mr Fairfax would not think 
 of this for a moment, and I was quite of his opinion, 
 and was glad enough, I can tell you, to embark on 
 the Gorgon, which we did on the tenth day of 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 191 
 
 December 1791, and sailed away from Port Jackson 
 on our voyage to England. 
 
 The third fleet had arrived in the previous month, 
 bringing 1695 male and 168 female prisoners and 
 another detachment of the new regiment, and we 
 got away just in time to escape further suffering 
 from short provisions. 
 
 My old commandant, Major Ross, and the head- 
 quarters company of our detachment, was also able 
 to leave in the Gorgon, by the arrival of the transports 
 bringing more troogs. 
 
 And now I have told you all that concerned my 
 stay in the settlement at Port Jackson, which all 
 the folks on this side of the world will still insist 
 upon calling Botany Bay. 
 
 You will learn, from what I have written, that 
 although I had served over four years in the service, 
 and had never seen a shot fired at the enemy, for 
 the miserable savages, and almost as unhappy prisoners, 
 could scarcely be counted as the King's enemies, yet 
 I had risen to the rank of sergeant by a steady 
 attention to my duty, and perhaps deserved my 
 three stripes quite as much as men who had been 
 engaged in shooting down their fellow-creatures 
 amid the stirring scenes of war that the ballad- 
 mongers sing of. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 I MEET WITH A GREAT SURPRISE AT THE CAPE 
 OF GOOD HOPE, AND LIEUTENANT FAIRFAX 
 LOSES HIS DIGNITY 
 
 The Gorgon sailed out of Sydney Cove with a very 
 strong, hot wind from the westward, and we soon 
 settled down cheerfully enough to life on board the 
 ship, for we knew that every day brought us nearer 
 home. The ship was a very good sailer, and there 
 was a vast difference between her and the old Sirius. 
 On the Sirius every seaman swore at being sent to 
 sea in such a tub, as they called her ; but the sailors 
 of the Gorgon were very proud of their ship, and 
 certainly she was a very comfortable and fast craft. 
 
 Nothing of moment happened until we reached 
 the Cape of Good Hope, but on the passage, Mr 
 Fairfax, who, now that we were so soon to return 
 to civilian life, grew every day more condescending 
 towards me, and often talked with me over our 
 strange adventures. 
 
 He had fully made up his mind to leave the 
 
 Service when we got to England, and for my own 
 
 part I was glad and thankful for the promise he had 
 
 made me, that he would help to purchase my dis- 
 192 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 193 
 
 charge as soon as he could come at his estate and 
 set his affairs in order. 
 
 We more than once spoke of the foolhardy ven- 
 ture of the Bryants, never doubting that they had 
 perished miserably, for what could eleven persons, 
 two of them tender children and one a woman, ever 
 hope to do towards reaching civilisation in such a 
 frail craft as was their open boat. 
 
 I remember that one night when we were speak- 
 ing of this matter, one of the ship's officers joined us 
 and told us that among his other adventures he had 
 been cast away in a country ship in the East Indies, 
 and that he and the master and seven or eight of 
 the crew had voyaged 700 miles in an open boat 
 to the island of Ceylon, and that, though their boat 
 had twice capsized, yet none of them lost their lives, 
 although they suffered the very greatest agonies from 
 thirst. His story made me remark to my lieutenant 
 that perhaps, after all, the Bryants might have gone 
 a great distance before disaster overtook them ; but 
 the Gorgon officer said it would not be possible for 
 such a small and overcrowded boat as we had de- 
 scribed, to live out even a moderate gale. And so 
 the very faint hope that I had begun to cherish about 
 Will and Mary died away altogether ; for this officer 
 was a very able and good officer, and had been forty- 
 two years in King's ships. 
 
 We arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in March, 
 1792, and soon completed taking in our stores, and were 
 
 N 
 
194 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 within twenty-four hours of getting under weigh, when 
 a Dutch vessel entered the bay, and as soon as she 
 saw our ensign, hoisted the private signal, and a boat 
 was sent to her. 
 
 When the officer in charge returned, he brought 
 with him the news that the Dutchman was a vessel 
 chartered at Batavia by Captain Edwards of the 
 Pandora, a King's ship. 
 
 The Pandora had been sent to Otaheite to search 
 for the mutineers of the Bounty. She had secured 
 some of them, and was proceeding on her way home, 
 when she was wrecked, on August twenty-eighth, 1791, 
 on a coral reef off the north coast of New Holland. 
 Eighty-nine ot the Pandora's crew and ten out of 
 the fourteen mutineers were saved, and after a 
 terrible boat voyage made their way to Timor, where 
 they had arrived on September the fifteenth, 1791. 
 
 It now fell out that we were to convey these 
 persons to England, and all our boats were got out 
 to bring them on board. 
 
 When the boats ranged alongside with these poor 
 people on board, I leant over the rail watching them, 
 and thinking of the unfortunate Bryants. If Captain 
 Bligh, whose sufferings I had heard of, had had such 
 a terrible experience in his boat voyage ; if Captain 
 Edwards and his crew had suffered greater hardships 
 than it is possible to describe in their journey in 
 their boats, what chance had these poor, ignorant 
 creatures — one of them a woman with two tender 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 195 
 
 infants — what chance had these of surviving such an 
 undertaking ? 
 
 It was with such thoughts that my mind was 
 occupied, when Mr Fairfax tapped me on the shoulder 
 and asked me of what I was thinking, and I told him. 
 
 I noticed that as he spoke to me he was strangely- 
 moved, and that his face flushed and then paled 
 again, as if he were seized with a vertigo or fever, 
 and before I had got out my answer to his question, 
 he interrupted me, and gripped my arm very tightly. 
 
 ' Dew, my lad ; you do not know all. For 
 God's sake, man, look over the side at that boat 
 now coming alongside, and see if you can recognise 
 her.' 
 
 He almost dragged me further along the deck, 
 to where we could get a better view of those who 
 were in the boat, and looking down, I saw, but 
 could scarce recognise, the face of the woman 
 who, but a few moments before, had been in my 
 thoughts. 
 
 A Marine who stood on the foot of the landing- 
 stage held out his hand to help her out of the boat, 
 then I saw that the sadly-altered, wasted and 
 feeble creature who stood up with trembling feet 
 to step upon the Gorgon's ladder, was indeed Mary 
 Bryant. With one hand she held, clasped to her 
 breast, the little infant, the namesake of her former 
 mistress. 
 
 With slow and laboured steps she toiled up to 
 
196 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 the gangway, assisted by the Marine, and when 
 in a dazed, melancholy way her great, dark 
 eyes, so full of suffering and pain, for a moment 
 rested upon the ship's company, I felt a quick 
 gush of tears come to mine, and turned away my 
 head. 
 
 ' God help the poor wench ; 'tis cruel hard,' 
 said an old boatswain's mate beside me ; and, indeed, 
 from all sides there came a murmuring sympathy 
 for the poor girl. 
 
 But Mr Fairfax, forgetting rank, and station, 
 and all else, rushed to the gangway, and pushing 
 aside the rough but honest hands of those who 
 sought to help her, took Mary in his arms, child 
 and all, and carried her to a hatchway ; then, 
 before she could realise this act of my patron's, and 
 who it was whose heart was so big and noble as to 
 have naught else for her but tender pity, she fainted 
 dead away ; and then all the rough men who 
 stood about her strove who should be the first to 
 help the surgeon and Mr Fairfax in his endeavours 
 to restore her to life, and not a man among us all, 
 but respected the lieutenant for that generous act 
 of his, or spoke of it afterwards but as proof of 
 his noble manliness. Indeed, the old boatswain's 
 mate, who had spoken so pityingly to me about 
 Mary, turned to 1 those about him, and, with a very 
 dreadful oath, for which, I am sure, he was 
 pardoned by the Power above, said that the 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 197 
 
 soldier officer was a good sailor spoiled, and ought 
 to be an Admiral. 
 
 I had no eyes nor thought of others but of 
 Mary at this time, and stood like a fool, just 
 stupidly looking on, as they chafed her hands and 
 tried to restore the little life remaining in her. 
 But when I had recovered my senses a little, I 
 learned that all that remained of the poor creatures 
 who had escaped from the settlement were come 
 on board ; and here I will set down who they 
 were. First, there was Mary and the infant 
 Charlotte, and then James Martin, John Butcher, 
 William Allan and Nathaniel Lilley. These six 
 were all the survivors of the eleven souls who had 
 left Port Jackson a whole year before. 
 
 Mary, when she had recovered a little, was 
 tenderly carried below, and Captain Parker of the 
 Gorgon, good-hearted man, ordered that she should 
 be well tended by the ship's surgeon, and placed in 
 one of the officer's cabins at the after end of 
 the ship, which was readily given up to her. 
 
 No words of mine can describe the alteration 
 that I saw in her, and even the four strong men 
 were so different, and had grown so old and worn 
 with hardships, that I scarcely knew them again, 
 and their dreadful appearance, felons though, v. they 
 were, filled me with the strongest pity. 
 
 And so, in a few hours after this, we were once 
 more under weigh, bound for England, and down 
 
198 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 below, on the lower deck, lay the poor prisoners. 
 Alas ! I thought, what will our arrival in England 
 mean to them ? 
 
 But Mr Fairfax bestirred himself, and so did every- 
 one on board, to do the best that could be done for 
 these unhappy creatures, and as the days at sea 
 went by, bit by bit he got from Mary a history 
 of the terrible adventure she had passed through, 
 and it was all written out, to present as a Petition 
 to the authorities for her forgiveness. And so the 
 history of this ever-memorable voyage was set 
 down in full by my lieutenant, in Mary's own 
 words, as nearly as could be done, save where the 
 prisoner Butcher, whom he afterwards saw very 
 often in Newgate, supplied particulars of the 
 places they had touched at, and some other 
 matters of which poor Mary had no knowledge ; 
 and in this form I here relate it ; and in no book 
 or printed paper whatsoever has this complete and 
 truthful account ever before been set down ; there- 
 fore, preserve it, so that your children and their 
 children may read the particulars of this memorable 
 voyage. And I trust that God in His mercy, should 
 any of you adventure in foreign lands, may preserve 
 you from such awful dangers that befell Mary and 
 her unhappy companions in misery. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 MARY BEGINS HER STORY 
 
 It was I, and I alone, who brought this dreadful 
 suffering upon us ; and I pray that He who knows 
 our weak human nature will forgive and pardon me for 
 sacrificing, by my mad and insensate folly, the lives of 
 those unhappy men and my innocent child. 
 
 My husband had grown contented with our lot, and 
 by his good and steady conduct and industry had won 
 not only the confidence and good opinion of Captain 
 Phillip, but that of all the officers ot the settlement. 
 
 Though 'tis nearly five weary years ago since the 
 day that he and I, with our vile and hardened com- 
 panions, were landed on the shores of Port Jackson, 
 and we met for the first time after long months of 
 severance, yet as long as God gives me life I shall 
 never forget the soft, tender light in his brave, blue 
 eyes when he sprang to my side and, amid the jeers 
 and foul and mocking jests of the abandoned felons 
 who surrounded us, took my hands in his and pressed 
 his lips to mine. 
 
 'Mary, Mary, my own brave girl,' he said, and I 
 
 felt his great, strong chest beat and throb as he 
 199 
 
200 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 pressed me to his heart, 'may God help me to be a 
 good husband to you.' And then soon after came 
 our marriage, so strange a marriage as it was. Not 
 as I had once thought of it, when Will had first told 
 me he loved me as we sat in a little nook on 
 Solcombe Cliffs two years before ; for he had 
 promised me that after he had run but one cargo 
 more he would give up smuggling, and then come to 
 the Manor House and claim me for his wife. ' And, 
 Mary,' said he, 'because you have stuck to me and 
 believed in me when the old women have croaked and 
 sought to make mischief between us, I will show them 
 such a wedding when we are married that it won't 
 easily be forgotten by Solcombe folks, or, indeed, any- 
 where on the island.' 
 
 But that was but . a foolish lover's dream. You 
 know all that happened since then and since the day 
 I tried to help Will escape from Winchester Gaol. I 
 have tried to forget all those long, long months of 
 misery, all the agonies of my life on board the trans- 
 port among the reckless and sin-hardened women 
 whom one shuddered even to hear speak, and I did 
 forget it all the day when I laid my face upon his 
 bosom in a strange land, and wept as would a child 
 when it seeks it parent's arms with the joy of know- 
 ing its sorrows are over. 
 
 And so there we were married. Little sound of 
 bells was there, as there would have been in Solcombe 
 Church ; only the clank of manacled felons and the 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 201 
 
 harsh words of command of the soldier officers as, the 
 ceremony over, we were marched away to our quar- 
 ters to begin our lives as convicted criminals in a 
 strange land. 
 
 The heavy tide of suffering that swept over me 
 and mine since the first year or two of our married 
 life has taught me many a bitter lesson ; and though 
 our lot was then hard and cruel, and my heart 
 was nigh to burst with the shame and indignities 
 that befell us, yet would I endure them all again a 
 thousand times over, for I, who suffered least, made 
 Will's lot the harder to bear by my bitter repining 
 and fierce temper. Not that I repined or was grieved 
 that I had followed so far the man I loved ; but I 
 soon began to hate with a bitter and deadly hatred 
 our vile and horrible surroundings, and the sight of 
 the red-coated Marines, who stood guard over Will 
 and his fellow-prisoners from dawn till dark, as they 
 toiled on those wild and savage shores, made my heart 
 ache, and I sometimes felt as if I could have torn the 
 musket from a sentry's grasp and, with Will by my 
 side, fly into the woods or die in the attempt to 
 regain our freedom. 
 
 But Will, brave-hearted Will, toiled steadily on, 
 tenderly caring for me, and lightening, by his cheerful 
 words and talk of a yet happy future, my dulled, 
 repining heart, though he, I knew full well, suffered 
 more than I. 
 
 Month after month passed, and day after day came — 
 
202 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 the same ceaseless round of toil for Will ; for although, 
 by reason of his willingness to work, and his great 
 strength, he had became a favoured man with the 
 Marine officers, yet he was given his full share of 
 toil, and indeed somewhat more. 
 
 By-and-by, though, it came about that one of the 
 Marine officers, who had known Will in the old, 
 happy days at Solcombe, and who had ever proved 
 a friend to him, spoke to the Governor about him, and 
 told how that he was both a good boatman and a 
 skilled fisherman ; and Captain Phillip, like the good, 
 kind-hearted Gentleman he is, promised he would see 
 to the matter and put Will to something better than 
 hewing stone, which was then his work. In a few 
 weeks the Governor kept his promise, and Will was 
 given charge of a fishing boat, and ordered to live 
 just across the ridge from Sydney Cove, where there 
 was another small bay. Here we, with a few other 
 prisoners, made the fishing station, and being away 
 from the main body of prisoners we had the whole 
 bay to ourselves, and were interfered with by no one, 
 not even the guard of Marines who were posted 
 between us and the rest of the settlement. 
 
 For a long while matters went on well with us. 
 To please my dear husband I had curbed my tongue 
 and temper, and so I, too, became somewhat of a 
 favourite with Will's superiors, and learned the folly 
 and harm of giving way to any outburts of temper 
 when some one of the officers would talk to either 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 203 
 
 Will or I in a way that only the free man dare talk 
 to a felon. 
 
 We had been quite a long time living at the Farm 
 Cove, and my second child was about six months 
 old when a great dearth of food afflicted us all, 
 prisoners and free men alike, at the settlement. 
 The country itself yielded us nothing ; no food 
 came from England as Captain Phillip had ex- 
 pected, and before long we soon felt what the 
 actual pangs of hunger meant. Up till this time 
 we had always had, at least, enough food, hard and 
 coarse as it was, and after the Governor had placed 
 us all on short rations, Will and his men would 
 sometimes manage to hide a few small fish in the 
 bosoms of their shirts for my children. But by- 
 and-by not even this much did they dare do, for 
 the moment the boat touched the shore their take 
 was carefully examined and counted by some of the 
 Marines detailed for the duty. Day by day matters 
 grew worse, and the small ration of flour and pork 
 served out to us had to be still further reduced ; and 
 then I had the misery of hearing my eldest child, 
 my boy Emanuel, wail and cry for more food. Of 
 course both Will and I stinted ourselves so that 
 our children might have their fill, but yet the food 
 itself was so coarse and poor that naught but 
 the pangs of hunger would have made the poor 
 infants cry for it. And then, in despair at the 
 sight of their pinched and wan races, I determined 
 
204 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 to cast about and seek food for them my- 
 self. 
 
 Although Will and I did receive more considera- 
 tion from our gaolers than any others of those 
 prisoners who made up the fishing settlement, we 
 .had, in common with them, to be within doors at 
 sunset. Now I knew that all along the muddy 
 shores of the Farm Cove there lay buried in the 
 mud great numbers of cockles, and I had seen 
 Nathaniel Lilley and James Cox, two of Will's 
 gang, bring a basketful of them ashore one day and 
 roast them on a fire which had been kindled on the 
 beach to boil a pot of pitch. Coarse and ill- 
 flavoured as these things were, they were yet good 
 enough for hungry people, and so it was that every 
 night one of Will's gang would steal down to the 
 shore when the tide served, and, groping in the 
 mud with his bare hands and feet, secure enough for 
 me to boil late at night over a small fire. But this 
 had to be done with great caution, for so scarce 
 had food now become that had it leaked out that 
 these cockles were so handy to the settlement, they 
 would have soon been all taken ; besides this, we who 
 took them would have been punished for stealing. 
 
 One night, however, one of the Marines of the 
 guard -house near our little settlement saw some- 
 one moving about in the darkness, and challenged 
 and fired, and the man who had nearly filled his 
 basket with cockles, dropped and fled in affright to . 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 205 
 
 his quarters, and then came and told Will and I of 
 what had happened. 
 
 Much against my husband's wish I set out, and 
 after some search found the bag and carried it to 
 our hut, but we dared not kindle a fire that night, 
 for fear that the guard might discover it. However, 
 after that, as the men were frightened, I always 
 went, and by this means was enabled to eke out 
 our scanty supply of rations and give more of our 
 flour to the children who, poor things, needed it sadly. 
 
 As I was returning home to our hut one evening, 
 wet and cold, carrying a small bag half filled with 
 these shell-fish, I heard a step behind me and then 
 a man came up to me and placed his hand on my 
 shoulder. 
 
 'Good evening to you, Mistress Bryant,' said he 
 with a laugh that at once angered me. 'I watched 
 your doings down to the shore, and as I am struck 
 with your pretty face I made up my mind to wait 
 for you as you came back.' 
 
 Now this man had been one or the officers of 
 the transport which had brought me to the settle- 
 ment, and during the passage he had continually 
 thrust himself forward upon me, though it was but 
 short and bitter speech I ever gave him. He had 
 been given an appointment on shore by Captain 
 Phillip, and though I did not often see him, yet 
 whenever I did, he would always contrive to say 
 something to me that, had Will heard it, he would 
 
zo6 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 have fared badly for it, not only from Will but from 
 the Governor as well. 
 
 I turned and faced him, and asked him how he 
 dared to stop me. 
 
 ' Dare, my dear, I will dare much for such a 
 face as yours,' and he made to me. 
 
 ' Touch me at your peril, Mr , King's officer 
 
 though you be, and I will call the sergeant of the 
 guard,' and I struck back his hand with my pronged 
 shell-fish stick. 
 
 This roused his evil nature, for then he told me, 
 with a snarl, that he knew all about our stealing 
 the shell-fish at night, and that he would report 
 it and have us flogged. So then, in great terror, 
 I begged his mercy and asked him to consider my 
 feelings as a mother, for it was only because my 
 children were starving that I was taking the shell- 
 fish from the Cove. Finally he let me go, but only 
 on the condition that I would meet him at some 
 future time ; ' Otherwise,' said he, ' I • will spoil these 
 shell-fish suppers of yours, Mistress Bryant.' 
 
 I was so terrified at the harm that this man might 
 do us that I ran all the rest of the way to our hut, 
 and flinging down the bag of shell-fish at Will's 
 feet, burst into tears. And then I told him of my 
 adventure. 
 
 It was from that night that I first conceived the 
 idea of urging my poor Will to better our con- 
 dition by escaping from the settlement altogether. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 THE BEGINNING OF A STRANGE AND HAZARDOUS 
 ENTERPRISE 
 
 The awfulness of our situation, and the life to which 
 we were bringing up our dearly-loved children, became 
 daily more apparent, and so this idea of mine about 
 escaping took such possession of me that I gave my 
 husband no peace. At first he opposed all my argu- 
 ments, and declared he would not betray the trust 
 reposed in him, but my sinful obstinacy prevailed in 
 the end, and dearly have I paid for my wickedness. 
 
 For a long time the lack of opportunity prevented 
 us from forming any plan of escape, but after a time 
 chance threw in our way so many opportunities that 
 it was not wonderful that we took advantage of 
 them. 
 
 First it came about that John Butcher was sent to 
 the Farm Cove. He was a prisoner who came out in 
 the second fleet, and was a man who had been to sea 
 and learned the art of navigating, and when I heard 
 that he had this knowledge, I told Will that he must 
 engage him to go with us in the boat and guide us to 
 some country where we might earn our bread without 
 207 
 
ao8 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 fear of discovery, but on no account to let the others 
 suspect our intention, lest they should betray us. 
 
 Then the Dutch ship came round to the Cove, and 
 the master of her, a Mr Smith, took it into his head 
 to show a partiality towards me, and this silly vanity 
 of his I resolved to turn to the account of us all. 
 And so it was that I encouraged him, with such arts 
 as women understand, to believe that he had won my 
 heart, and that for his sake I could be false to my dear, 
 dear husband and my children. I told him many 
 dreadful lies, and at last got him to believe that if it 
 were possible to supply my husband with the means of 
 escape, Will would gladly leave me to my fate, and 
 then I could safely grant all that the Dutchman 
 asked. 
 
 The vain fool believed my words, and actually 
 gave me, by degrees, a good lug-sail, a compass and 
 a quadrant, with a chart and other books such as 
 Butcher required to steer us to Timor, which was the 
 name of the country we had decided to try and reach. 
 To show what a dishonest rogue the fellow was, we 
 found that the two books he gave us did not belong 
 to him at all, but to Captain Hunter of the Sirius, who 
 was going home in the Dutchman's ship. I suppose 
 he had stolen them from Captain Hunter's cabin, for 
 both books had that gentleman's name written on 
 them. 
 
 We hid these things under the boards in our hut, 
 and then we began to collect provisions. 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 209 
 
 Just about this time a new sergeant of marines was 
 given the charge of the guard-house at our Cove, and 
 he noticed Smith speaking to me, and ordered me not 
 to talk to him, because it was against the regulations. 
 I had known this soldier, whose name was Dew, in 
 former times, and I think he was stricter with us on 
 that account, for he was a good man and stern soldier, 
 and I fancy that because he was once my friend he was 
 all the more sensible that friendship must not stand 
 before his duty. But for all his strictness I contrived 
 to get from Smith many useful things, besides a bag 
 full of provisions. 
 
 The other prisoners, however, had got scent of our 
 intentions, and although my husband feared to over- 
 crowd the boat, and dreaded to take them with us, for 
 some of them were very desperate men, at last, our 
 plot having become known to them, we had to agree 
 that they should accompany us. One of these men 
 was anxious to take with him a woman to whom he 
 was to have been married, but the sergeant had become 
 very suspicious of our movements, and so my husband, 
 who was the finest and strongest man of the party, 
 and who was chosen leader of it, hastened our de- 
 parture, and we left one night suddenly. 
 
 We had collected from the Dutchman, and by saving 
 out of our scanty rations, 100 lbs. of rice, 112 lbs. 
 of flour, 14 lbs. of pork, and 10 gallons of water. 
 
 At half-past ten, on the night of March the twenty- 
 eighth, it being fine and the wind fair, we filed through 
 
210 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 the chain by which the boat was fastened, and loading 
 her almost to the water's edge with the stores, we all 
 crept into her and pushed silently away, keeping close 
 in along the southern shore, and rowing very gently 
 with muffled oars. Just as we rounded a rocky point 
 on the eastern side of the Farm Cove, the boat ran 
 into a floating bush or tree, and in freeing it a branch 
 broke off and fell upon the face of the babe at my 
 breast. It awoke with a loud, wailing cry of terror, 
 and the night being so still and fine, we were seized 
 with a great fear that the sound might have reached 
 someone on shore. 
 
 We lay perfectly still for some minutes, and then 
 began rowing again, keeping well on the southern 
 side of the small rocky island called Pinch Gut. The 
 wind was directly astern of us, and there being no 
 ships lying at anchor so far down from Sydney Cove 
 from which we could be discerned, Will and Butcher 
 stepped the mast and hoisted the sail and guyed out 
 the boom so that the others could keep on rowing. 
 
 In another half an hour or so we were close to the 
 entrance of Port Jackson, and my heart gave a bound 
 when I looked ahead and saw the black expanse of 
 open sea lying before us. We now felt the roll of 
 the sea, and the oars were taken inboard, and we 
 stood out between the black shadows of the headlands 
 into the open ocean. At this moment Nathaniel 
 Lilley, a noisy, excitable man, stood up, and flinging 
 his cap overboard, cried out, — 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 211 
 
 ' Hurrah for liberty and Timor ! ' 
 
 'Silence, you fool!' said Will, fiercely, and he struck 
 him in the mouth with such violence that the man 
 was nearly sent overboard. 
 
 And so began this strange and hazardous enter- 
 prise, begotten of my folly and wickedness, and of 
 my husband's love for me. When the day broke we 
 were many miles away from what had been my home 
 for three unhappy years ; and my youngest child still 
 slumbered upon my bosom. 
 
CHAPTER XXX 
 
 A VOYAGE ALONG THE SHORES OF NEW HOLLAND 
 
 The chart given to me by the captain of the Dutch 
 snow is before you, and on it you will see the weary 
 leagues we journeyed, with here and there our stop- 
 ping places marked by a cross. Many and many a 
 time, when we had run into some place of refuge 
 on the coast, to rest our cramped and wearied limbs, 
 and had made us a rude shelter of boughs to protect 
 us from the burning rays of the sun, Will and 
 Butcher, and, indeed, every one of us, would so pore 
 and study over it, that in time we knew every line 
 and mark and name traced upon it, and watched with 
 great concern every fresh line pencilled upon it by 
 our navigator.* 
 
 * Note by Sergeant Deto. — Take great care of this rough chart, my 
 children. It is the only relic of this wonderful voyage, and it came 
 into my possession through Mr Fairfax, who obtained it from Captain 
 Edwards of the Pandora, to whom it was given, with various other papers 
 concerning Bryant's party, by the captain of the Dutch ship that brought 
 them prisoners to the Cape. 
 
 Note by tie Editors. — A facsimile of the chart in the possession 
 of Sergeant Dew's descendants is here given. It is without doubt one of 
 Cook's earlier charts, showing the discoveries and track of the Endeavour 
 in 1769 and 1770. The reader, by comparing it with a modern map 
 of the coast line, will be able to form some idea of the remarkable boat 
 212 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 213 
 
 Our boat was so small and so deeply laden, that 
 as soon as daylight broke on the memorable morning 
 that followed our escape, and the breeze strengthened 
 a little, the water began to dash over us on all sides, 
 and we had to take to constant bailing to keep 
 from foundering. At about ten o'clock we brought 
 to, under the shelter of a small, high island, and 
 made shift to effect a better disposition of the many 
 things with which the boat was lumbered up. 
 Butcher and some of the others wished us to land 
 on a little beach on the lee side of the island, so that 
 we might take out the mast and alter the sail in 
 some way, but Will, to whom the others looked 
 for guidance, refused, as he thought it not unlikely 
 we might be pursued. So, without further delay, 
 we sailed out again, and all that day continued to 
 make good progress, even though the boat was so 
 heavily laden and cumbersome. 
 
 At daylight next morning we were close to the 
 entrance of a harbour, which Butcher said he thought 
 was Port Stephens, and as we were all now suffer- 
 ing from the great heat, Will determined that we 
 should put in there and rest for a day; but after 
 we had rounded a high, conical headland, we found 
 that there was such a great swell rolling in, and so 
 strong a current sweeping out, that we could make 
 
 journey performed by the Bryants, and the slight knowledge of naviga- 
 tion possessed by Butcher. Every mile of this coast is now surveyed 
 and charted. At the time of the Bryants' escape it was practically 
 unknown. 
 
2i4 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 no headway against it with the oars ; so we had 
 to turn back, and hoisting our sail again, kept on 
 our way northwards. After sailing for some ten or 
 eleven leagues, we saw the entrance of another 
 harbour,* and this we succeeded in reaching safely. 
 Here we grounded the boat on a white, sandy beach, 
 and Will carried myself and Emanuel and my little 
 Charlotte out of the boat, and made us shelter under 
 the trees, for we were all but perished of weakness, 
 and my boy cried continually from the pain of 
 his hands, which the cruel sun had burnt to a 
 deep red. 
 
 We remained at this place for five days, and I 
 thanked God for His goodness in bringing us there, 
 for Morton and John Simms, in searching the rocks 
 for shell-fish, found not only these, but many score 
 of great lobsters,, which made us a bountiful repast, 
 though one of our party, William Allen, was like 
 to have died from gorging himself too heavily. 
 
 When night came on we kindled a big fire, and 
 while the rest of us slept two kept watch, for fear 
 of the Indians ; and, indeed, it was well they did so, 
 for when it became light, we heard the sound of 
 voices in the woods, and looking about us discovered 
 four naked savages standing on a hill near by. They 
 carried spears in their hands, and then, after making 
 threatening gestures to us, disappeared down the 
 
 * This was Port Stephens ; the first harbour spoken of was no 
 doubt Newcastle, or, as it was afterwards called, Port Hunter. 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 215 
 
 other side. This made us very careful during the 
 rest of our stay, and we removed to another sleeping 
 place further away from the woods, so as not to be 
 surprised and cut off in the night. Our boat, too, 
 was always loaded .up in readiness for us to fly, the 
 moment it was necessary, and sometimes, when we 
 saw the black figures of the Indians moving about 
 on the opposite shore, I would take my two children 
 and (go into the boat, which lay afloat at anchor in 
 shallow water. All the first two days of our stay 
 the men caught a great store of crayfish, and we 
 used to cut off the tail part, which is full of good 
 meat, and splitting them open, laid them upon a 
 rough frame-work to dry in the sun. On the fifth 
 day we found we had nearly two hundred pounds 
 • weight of this meat, and it was carefully tied up 
 tightly, and placed on board with our other stores. 
 
 We left this place with lighter hearts for our 
 perilous venture, and scarcely had the boat got away 
 more than a stone's throw from the shore, when we 
 saw some score or so of naked Indians rush down 
 from the woods and examine our camp. Some of them 
 threw their javelins at us, but these failed to reach 
 us. We called this place Port Bountiful, although 
 on our chart it was called Port Stephen, which 
 Butcher said was wrong, for that place was ten 
 leagues to the south. 
 
 We kept at sea for the next three days, only landing 
 twice, to stretch our stiffened limbs and replenish 
 
2i6 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 our stock of water, for although, since we had left 
 Port Bountiful, it rained almost unceasingly, we had 
 no means of catching the water. I think it was 
 this constant exposure of their thinly-clad bodies that 
 sowed the seeds of disease in those most precious to 
 me, and then, besides this, it much injured our poor 
 store of provisions. 
 
 On the fourth day we came to a place where 
 there was a wide river entrance, on one side of 
 which was a sandy beach of great extent, and on 
 the other, hilly, well-grassed headlands.* We sought 
 to enter this river, but perceived that the surf broke 
 across the entrance, and we all but capsized before 
 we could turn the boat round and make seawards 
 again. The prospect of going, perhaps, a great 
 distance further north before we could find another 
 place of refuge, greatly disheartened Will and all of 
 us ; and then, to add to our troubles, the wind 
 suddenly turned to the north-east, and a tumultuous 
 sea quickly rose. Almost in despair as to what we 
 should do, for the coast to the southward was very 
 rocky and dangerous-looking, with no sheltered beaches, 
 we fortunately perceived, on the southern shore of 
 the entrance to this river, a little indentation under 
 a high, conical hill. With great skill and caution 
 Will and Butcher succeeded in wearing the boat 
 round, although at the imminent risk of our lives, 
 and hoisting a foot or two of the sail, we ran swiftly 
 
 * Fort Macquarie. 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 217 
 
 into the little cove and beached the boat. In quite 
 a short time the wind increased to a gale, and we 
 thanked God for our escape, for our boat could not 
 have lived a minute in such a furious sea that now 
 swept in with thundering rollers upon the coast. 
 
 Above the place where we had landed was a well- 
 grassed and lightly-wooded country, and as there 
 were no signs of Indians visible, Will and his men 
 hauled up the boat out of reach of the furious seas, 
 and we proceeded to choose a resting-place on the 
 flat ground above ; for Butcher said that this north- 
 easterly gale would last three days, and so it proved. 
 We made a rough protection against the fury of the 
 wind, and that night we all slept well save my poor 
 boy, who seemed to ail more and more every day. 
 The following day we turned our boat over and 
 paid her seams with tallow made from the fat of 
 our pork rations, and having dried our clothing, I 
 made a comfortable resting-place under the boat for 
 my infants, and sat beside them on the outside, while 
 Will and the others sought for lobsters on the rocks, 
 but found none, for the surf was still too heavy to 
 discern anything in the rocky pools. 
 
 The next day the wind began to moderate, but 
 the sea was still very mountainous, and so we were 
 in no hurry to leave ; besides this, my boy Emanuel 
 was ill of a cough that shook his poor little frame 
 greatly, though he never complained. Strange to 
 say, though, my baby began to show signs of better 
 
2i8 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 health, and would laugh and crow when Will smiled 
 or spoke to her. In the forenoon Morton, Lilley, 
 Allen and James Cox set out along the southern 
 shore of the river to look at the country, but they 
 found, after going a mile or so, that it turned north- 
 ward and that the water was salt. However, they 
 discovered that a fresh-water stream with a reedy 
 margin ran into it just where it branched off, and 
 among these reeds they found a great many nests of 
 wild duck, in which were eggs. These they brought 
 back with them, and we made a very good meal, 
 though it went to my heart to see that my poor 
 boy ate but a morsel. Morton told me he had seen 
 a flock of ducks swimming about on the river, and 
 I thought that we might, perhaps, snare one and 
 make some strengthening broth for the child, but 
 Will said it could not be done, and so I could do 
 naught but pray that the child might be spared to 
 us. This place, we found, was not marked on our 
 chart, but it was said by Butcher to be in 31 J" 
 of southern latitude.* 
 
 We would have stayed here a day or so longer, 
 but that on the evening of the third day we saw 
 many savages walking along a sandy spit on the 
 northern side of the river, and feared to stay lest 
 we might be surprised with the boat out of the 
 
 * Port Macquarie, at the entrance to the Hastings River, discovered 
 and named by Oxley in 1828, lat. 31° 25' 45" south. The fresh- 
 water river was Coolenbung Creek, which debouches into the Hastings 
 near its mouth. 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 219 
 
 water. Therefore, at sunset we once more put to 
 sea, and the wind now being from the east and 
 south, we were able to sail clear of the long, sandy 
 beach which lay on our left hand. All that night, 
 however, it rained in squalls, and we were drenched 
 and shivering when the sun rose. 
 
CHAPTER XXXI 
 
 mary's first punishment overtakes her 
 
 For the next week or so we continued steadily 
 onward, landing occasionally to rest and refresh our 
 wearied bodies, the boat making good headway with 
 a fair south-east wind ; but we suffered dreadful 
 misery from the continuous strain. We found that as 
 we progressed northwards the savages increased in 
 numbers and daring, so that we were soon obliged 
 to resort to landing only as darkness came on, 
 leaving our refuges for the night at dawn. 
 
 One of our companions, John Simms, who was 
 also known as Samuel Bird, was a man of a very 
 violent and intractable temper, and he was con- 
 stantly lamenting that we had no muskets and 
 ammunition with us wherewith to kill some of 
 the Indians ; but Will, who, although he was a 
 courageous man, was no lover of bloodshed, re- 
 buked him for his desire to shed blood needlessly. 
 For -this Simms gave him a saucy answer and a 
 threatening look, and I could see that trouble was 
 brewing, for my husband was not the man to take 
 foul words from any man. However, he said 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 221 
 
 naught at the time, but when we were landed at 
 our next stopping-place, which Butcher told us was 
 called Glass House Bay, he waited till we had eaten 
 our evening meal of dried lobster and salt pork, and 
 had set the night watch, and rose to his feet. 
 
 'John Simms,' said he, and although he spoke 
 so quietly, I knew that danger was in his voice, 
 ' this morning you told me that you were as good 
 a man as I. Stand up and prove it.' 
 
 With that they sprang at each other, but Simms 
 was no match for my Will, who struck him but 
 once and fractured his jaw, and then turning to 
 John Butcher, who stood by laughing, he reproved 
 him sharply. It was no laughing matter, said he, 
 for people in our perilous position to quarrel among 
 themselves. They had made him their leader, and 
 their leader he meant to be, unless a better man 
 came forward. 
 
 Now this Butcher, who is, for all his sneering 
 tongue and reckless manner, a man of proven 
 courage, thought fit to make him an answer that 
 brought him no good, for Will suddenly darted 
 out his hand, and seizing him by the throat, shook 
 him as a dog shakes a rat, Butcher the while 
 thrusting madly at him with his knife. For a 
 minute or so they strove madly together on the 
 sand, and then my husband lifted the man up with 
 both hands, and dashed him down violently upon 
 his back, where he lay stunned and motionless 
 
222 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 beside the man with the broken jaw. But yet, 
 after his passion was over, Will tended each of 
 them as he would have tended a sick child, and in 
 the morning, as we prepared to get into the boat 
 again, John Butcher came to him and held out 
 his hand. 
 
 'Will Bryant,' said he, 'let us be friends. You 
 are a better man than any of us, and though I fear 
 no man under the sun, yet, for the sake of these 
 poor children, and Mary your wife, I ask pardon for 
 my words of last night.' 
 
 He was a short, square-built and muscular man, 
 with a face as dark as a Portugal, but his voice 
 shook like a woman's when Will grasped his hand, 
 and said in a choking voice, ' And I ask pardon of 
 you, John Butcher ; for the sake of my wife and 
 these poor children, forgive me, comrade, for my 
 roughness.' And with " that they shook hands all 
 round, and swore to be true to Will as long as 
 God gave them strength to pull an oar. 
 
 In two or three days more we noticed that the 
 sea began to get much smoother and assume a light 
 greenish colour, and Butcher said that we had now 
 got under the lee of the great Labyrinth Reef,* 
 which Lieutenant Cook had discovered, and hence- 
 forth we should have smoother seas till we reached 
 Timor. And so it proved ; yet from this time we 
 encountered many heavy gales from the south- 
 
 * The Great Barrier Reef. 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 223 
 
 east, and - had to seek shelter on shore very 
 often. 
 
 Between the latitudes of 23 and 24° we 
 were driven by a strong current thirty leagues 
 from shore, among some islands and reefs, 
 where the boat was almost swamped and 
 lost with us all. It was nearly dark at the 
 time, and a squall of wind and rain struck 
 us suddenly with great violence, and although 
 we had the sail reefed, and Butcher laid the 
 boat to the wind, the rest of the men, except 
 Will, cried out that our time was come, for we 
 saw that we were come into a network of reefs, 
 upon which the sea beat with awful fury. We 
 tried to go about, but the boat would not stay, 
 and there was not room to wear. It was then 
 that John Butcher showed his courage and sea- 
 manship. In the midst of the bursting roar of 
 the breakers and whistling wind, and fierce, sting- 
 ing rain, his voice sounded as calm and cool as it 
 ever did. 
 
 ' 'Tis our only chance, Will, we must let go the 
 anchor, and try and club - haul her ; the water is 
 shallow enough.' 
 
 And by God's mercy the plan answered, though 
 as we went off on the larboard tack, a sea half 
 filled the boat, and drenched myself and the poor 
 infants to the skin. But though we had lost our 
 anchor we had saved our lives, and after keeping 
 
Z24 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 the boat nearly with head to the wind for an hour, 
 we found ourselves in smooth water, under the lee 
 of a great curving reef, with clear water to leeward. 
 Towards daylight the tide ebbed, and the boat 
 grounded on a bottom of broken coral and sand ; 
 and when the sun rose we saw that on the lar- 
 board hand, were numerous small, but pleasant- 
 looking islands which, when he could look at the 
 chart, Butcher said were the Cumberland Islands. 
 Exhausted as we were, we put out the oars and 
 soon rowed into a little white and sandy beach, 
 where, to our great joy, we found large numbers 
 of turtle. We remained here for some days, for 
 there were no traces of savages, and dried the 
 flesh of many turtle, so much that this addition 
 to our store lasted us for ten days. 
 
 From this time out we passed through many 
 clusters of islands and networks of reefs, till we came 
 to Whit-Sunday Pass, where we landed, and thought 
 to rest a while on a thickly-wooded island, but found 
 it to be swarming with very savage Indians, who 
 assailed the boat with volleys of javelins, and 
 uttered the most dreadful cries of rage against us, 
 so that, wearied and thirsty as we were — for our 
 water had run out — we pushed off again hastily, 
 and pursued our course. 
 
 All the next two days we sailed past close to 
 the mainland, which is for the most part hereabout 
 low and densely wooded, and with shallow, muddy 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 225 
 
 foreshores. On the afternoon of the fifth day our 
 boat sailed past Magnetical Island,* but though the 
 place looked very inviting, we dared not land, see- 
 ing the smoke of the savages' fires ascending from 
 the beaches in various places. Fortunately we had 
 experienced much rain on the previous day, and 
 had filled our small cask ; only for this we should 
 have dared the javelins of the savages. 
 
 The wind fell light that night, and when day- 
 light broke, had almost died away ; so we put out 
 the oars, and rowed towards a cluster of fertile- 
 looking islands, distant about two leagues, and 
 which Butcher said were called the Palm Islands. 
 And here we landed on a fair white beach, with 
 pleasant hills in the background ; and here it was 
 that my eldest child, my boy Emanuel, gave his 
 innocent soul to God. 
 
 For many days before, Will and I had seen that 
 the grey shadows of death were clouding the once 
 bright face and sweet blue eyes of our boy, and 
 oft at night, when our boat sped silently along 
 under the starlit sky, I would sit holding his slight, 
 wasted form in my arms, and my tears of repent- 
 ance, for my mad and cruel folly, would fall upon 
 his pinched and deathlike features. And, as if the 
 dear child knew what it was that so racked my 
 wicked heart, he would sometimes open his fast- 
 
 * Note by Editors. — Magnetic Island, a few miles from the city of 
 Townsville, in North Queensland. 
 
 P 
 
226 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 fading eyes, and his little hand would seek mine, 
 and give it a faint pressure, and then the white 
 lids would droop and close again. Almost as the 
 boat touched the sand, the small, tender form 
 trembled gently in my arms, his eyes met mine 
 for the last time in this world, and with a sigh 
 that stabbed me to the heart, he died. 
 
 Only that God in His mercy had yet spared 
 to me my baby, I think that I, too, should have 
 died on those lonely islands, for when I saw the 
 little body of my boy placed in his sandy grave, 
 with his small white hands crossed upon his innocent 
 bosom, my reason left me, and I called upon God 
 to strike me dead for the heavy sin I had done in 
 sacrificing my first-born child. 
 
 How long we stayed on this island, which will 
 be sacred to me till my death, I cannot tell ; but 
 I remember that even the roughest and most 
 hardened of the men treated me very tenderly, 
 and even wild, reckless John Butcher took my 
 baby in his arms and pressed its face to his, and 
 a tear stole down his dark and rugged cheek. 
 
 We left the isle at about the time of sunset, and 
 as we sailed slowly away from the snow-white 
 beach into the darkness, Will, who steered, put 
 the tiller into my hand, and, covering his face, 
 gave a great heart-breaking sob. 
 
CHAPTER XXXII 
 
 THE FUGITIVES PASS THROUGH MANY TERRIBLE 
 DANGERS AND ARRIVE AT COUPANG IN THE 
 DUTCH EAST INDIES 
 
 As we sailed northward towards the Straits of 
 
 Endeavour, the rainy weather that had attended us for 
 
 so long in a great measure ceased, and the sun beat 
 
 down upon us with painful fierceness. At this stage of 
 
 our journey the long line of reef that we had had on 
 
 our right hand for so many hundreds of miles now 
 
 began to run closer to the mainland, and we passed 
 
 through vast numbers of small islands, the most of 
 
 them very low and sandy and covered with a dense 
 
 verdure of shrubs ; others were of greater size and 
 
 had high trees upon them. Although the wind blew 
 
 very strongly from the south and east, the sea was 
 
 very smooth, for the great reef that was now only a 
 
 few leagues distant proved an excellent barrier to the 
 
 violence of the ocean waves. The coast hereabout 
 
 was for the most part long stretches of beach, with 
 
 dense forests behind it and a range of very high 
 
 mountains further inland. 
 
 We seldom ventured to land on the mainland now, 
 
 for the Indians were very numerous, and at night time 
 227 
 
228 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 we could see their fires at frequent intervals all along 
 the beaches, and on the summit of the headlands. 
 The navigation, too, was very difficult, so at night time 
 we generally put ashore on one of the small, sandy 
 islets, and choosing a spot sheltered from the wind, 
 passed the night in some degree of comfort ; though 
 even here there was danger from the savages, who 
 resorted to these places for fishing, as we often met 
 them crossing to and fro between these islands and 
 the mainland in small canoes. 
 
 On one occasion, though, when we were come to 
 Cape Flattery, we had to land on the mainland to 
 seek for water, which Butcher said we would find 
 there ; and here we had like to all have perished 
 miserably by the savages. We had found the water, 
 and were ready to put ofF again, when the tide ebbed 
 and the boat grounded, and then great numbers of 
 Indians appeared on some rocks that jutted down on 
 to the beach near us and assailed us with stones and 
 javelins. Many of their javelins came into the boat 
 and stuck into her timbers, but by God's mercy none 
 of us were struck, and we all, except myself, got out 
 into the sea and so lightened the boat that we were 
 able to drag her out into deeper water, and so escape. 
 When we were getting our water at this place we saw 
 many serpents about the beach and rocks, and even 
 on the sea we met with them constantly swimming 
 about. But Butcher told us that these water serpents 
 were not venomous, and were indeed but a scaly eel, 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 229 
 
 yet they had a very horrible appearance. On the 
 beaches, and about the muddy shores of the mainland, 
 there were also visible many huge crocodiles lying 
 basking in the sun. 
 
 When we had come close to Cape Weymouth, we 
 saw from the boat that there appeared to be water 
 trickling down the face of some reddish - coloured 
 rocks, and so, the landing looking easy of accomplish- 
 ment, and there being no signs of Indians, Will put 
 ashore at the end of the beach near the rocks, where 
 we found water collected in small, rocky pools at the 
 foot of the cliffs, but no stream or river. All along 
 this beach we found great piles of large, curved bones, 
 built up in the shape of mounds. What the animal 
 was that these bones came from we could not tell ; 
 but it was easy to see that the mounds had been 
 placed there by the savages, for on the tops of some 
 of them were the shells of very large turtles.* We 
 spent the earlier part of the day resting at this place, 
 and began our voyage at noon. To avoid the strong 
 current we kept in close to the shore, and while 
 sailing along we passed numbers of sea-cows feeding on 
 the shallows ; but having no weapon of any sort, could 
 not kill one to replenish our now exhausted stock of 
 food. 
 
 We made good progress until we reached Cape 
 
 * Note by Editors. — The practice still prevails, among the savage 
 natives of the fat- North Queensland coast, of piling up mounds of 
 dugong bones, surmounted by a turtle carapace, at regular intervals ; the 
 reason for so doing has never been discovered. 
 
230 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 Granville, where, although we saw many signs of 
 Indians about, we were forced to land for water and 
 search for food. My baby now began to ail for 
 want of strengthening food ; so while four of our 
 party remained with me in the boat, which we 
 moored within a short distance of the shore, the others 
 set out to search for turtle and shell-fish. In a few 
 hours they returned with a great quanity of gar-fish, 
 which they had caught in a shallow pool, and James 
 Cox brought with him a number of young, unfledged 
 birds, which he had taken from their parents' nests in 
 the woods. These we made a broth from by kindling 
 a fire and heating stones, which were dropped into a 
 tiny pool in the rocks. By doing this several times, 
 the young birds, which had been cut in pieces, were 
 boiled, and some of the broth, which was very strong 
 and nutritious was given to my infant, a spoonful at a 
 time. To my great joy little Charlotte drank it 
 eagerly and soon began to mend, and so we saved all 
 that was left for her, and put it in a gourd which we 
 had found on the beach at Cape Weymouth. As for 
 the flesh of the young birds, we ate that ourselves, and 
 then it came out from Cox that he had eaten a number 
 of them raw in the woods. This so angered Will and 
 Butcher that Cox sprang to his feet in fear and ran 
 back into the woods. We thought he had deserted 
 us, but in half an hour he came back stripped to the 
 waist and carrying something heavy in his shirt, which 
 was tied at the sleeves and neck so as to form a bag. 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 231 
 
 Casting it down on the rocks besides us, we perceived 
 that it was rilled with dead birds, both young and old, 
 the last about the size of a gull. He told us that 
 when he had first found the birds his hunger had so 
 overpowered him that he ate ravenously of nearly 
 twenty, and that he had meant to tell us that there 
 were many more in the same place after we had 
 eaten those we had boiled ; whereupon we forgave 
 him. Cox, Will and myself now set to and plucked 
 many of the birds, which we cooked by hot stones in 
 a large, round hole in the rock, filled with water, 
 and we all ate most heartily again. Later on two 
 of the men set out again for more, and found a 
 great rookery of many thousands of these birds just 
 over the brow of the hill. They caught and killed 
 nearly three hundred of the old birds, for the poor 
 things would not desert their offspring. 
 
 At this place also we saw many herds of sea- 
 cows feeding in the shallows between some sand- 
 spits, but could not kill any. However, we drew the 
 seine and caught a vast quantity of fish. These we 
 split and hung up to dry in the wind and sun ; 
 and although we feared a visit from the Indians, 
 Will decided to remain at this spot for another day 
 or two, as my baby was gaining strength every 
 hour through the broth that we gave her every now 
 and then. 
 
 On the third day at sunrise, with a great store of 
 dried fish and half- cooked birds, we began our 
 
232 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 voyage again, and at dusk Will bore up for a small 
 island distant about five miles from the main, for 
 we feared to sail on at night by reason of the dark- 
 ness and many reefs. Here, to our great joy, we 
 found a number of turtle and caught five ; two of 
 these were of so great a size that each took the 
 strength of four men to lift it. That night it blew 
 very hard, and we had to unload the boat and haul 
 her up on the beach. We then crept into the centre 
 of the thicket on the island, and so passed the night. 
 At daylight we found that many turtle had been 
 ashore during the night, and laid a vast number of 
 eggs ; so many, indeed, that the shell of the largest 
 turtle we had caught could not hold them all. I 
 beat up the yolks of some of the eggs and gave this 
 mixture to little Charlotte, who drank it with great 
 relish. We got away by noon from here. 
 
 We were now close to the Straits of Endeavour, 
 and so thickly was our way studded with islets, 
 reefs and shoals, that we had always to land at 
 night and wait for daylight. Sometimes we 
 suffered severely from the swarms of mosquitoes 
 which were very numerous, and would not even 
 be driven away by smoke. 
 
 Just before we rounded York Cape,* which is the 
 last headland on the coast of New South Wales, 
 we landed on the mainland for water and filled our 
 casks at a large fresh -water river, and here some 
 
 * Cape York. 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 233 
 
 of our party suffered great bodily agony by touch- 
 ing the leaves of a tree. It seems that Nathaniel 
 Lilley, James Cox and William Morton spied, walk- 
 ing about in a thicket, a great bird covered with 
 black hair and with a horned head,* and thinking 
 to catch it, they all three gave chase. In about 
 half an hour they returned in great agony, and 
 said that in chasing the bird they had brushed 
 against the leaves of trees with large, glossy leaves, 
 very beautiful and harmless to look at, but wher- 
 ever these leaves had touched their skins they soon 
 began to feel as if red-hot irons had seared their 
 flesh. Indeed, they were in such dreadful pain that 
 night that Lilley was quite out of his senses, and 
 the others almost as bad ; and the pains continued 
 for a long time after, t 
 
 We rounded York Cape with a strong wind from 
 the E.S.E., and brought to for the night in a little 
 bay on the western side, so as to stow our boat better 
 for the voyage across the open sea to Timor, which 
 Butcher said was nearly straight to the westward 
 from York Cape. 
 
 That night we rowed -the boat to a sandbank 
 some distance from the shore, for we saw many 
 Indians armed with spears watching us from the 
 mainland. There was much driftwood on the 
 
 * A Cassowary. 
 
 f Note by Editors. — The coastal scrubs of Northern Queensland are 
 infested with the stinging-tree, the slightest contact of the leaves of 
 which with the human skin causes the most excruciating pain. 
 
23+ A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 sandbank, and we lit a fire, and then, after we had 
 eaten our evening meal of dried flesh and drank our 
 allowance of water, Butcher and Will spread out the 
 Dutchman's chart on the sand. We all gathered 
 round in silence, and then when Butcher showed 
 us the vast open space of ocean we had yet to pass 
 over before we reached Timor, our hearts sank with- 
 in us. But Will and Butcher cheered us up by 
 telling us that although three hundred leagues was 
 a long way, yet, as we should not have many 
 places to touch at, we should reach Timor all the 
 sooner. So with that we were content, though that 
 night none of us slept ; for we could hear the savages 
 making a great outcry on the mainland, and feared 
 they might come off in canoes and attack us. 
 
 It was in Will and Butcher's minds for us to steer 
 due west for Timor, but for the fear that if we met 
 with foul winds our water might give out ; so in- 
 stead of this we steered west and by south, so as to 
 cross a great gulf shown on the chart,* touched on 
 the coast of New Holland again to replenish our 
 provisions and water, and then steered a north- 
 westerly course to Timor. 
 
 I will not here tell of all our further sufferings, 
 but will bring the account of our voyage to an end. 
 We crossed the gulf safely and found abundance 
 of turtle, fish and water on the coast on the 
 other side, which we followed, I think, for about 
 
 * The Gulf of Carpentaria. 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 235 
 
 fourteen or fifteen days before we finally left it. 
 This part of New Holland is truly a dreadful 
 country, for all the shores are muddy and full of 
 crocodiles, and the woods infested with serpents ; 
 and though we saw but few Indians here, we 
 were often chased by a new race of savages, in 
 large canoes, fitted with sails and great fighting 
 stages, and sometimes holding thirty men in each.* 
 These we escaped by rowing hard to windward, 
 and so with such adventures, and with my poor Will 
 suffering from a malignant fever, which came upon 
 him the day we left the coast, and my little 
 Charlotte ailing from want of nourishment, we at 
 last reached Coupang, the name of the Dutch 
 settlement at Timor, more dead than alive. 
 
 * Note by Editors, — Evidently Malay prahus, which have, since the 
 very early history of Australia, voyaged to its northern shores. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIII 
 
 A VERY HEAVY PUNISHMENT IS METED OUT TO 
 MARY, AND THE FUGITIVES AGAIN BECOME 
 PRISONERS 
 
 We reached Coupang on the fifth of June, and landed 
 there in the afternoon. There was a great assemblage 
 of both white and black people to see us land, and I 
 have no doubt but that our appearance was very strange 
 and " deplorable. The skins of nearly every one of us 
 was burnt to a dark brown colour, and Butcher, Lilley, 
 and William Morton looked more like wild animals 
 than human beings. As for me, I was very weak, and 
 could scarcely hold my little Charlotte in my arms, 
 and poor Will, who was now suffering terribly from the 
 fever and violent shivering fits, which came on him 
 every, few hours, had to be carried out of the boat. 
 
 As soon as we were landed, the Dutch people were 
 very kind to us, and we gave out that our party were 
 the survivors of an English vessel wrecked on her way 
 to Port Jackson from the coast of America, and also 
 added, which was true enough, that we had been in 
 the boat for ten weeks all but one day. Butcher, we 
 said, was one of the officers, and Will and I were 
 passengers. 
 
 236 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 237 
 
 The Dutch governor, Timotheus Wangon, Esquire, 
 treated us all very well, and sent a doctor to attend 
 upon Will. He also sent an Indian woman to attend 
 upon me and little Charlotte, and provided me with 
 some wine and a baked fowl for my immediate wants ; 
 the rest of the men were also given good food, and a 
 change of clothes was brought to each by a Dutch 
 soldier. 
 
 Perhaps all would have gone well with us after all, 
 but, after we had been at Coupang nearly three 
 months, Butcher and Morton and John Simms, who 
 were lodged in a house near the soldiers' quarters, were 
 one night talking over our escape, and by-and-by, their 
 tongues being loosened by some drams of an ardent 
 spirit given to them by one of the soldiers, they got 
 careless and talked very loudly. Presently there came 
 outside the house a Dutch merchant captain and a 
 Dutch trader from Ternate, who, it seems, both spoke 
 English, and had come to visit the shipwrecked English 
 sailors out of curiosity. But these two had heard a 
 word or two fell from Butcher which made them wait 
 outside and listen for more, and they soon heard enough 
 to convince them that we were escaped convicts from 
 Botany Bay. So away they went to the Governor 
 and told him. 
 
 This happened on the twenty-ninth of August, and, 
 strange to say, it was on that very day that there 
 reached Coupang, Captain Edwards and the crew of 
 the Pandora, a King's ship which had been cast away 
 
238 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 on the coast of New Holland. Among them were 
 also some prisoners, part of the mutineer crew of 
 Lieutenant Bligh's ship. It seems that when Mr 
 Bligh had reached England, the Government had sent 
 out the Pandora to search for these mutineers, and 
 they had been found and seized at an island in the 
 South Seas. Three or four of them had perished 
 miserably in their irons when the Pandora went 
 down, the rest were brought to Coupang. As soon 
 as Captain Edwards heard the story of the Dutch 
 Governor about us being suspected as escaped convicts, 
 he got Mr Wangon to have us seized, and in a very 
 brief time we were all, save myself, seized, heavily 
 ironed, and cast into prison with the men from the 
 Bounty. 
 
 Poor Will, who was still in a very weak state, only 
 had time to kiss me and little Charlotte farewell, when 
 he was torn from me, and taken with the others, and 
 I, distracted woman that I was, was put into a prison 
 apart from him. 
 
 In a few days the King's officer chartered a ship 
 belonging to the Dutch East India Company, and 
 named the Hornimey^ to take us with his ship's com- 
 pany, and the other prisoners, to Batavia, from where 
 he hoped to get another ship to take us to the Cape of 
 Good Hope. 
 
 And so, once more with clanking irons upon their 
 fettered limbs, my unfortunate companions in misery 
 were placed on board the Dutch ship. I was not 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 239 
 
 placed in irons myself by that stern and cruel King's 
 officer, but with my child in my arms was allowed to 
 sit down on the main deck of the ship, so that I was 
 at least near my dear husband. The Dutch sailors 
 were kind to me, and one managed to get the sentry 
 over us to turn away his head while he slipped a bottle 
 of milk into my hand for little Charlotte, who could 
 not understand why her father sat there with his face 
 bowed upon his knees, and tried to crawl over to 
 him. 
 
 To me that voyage in the Hornwey was a very 
 dreadful one. I could see that my husband was 
 dying before my eyes, and yet could not even go near 
 him to pillow his weary head upon my breast, for the 
 sentry had orders not to let me speak to any of my 
 companions — no, not even my own dear Will. 
 
 One night the Hornwey lay becalmed. It was very 
 dark and hot, and even in the open air we poor 
 prisoners could scarce breathe. There was not a 
 sound to be heard, save the grating of the prisoners' 
 irons upon the deck when they moved their aching 
 limbs.' Presently I saw James Cox, who had been 
 very quiet and sad all day, rise upon his knees, and 
 moving very gently so that the sentry could not hear 
 him, crawl up to Will and whisper a word or two in 
 his ear, and their manacled hands met for a minute. 
 Then looking round to where I lay upon a grating, 
 he beckoned me to him. I crept over, carrying my 
 baby with me. 
 
240 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 'Mistress Bryant,' said he in a whisper, 'give me 
 your hand. I shall be a dead man before morning.' 
 
 ' Don't say that, James,' I said ; ' see how my poor 
 Will bears up, ill as he is.' 
 
 ' Mistress Bryant, 'tis better for us all to die as soon 
 as we can. But give me your hand, good woman, and 
 hush ! make no noise, but give me the brat to kiss.' 
 
 I held my sleeping baby's face to his, and he pressed 
 his lips to her forehead, and then he suddenly raised 
 himself erect, and his chains making a great noise, 
 clambered to the ship's side and sprang overboard. 
 May God forgive me his death ! 
 
 There was a great outcry made, but, of course, the 
 poor man had sunk like a stone j so no boat was lowered. 
 But that the others might not follow his example, they 
 were chained to ringbolts in the deck. That night 
 a very furious storm burst upon us with terrible rain, 
 and in the morning William Morton lay dead and 
 stiff in his irons. He was never a very strong man, 
 and the sufferings he had undergone in the boat had 
 quite broken his health, even as it had Will's. And 
 soon after, John Simms followed him. He died very 
 quietly, and, indeed, we did not know he was dead 
 till the sentry called to him to look up, as Captain 
 Edwards was coming. But the man made no answer, 
 and Will, who was next to him, said to the sentry in 
 a weak voice, — 
 
 ' He can't look up — not even for a King's officer — 
 he has just breathed his last.' 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 241 
 
 At last we reached Batavia, and here I was to feel 
 that God's hand is indeed heavy to those who sin as I 
 have sinned. 
 
 Will was now so weak that even our stern superiors 
 took pity on him, and he was sent to the soldiers' 
 hospital, where I was allowed to go with him. It 
 was a long, narrow building with a thatched roof, and 
 though the furnishing was very poor, it was yet neat 
 and clean. He was placed upon a pallet, and a Dutch 
 doctor, who spoke some English, came and looked at 
 him. 
 
 ' Are you his wife ? ' he said to me kindly, and he 
 motioned me to bring a wooden stool and sit near the 
 bed. Then he whispered to me that he would not 
 last long. 
 
 I did not think that Will had heard him, but he 
 did, for his poor, wasted hand sought mine, and he 
 spoke. 
 
 'Mary, my girl . . . God keep you, for I shall 
 soon be gone. 'Tis hard to die thus, dear wife . . . 
 to leave you and the little one.' 
 
 I sought to answer him through my tears, and 
 bending down kissed his lips, and in his dear eyes I 
 saw that the dark shadows of death were gathering fast, 
 and that his breath came very slowly after each word 
 he spoke. 
 
 At the foot of the bed stood a Dutch sergeant who, 
 at a sign from the doctor, placed a cup of wine to his 
 lips. He drank and then lay back again, but his eyes 
 Q 
 
242 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 turned to me so piteously, that as I held his hand in 
 mine I could not see his face for my tears. He pressed 
 my hand tenderly, and then turning to the doctor 
 begged to be allowed to see little Charlotte, whom I 
 had not been permitted to bring into the hospital. 
 
 The good doctor nodded to the sergeant, and the 
 soldier went out and brought in an Indian wench who 
 carried the child in her arms. 
 
 ' Mary, my wife, come here, dear one,' said Will to 
 me, and he tried to smile ; ' place the little one in my 
 arms,' but even as he spoke, and I gave the infant into 
 his weak arms, the tears of her father gathered in his 
 eyes and ran down his cheeks. For a moment or so 
 he lay quiet with the child's cheek pressed to his, and 
 his gaunt, bony arms clasped gently round her little 
 body. Then, with one last look of love for me, he 
 gave a heavy sigh and died. 
 
 And so God punished me. 
 
 The next day Captain Edwards hired the Ram- 
 bang, a Dutch vessel, which brought us to the Cape 
 of Good Hope. 
 
 And so we wretched ones who remain were brought 
 on board this ship, and now, all I ask is that when we 
 reach England, and my just punishment by the laws 
 of man shall begin, that my remaining infant may be 
 cared for and preserved from such a fate as has befallen 
 me. I ask, too, that those of my companions who 
 remain may be dealt with mercifully, since 'twas I, and 
 I alone, who have brought them to this sad pass. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV 
 
 I ARRIVE IN ENGLAND 
 
 This was Mary Bryant's story, and it is told to you 
 almost in her own words. Her petition that her 
 infant daughter might be saved from the prison taint 
 that she knew was awaiting her, was altered before 
 this statement was handed to the Home Authorities, 
 for the child Charlotte died at sea on the sixth of 
 May, and we consigned her tiny form to the deep. 
 
 From that day we saw little of Mary, who was 
 too ill even to come upon deck and take the fresh 
 air. The remainder of the voyage was without 
 interest, and the Gorgon arrived at Chatham on 
 June the nineteenth, 1792, and once more I was 
 back in my native land. 
 
 'Twas a sad sight to us to see the prisoners passed 
 over the side of the ship on that memorable day of 
 our arrival. First there were the miserable persons 
 who had taken part in the mutiny of the Bounty, 
 most of them, as they left the ship, never hoping, 
 for a moment, that anything but death awaited them, 
 though I am glad to say young Heywood, the youngest 
 243 
 
244 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 of them all, escaped, and afterwards served with great 
 distinction on a King's ship. 
 
 Then the survivors of the Bryant party were taken 
 in charge by the Bow Street officers, to be conveyed 
 to London. Mary gave one look behind at the 
 Marines, who were drawn up on the quarter-deck 
 for inspection before disembarking. 
 
 She caught sight of Lieutenant Fairfax and myself, 
 and waved to us a sad farewell, and though the 
 discipline of the Service is very strict, I could not 
 help waving my hand from where I stood, on the 
 right flank of my company, and as I did so, I saw 
 Major Ross look at me as if in wonder why so steady 
 a man could so far forget himself as to signal to a 
 convict from the ranks. But he said nothing, this 
 being so great an occasion, and perhaps he had 
 caught sight of Lieutenant Fairfax, who lowered the 
 point of his sword ever so little, but still enough for 
 Mary to see that he intended this signal of farewell 
 for her. 
 
 As soon as we were landed we were marched off 
 to the depot at Chatham, and after a few days we, 
 who returned from Port Jackson, were granted a 
 long furlough, and joyously departed for our homes. . 
 Lieutenant Fairfax sent for me the last thing 
 before I left, and said he, — 
 
 'Now, Dew, I cannot, I am sorry to say, return 
 with you by the coach to Portsmouth ; but re- 
 member this, when you get back to dear old 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 245 
 
 Solcombe — that is, if you've a mind to it, and have 
 had enough of the Service — when I leave London 
 it will be for good, and I will bring with me your 
 discharge.' 
 
 I was overjoyed to hear my good patron had not 
 forgotten his promise, and I thanked him heartily. 
 
 'Tell my sister when you give her this letter,' 
 went on the lieutenant, handing me a bulky package, 
 'that I am going to remain in London until I can 
 get clear of the Service, and while I am there I shall 
 leave no stone unturned to soften the lot of her 
 former maid, Mary Bryant.' Here he turned his 
 face away from me for a moment. 'Now be off 
 with you and get all in readiness to turn farmer, 
 for there is no more pipeclay for either of us.' 
 
 When I reached Portsmouth in the coach, I 
 purchased a newspaper to take over to my father at 
 the island. For I had seen by the advertisement 
 outside of the printing-house, as we drove up in the 
 coach, that it contained a publication which the 
 printers entitled, 'Strange Story of an Escape from 
 Botany Bay.' 
 
 So I bought a copy of the Hampshire Chronicle 
 and Portsmouth and Chichester Journal^ and there 
 I read, with much emotion, a full account of Mary's 
 appearance at Bow Street Police Court in London. 
 
 It set forth that on Saturday last, which was the 
 fifteenth of July, Sir Sampson Wright's officers 
 brought up at the Police Court five prisoners from 
 
246 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 His Majesty's frigate Gorgon, and then with many 
 errors, such as newspapers so often contain, it related 
 the story of the Bryants' escape. The person who 
 reported the matter wrote, — 'It was remarked by 
 everyone present, and by the magistrate, that they 
 never saw people who bore stronger marks of a 
 sincere repentance, and all joined in the wish that 
 their past sufferings may be considered as a sufficient 
 expiation of their crimes. They all declared that 
 they would sooner suffer death than return to 
 Botany Bay. They were committed to Newgate.' 
 
CHAPTER XXXV 
 
 AFFAIRS AT SOLCOMBE 
 
 Before I left Chatham, I had received a letter from 
 your Aunt Dorothy, telling me that she had been 
 wedded to that honest yeoman, your Uncle John, 
 just about the time that we were leaving the Cape 
 of Good Hope in the Gorgon. 
 
 She had tried to persuade her husband to postpone 
 the happy event until my return to England, that 
 I might dance at the wedding, but he would not 
 listen to this, 'for,' said he, 'the Gorgon took long 
 enough getting to Botany Bay to fetch your brother, 
 and if we wait until she returns with him, we may 
 be too old for thoughts of marriage before he gets 
 to England ; ' and, indeed, he spoke most sensibly. 
 
 And so they were married, and your aunt went 
 away to live at her new home on the other side of 
 the island, and my father was left to the care of the 
 woman who helped in the household. 
 
 Alas ! my home-coming was not so joyful as I 
 had anticipated, for when I landed on Ryde beach 
 from the Portsmouth wherry, a waterman, who was 
 lounging about, came up to me and said, — 
 247 
 
248 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 C I say, you, soldier, ain't you young Sergeant 
 Dew from Botany Bay ? ' 
 
 ' I am that man,' I answered. 
 
 ' Well,' said he, c you don't remember me, but I am 
 a near neighbour of yours over by Solcombe, and they 
 are looking forward anxiously for you to come back. 
 Your old father is very ill, and I am afraid you 
 won't see him alive.' 
 
 And so, on hearing this sad news I hastened 
 away, and getting into a farmer's cart that was going 
 that way, without waiting for the carrier, I got as far 
 as Newport, and from there walked to my home. 
 
 Sure enough, I found your aunt and uncle and 
 the doctor, and all of them around the bedside of 
 my father, who, after recovering consciousness, and 
 giving me his blessing and forgiveness for all the 
 anxiety I had caused him, closed his eyes for ever, 
 and left me the lonely master of our little farm. 
 
 I did all things decently, and buried your grand- 
 father in the parish churchyard, following his remains 
 in my scarlet tunic with a crape band round my 
 arm, the neighbours, who followed from the country 
 side for a long way round, all staring at me, and 
 some of them, no doubt, pointing me out as an 
 example of a young man who had been a rolling 
 stone. Miss Charlotte Fairfax sent her chaise to 
 follow at the funeral, and I felt the honour very 
 much. 
 
 I had sent her brother's letter to her with my 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 249 
 
 best respects, and told her of my father's illness, and 
 that, as soon as I could leave him, I would present 
 my duty, and begged to be granted an interview. 
 
 She very graciously replied that I was to suit my 
 own time and convenience, and now that all was 
 over, I resolved to call upon her. 
 
 Accordingly, one day I walked over to the Manor, 
 and was shown into the drawing-room. 
 
 Miss Fairfax lived all alone, managing the estate 
 for her brother, with the aid of a bailiff, and an old 
 lady lived with her as a sort of companion and 
 housekeeper. 
 
 I found Mary's mistress very little altered in appear- 
 ance, and, as I have toldlyou, she was a great beauty ; 
 but she was much sobered in her manner, and had 
 the air and conversation of a much older woman. 
 
 She was very gracious to me, and addressed me as 
 Mr Dew. After her first greeting, said she : — ' But, 
 Mr Dew, why do you appear thus in your uniform ? 
 It becomes you mightily, but, goodness me, we are 
 not at war in the island, Heaven be thanked.' 
 
 ' If you please, Miss Fairfax,' I answered, ' the 
 humbler ranks of the military, and the Marines also, 
 are allowed no other dress ; and, indeed, madam, I 
 have no other clothes but these.' 
 
 'Ah, then,' and she smiled most prettily, 'you 
 have not heard from my brother. He tells me, Mr 
 Dew, in a letter which was delivered to me only 
 to-day, that he himself is now released from the King's 
 
z5o A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 Service, and he has also procured your discharge from 
 the Marines.' 
 
 I was mightily pleased to hear this, as you may 
 be sure, and so I said, and expressed my gratitude. 
 
 Then Miss Fairfax, who seemed to grow more 
 beautiful every minute, requested me to tell her of 
 the strange adventures of the Bryants ; and so I told 
 their story as you have heard it, and her eyes filled 
 with tears, and then the tender-hearted lady turned 
 her face from me and wept softly to herself a while. 
 
 When she had recovered herself, and dried her 
 pretty eyes, she was so condescending as to make me 
 stay and take a dish of tea with her and her old lady 
 companion in the drawing-room ; and I felt myself a 
 very high and important person, I can tell you, as 
 I walked away home to begin life as a tenant farmer 
 on my small estate, and one of the principal persons 
 in our neighbourhood. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVI 
 
 MR FAIRFAX PAYS A FLYING VISIT, AND JOHN 
 BUTCHER SENDS IN A PETITION 
 
 You may depend upon it that I was well pleased, 
 on getting back to my form, to receive a letter from 
 my old master, enclosing in it my formal discharge 
 from the Service. In this letter he told me that 
 he was working hard to obtain mercy for poor Mary 
 and the unhappy survivors of the boat voyage. He 
 also wrote that he would not be back in Solcombe 
 for some time to come, as he had many things to 
 attend to in London. Then he asked me to give 
 his sister a helping hand with the Solcombe estate, 
 as she, being a lone woman dependent upon a bailiff, 
 would be glad of my advice. Of course, I was proud 
 and pleased at this commission, and in consequence 
 of it I was very often at the Manor, and Miss 
 Fairfax was so good as to make much use of me ; 
 and, indeed, treated me as if I had been in all ways 
 her equal. 
 
 Two or three months passed like this, and then 
 we had a flying visit from Mr Fairfax. Miss 
 251 
 
25z A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 Charlotte had reproached him for not coming to 
 see her, and he took coach and boat, and came down 
 to the island quite unexpectedly. After a few hours 
 spent with his sister, he was so good as to walk over 
 to my farm. 
 
 I thanked him very heartily for remembering his 
 old servant in the way he had done, and enabling me 
 to settle down and become a respected man again. 
 In reply to my words, he said, 'Now, Dew, once 
 for all let us drop this master and servant business. 
 I have become an extreme Whig, and hope to sit 
 for the island yet as such. I believe all men and 
 women are equal so far as position goes ; it is honesty 
 and that alone which should rank us ; and now that 
 both of us have left the Service, let us drop it. I 
 think you are as good a man as I am, and Mary 
 Bryant is as good a woman as my sister is. What 
 do you think of that now ? ' 
 
 This shocked me very much, and so I ventured 
 on the liberty of saying that such sentiments did more 
 honour to his heart than to his head. 'Why, sir,' 
 said I, 'it is bad enough to make the servant equal 
 to the master, but to compare Miss Fairfax with her 
 maid — a convicted — ' 
 
 'That will do, Dew,' he replied, in the old way, 
 ' let me hear no more of such talk. I am afraid you 
 will always be a fool in some ways.' 
 
 Then he went on to tell me that he had taken up 
 his residence for a time, at least, in London, and he 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 253 
 
 was working hard to obtain Mary's release, and hoped 
 to do so before very long. Meanwhile, I was to 
 look well after his sister and help her all I could. 
 'For, look you, Dew,' said he, 'she will want all 
 your assistance, because I don't like farming, and 
 will have nothing to do with it, and so I have 
 told her.' 
 
 'This will make her very unhappy,' said I, 'for, 
 to be sure, she must have looked forward to your 
 home-coming, to take your place among the island 
 gentry.' 
 
 ' Oh, no, she is quite happy, and likes the idea of 
 having you about to advise her. Good-bye,' and 
 with a hearty hand-shake my old master walked 
 off, leaving me somewhat dazed at the strange senti- 
 ments he had expressed. 
 
 A few weeks after this I got a copy of the Ports- 
 mouth paper, and in it I read that all the prisoners, 
 except Mary Bryant and Butcher, had been sent to 
 complete their sentences, but Mary Bryant's case 
 was still under consideration. The following letter 
 was also published in this paper from Butcher : — 
 
 ' John Butcher to the Right Hon. Henry Dundas. 
 
 'Newgate, 23d January 1793. 
 ' May it please Your Honour, — It ill becomes a person, in the 
 low sphere I move in, to address a person of your exalted character, nor 
 should I have presumed to take the liberty but for the following 
 reason : — Having been brought up in the thorough knowledge of all 
 kinds of land, and capable of bringing indifferent lands to perfection, 
 I had an offer some time ago to go to Botany Bay, to endeavour to 
 
25+ A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 make that land more fertile than it has ever appeared to be. I submit 
 the following list to your honour's perusal of what is necessary seed, 
 and what has been tried and found not to answer the expectations 
 formed of them. Two sorts of English wheat ; barley, rye and beans, 
 one sort ; grass is a good production, as likewise Indian corn ; and 
 some of the land will produce tobacco, and, all sorts of garden stuff, with 
 proper instructions. But according to the manner in which they till 
 the ground at present, they will bring nothing to perfection, owing to 
 the different sorts of land in the island, which they are entirely ignorant 
 of j and I flatter myself, from what I have seen of the island, that I 
 could render it a great deal more productive, and, in a few years, could 
 save the Government a great expense in provisions for the colony. 
 
 'Although I have suffered a great deal in going and coming from 
 Botany Bay, yet I am willing to go back again on proper terms, as I 
 am certain I can be of very great service to the island in what I pro- 
 fess, and if your honour should think me worthy of the situation, I 
 am willing to place myself, and I will be bound to perform everything 
 I undertake, or expect nothing for my trouble. I should be humbly 
 thankful to your honour if you would condescend to indulge me with 
 an answer, that I may know what I am to expect ; you will give great 
 ease to the anxious mind of, hon. sir, your humble servant, 
 
 ' John Butcher.' 
 
 I may as well dispose of Butcher at once, by 
 telling you that the petition of this man was granted, 
 and he was allowed to enlist in the New South 
 Wales Regiment, and was sent back to the settle- 
 ment. He was, in September, 1795, granted 25 acres 
 of land in the Petersham district near Sydney, and 
 became a flourishing settler. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVII 
 
 I HEAR GOOD NEWS AT LAST 
 
 Time passed on, and more months went by before we 
 — I mean dear Miss Fairfax and myself — heard any- 
 thing of her brother, my lieutenant, as I still always 
 thought of him, although we had occasional letters 
 from him in which we heard that he was a regular 
 visitor to Newgate Prison, and that he had procured 
 many indulgences for Mary, who was now quite 
 restored to health, and sent her loving duty to her 
 former mistress, and her kind remembrances to my- 
 self. 
 
 We had news, too, from Port Jackson. Lieutenant 
 King had again taken charge of Norfolk Island, and 
 that settlement was flourishing under his wise rule. 
 This gentleman was on his way out from England, 
 as we were returning home in the Gorgon, and by his 
 personal efforts with the Government during his short 
 stay in England, had done a great deal for the new 
 country. Major Ross, my old commandant, became 
 recruiting officer at the depot, where, I have no doubt, 
 he turned out some good soldiers to serve their King 
 255 
 
256 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 and country ; for although I cannot say I ever liked so 
 stern and hard a Gentleman, yet he was an excellent 
 officer — but yet I was very glad to get away from 
 him. 
 
 Governor Phillip, so my lieutenant wrote, left the 
 settlement in the Atlantic on the eleventh of December, 
 1 792, and arrived in England in the summer of 1 793, 
 and in July of that year he resigned his post, and 
 Sydney — for so the settlement is now called — lost the 
 best and bravest Gentleman that ever stepped foot into 
 it. After he left, two officers of the New South 
 Wales Regiment — which to my mind was a very 
 indifferent body of men when compared to my old 
 corps — in turn became Governors ; these were Colonel 
 Gore and Captain Patterson, and then, early in 1794, 
 Captain Hunter, with whom I had sailed so often, 
 was appointed Governor ; but all this is history which 
 you can read for yourselves. 
 
 As I have said, things went on very much as usual 
 with us at Solcombe, until, on the twenty-eighth of 
 May 1793, I read in the Portsmouth paper this very 
 startling piece of news : — 
 
 1 His Majesty has been graciously pleased to grant a free pardon to 
 Mary Bryant, who, accompanied by several male convicts, escaped from 
 Botany Bay, and traversed upwards of three thousand miles by sea in an 
 open boat, exposed to tempestuous weather.' 
 
 This was joyful news, but in another part of the 
 paper I read something which I could have robbed of 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 257 
 
 the mystery which the printer seemed to think sur- 
 rounded it. This is what he wrote : — 
 
 'The female convict who made her escape from Botany Bay and 
 suffered the greatest hardships during a voyage of three thousand leagues, 
 and who was afterwards retaken and condemned to death, has been 
 pardoned and released from Newgate. In the story of this woman there 
 is something extremely singular. A gentleman of high rank in the Army 
 visited her in Newgate, heard the details of her life, and for that time 
 departed. The next day he returned, and told the old gentleman who 
 keeps the prison that he had procured her pardon, which he showed him, 
 at the same time requesting that she should not be apprised of the cir- 
 cumstance. The next day he returned with his carriage, and took off 
 the young woman, who almost expired with excess of joy.' 
 
 You may well imagine that I was pleased enough 
 to read this, although all that was printed was not 
 strictly "true ; but I knew very well that Mary was 
 pardoned, and that my master had succeeded, and so I 
 cared nothing for the rest. 
 
 By the same boat that brought to the island the 
 Portsmouth papers, came letters from Mr Fairfax to 
 his sister and myself, confirming the news of Mary's 
 pardon, and telling us that he would soon pay us a 
 visit, and bring us all particulars and much that would 
 interest us. 
 
 Miss Fairfax was as pleased as myself at hearing the 
 news, and wrote a very kind letter, which before send- 
 ing she read to me, offering to take Mary back to her 
 service, and telling her brother that now the goodness 
 of his heart had succeeded in procuring Mary's pardon, 
 'twas time for him to return to the island and settle 
 
 R 
 
258 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 on his estate, ' for,' she said, ' although Mr Dew hath 
 been, and is still, of very great service to me, and is most 
 anxious to help me all in his power, yet 'tis cruel that 
 I should be so hard upon his time and good-nature. So 
 do you hasten back, my dear brother.' 
 
CHAPTER XXXVIII 
 
 MR FAIRFAX SURPRISES ME VERY MUCH, AND I 
 BEGIN TO ASSOCIATE WITH PEOPLE OF QUALITY 
 
 Two months had gone by and we had heard nothing 
 more of the lieutenant, save from a short note which 
 he had written to Miss Fairfax, telling her not to 
 expect him for some weeks. Three weeks had passed 
 since this letter came, and both Miss Fairfax and I 
 wondered at hearing nothing further, when one day 
 I received a message to say that Mr Fairfax wanted 
 me at the Manor House. Before setting out I spent 
 some little time over my attire, as since I had begun 
 to see Miss Fairfax so often, I deemed it proper that I 
 should dress in a more befitting manner than that 
 which I had been accustomed to. Indeed, on Mr 
 Fairfax's advice, I had had two suits made in 
 Southampton by his own tailor, and Miss Fairfax had 
 told me that they became me very well. I was 
 never a vain man, but, of course, I could not help 
 knowing that, as far as looks and build went, there 
 were few men in the island to whom Providence had 
 been kinder ; and, indeed, as I was now in a comfort- 
 259 
 
z6o A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 able position I began to try and improve myself in 
 other ways by reading and paying strict attention to 
 my deportment when in the society of Miss Fairfax. 
 So, being very handsomely dressed in one of my new 
 suits, which had cost each two pounds sterling, I set 
 out, and reaching the Manor House was shown into 
 the drawing-room. 
 
 There, in the middle of the room, stood my master, 
 holding by the hand Mary, who looked so beautiful 
 again that I at first scarce knew her. As I entered 
 the room he stepped forward, and still holding Mary 
 by the hand, said, — 
 
 ' Here you are, friend Dew, come and be intro- 
 duced to my wife, your old acquaintance, Mary.' 
 
 I was so astonished by this wonderful event being 
 revealed to me in this sudden manner, that I stood 
 stock still like a fool and said nothing. Then my 
 old master, after waiting a moment, clapped me on 
 my back and said, ' Come, Will Dew, won't you 
 congratulate me ? ' 
 
 I really must have lost my senses, for I stood to 
 attention just as in the old days, and saluted, and only 
 muttered, as if I were giving the countersign on 
 sentry duty, ' Yes, sir, I congratulate you.' 
 
 Mr Fairfax laughed outright at me, and said, ' Hang 
 me if I don't believe you're jealous.' 
 
 Then Mary held out her hand to me, and said she, 
 — ' No, no, Mr Dew is very much surprised that his 
 old friend and dear master could so have forgotten his 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 261 
 
 rank to take compassion upon poor me, and let his 
 pity grow to a love so great that he could make me 
 his wife ; and, indeed, well may he be astounded at 
 the news.' 
 
 I had taken her hand and was still silent, looking 
 now in her face and seeing therein a look of quiet 
 happiness such as I had never seen before ; and now 
 I realised that all that she had suffered had not 
 altered her, and she was still a beautiful woman, a 
 woman, indeed, that any man might well be proud to 
 call his own. 
 
 Presently I recovered my wits and began to see 
 that after all, though my rich and well-born master had 
 committed what many persons might call a great piece 
 of folly, and what I knew showed extraordinary freedom 
 of prejudice on his part, yet Mary was, as I had 
 known in the old days, far above the common rustic, 
 and she looked and talked like a lady born. 
 
 By-and-by we grew more composed, and fell a- 
 talking, and I noticed Miss Fairfax was not in the 
 room and did not come in, though we were a long 
 time together ; and so I asked Mr Fairfax if his sister 
 had seen Mary. 
 
 He took me on one side and said, — ' Yes, and 
 there's the devil to pay. My sister has sworn never 
 to forgive either of us, and has shut herself up in her 
 room, where she swears she will remain until she can 
 get another home.' 
 
 At this I expressed my sorrow that this marriage 
 
262 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 was to be the means of Miss Fairfax leaving the 
 Manor. 
 
 'Oh, that will be all right,' said Mr Fairfax. 
 'Mary and I are going away to London this after- 
 noon, where we shall live for years, and my sister 
 will remain here. You see, Dew, I am proud of my 
 wife, but I know and she knows, well enough, that all 
 the people about here will not take kindly to our 
 marriage at first. You know they have not seen 
 the world as we have, and so, like my sister, they 
 will have foolish prejudices, and so we are going to 
 live in London for a time. Meanwhile, do you look 
 after my sister and help her all you can, and try to 
 overcome her silly objections to my marriage.' 
 
 And then I said farewell to them both, and they 
 went away and remained in London for some years, 
 until the lieutenant was father of three children, whose 
 honoured names you know well enough. 
 
 All this time I remained a lonely man at my farm, 
 with no companions save the old woman who kept 
 house for me, and occasional visits from my sister and 
 her family. Now and then I would spend an evening 
 in the best parlour of the inn at Solcombe with the 
 persons of quality who frequented it, for I was now a 
 man of substance, all things prospering with me. 
 
 I still continued to be invited by Miss Fairfax to 
 the Manor House, and she very frequently challenged 
 me to a game of backgammon, and occasionally, 
 accompanied by her old lady companion, she would 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 263 
 
 ask me to escort them for a walk along the cliffs. 
 These days were very bright spots in my life, and 
 consoled me greatly for the quiet existence I led at 
 the farm. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIX 
 
 MISS FAIRFAX OUTDOES HER BROTHER IN SURPRISING 
 ME, AND A VERY GREAT AND HAPPY EVENT 
 BRINGS MY STORY TO AN END 
 
 And now, as I draw near to the close of this journal, 
 I find it hard to tell you in words that are fitting 
 the last great event of my life. 
 
 Although, as I have said, Mr Fairfax was away in 
 London for a great length of time, he did pay us 
 a few flying visits at Solcombe ; but did not bring 
 his wife with him, although Miss Fairfax had become 
 reconciled to the marriage, and all difference between 
 them was at an end. Indeed, although she was of 
 a somewhat quick temper, she was very fond of 
 her brother, and he of her ; and latteily, had often 
 said to me that her brother did right, after all, in 
 marrying the woman he loved. It was all the more 
 to her credit that she had quite forgiven her brother's 
 marriage, for although she declares that it is not 
 true, and that she had no desire to marry, yet both 
 her brother and myself sometimes thought that she 
 was over-sensitive about it, and for that reason refused 
 264 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 265 
 
 many handsome offers she received from the gentle- 
 men who from time to time she became acquainted with. 
 
 On one of these visits to Solcombe, Mr Fairfax 
 astonished me even more than he had done when 
 he introduced me to his wife. He had come over 
 to my farm to spend the evening, and we were 
 chatting over old times and having a glass of grog 
 together, when suddenly he opened upon me in this 
 way, — 'Look here, Dew, I have always known you 
 to be pretty much of a fool, and I'll be hanged if 
 I don't think as you grow older you grow worse. 
 Here you are leading this miserable, lonely life, and 
 the woman who is willing to marry you is doing 
 the same, and so you go on month after month. 
 Meanwhile, the years are passing by, and by the 
 time you wake up to the fact (unless she proposes, 
 I don't believe you ever will), the pair of you will 
 be too old to make it worth while your mating.' 
 
 ' Why, what on earth are you driving at, sir ? ' 
 I asked. Even up to this time I could not help 
 addressing the lieutenant as 'sir.' 
 
 'If you were anything but a fool you would know 
 that she can't ask you to marry her, yet she has 
 given you every signal that a woman in love can 
 make. She asks your advice on every subject, whether 
 you know anything of it or not, and I know — for 
 you have told me in your letters — that she is always 
 descanting to you on the mistake she made in once 
 supposing that it was wrong for two persons to 
 
266 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 marry if they did not both happen to be born in 
 the one station.' 
 
 ' Great heavens, sir ! you don't suppose that I 
 could ever so far forget myself as to — to think of 
 marrying with your sister ! ' 
 
 'Whenever are you going to forget that infernal 
 humility that, since two or three years of service 
 in the Marines, has so persistently stuck to you ? ' 
 
 ' But, sir, our positions, apart from that, are widely 
 different, and your sister, if she knew we were thus 
 discussing her, would forbid me to speak to her 
 again.' 
 
 ' In the first place, our positions are not different. 
 You are one of the most prosperous tenant farmers 
 about here ; and your father and his father came of 
 good yeoman stock. I have an estate from which 
 I derive a very moderate income, and my sister is 
 dependent on what I allow her.' 
 
 'But, sir—' 
 
 'Wait a moment. In the second place, I have 
 told her that you are very much in love with her, 
 as I saw long ago, and she has confessed to me 
 that if you would only get over your confounded 
 modesty, you would not be indifferent to her. 
 Now, sir, what have you to say to that ? ' 
 
 ' But, sir, though I confess I have for a long time 
 secretly admired Miss Charlotte, I have been most 
 careful to conceal my sentiments, knowing too well 
 my duty, and besides, notwithstanding all you say, 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 267 
 
 I can never, pardon me for saying it, believe Miss 
 Fairfax thinks of me.' 
 
 ' That will do, Dew ; put on your hat and coat 
 this instant.' 
 
 And then before I realised what was to happen, 
 he had marched me up to the Manor House, walked 
 me straight into the drawing-room, where Miss 
 Fairfax was sitting up for him, and then in the 
 coolest manner in the world he said to her, — 
 
 'Charlotte, I have brought Will Dew up to see 
 you. He has an important question to put to you, 
 having first asked my permission, which I gave him 
 with all my heart, and now I give the pair of you 
 my blessing.' 
 
 With that he shoved me into the room, saying 
 in a whisper, 'Go in and win, you confounded 
 stupid,' and then went out and shut the door behind 
 him, leaving me standing all confusion in the middle 
 of the room. But when I saw the dear lady's sweet 
 face so covered with blushes, my courage came and 
 — well, my children, I soon found my tongue 
 too. 
 
 I have little else to tell you. We were married 
 in old Solcombe church soon afterwards, and you 
 children were born to us. What our lives have since 
 been you well know, but this story of the early 
 life of your father and his dearest friends you had 
 only heard in scraps and patches from myself and 
 your mother and your Uncle Fairfax. Now you 
 
268 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 know it all. Profit by the knowledge, and if you 
 would learn the moral of my story, go, back to the 
 first page of my diary, and there read why I have 
 set these things down in writing. 
 
POSTSCRIPT 
 
 Let me re-open this journal and set down a few 
 lines telling of the last years of those men whose 
 brave hearts and wise heads so well and truly laid 
 the foundation of the new world across the seas. 
 
 Our good and gallant Governor, Captain Phillip, 
 before he died became an admiral, and up to the 
 day of his death, in the year 1814, was dearly loved 
 by all of those about him. In 1808 his old friend 
 and comrade King, well worthy to be associated 
 with such a man as Philip, met the Admiral at Bath, 
 and from that place, only a week before his death, 
 King wrote this letter to his son : — 
 
 ' As this letter may reach you before you sail, I write to say that 
 I came here merely to see Admiral Phillip, who I found much better 
 than I could expect from the reports I had read, although he is quite a 
 cripple, having lost the entire use of his right side ; but his intellects 
 are very good, and his spirits are what they always were.' 
 
 Your Uncle Fairfax, too, with your mother, had the 
 honour of again meeting his old commander during 
 
270 A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 
 
 a brief visit that the Admiral made to Portsmouth, 
 where he had gone at the desire of the Lords of the 
 Admiralty to look at a new King's ship. At this 
 time your Uncle Fairfax and your Aunt Mary were 
 also staying at Portsmouth, and your mother, at 
 their desire, went over to stay with them a week 
 or two. It so happened that your Uncle Fairfax, 
 hearing that the Admiral was staying at the house 
 of a Gentleman whom he knew, went to see him 
 and took your mother with him, though she re- 
 mained outside in the carriage. Admiral Phillip 
 was greatly pleased to see his former comrade, and 
 showed that he had the warmest concern in all 
 those who had served under him. Then, too, he 
 even asked Mr Fairfax what had become of me, 
 and when your uncle told him that I was well and 
 prosperous, the old gentleman was pleased to say 
 that I was a very careful man and would have made 
 a good sailor, and so, when your uncle told him 
 that I had married Miss Fairfax, his sister, and that 
 Mrs Dew was then outside in the carriage, the 
 gallant old officer, putting on his laced hat and lean- 
 ing on your uncle's arm, came out to her and paid 
 her many pretty compliments, saying, among other 
 things, that Lieutenant King thought very highly 
 of my conduct when the Sirius was wrecked at 
 Norfolk Island. Before he bade them farewell he, 
 taking a very handsome seal and chain from 
 his fob, desired her to present it to me, 'as a 
 
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY 271 
 
 memento ' — these were his very words — ' of the 
 service we had seen together.' I need not tell you 
 how dearly I prize this gift, which you see I now 
 wear. 
 
 Of gallant, kind-hearted Hunter I have little to 
 tell, except that, soon after his return to England in 
 1 80 1, he was appointed to the Venerable, seventy- 
 four, and when cruising off Torbay got his ship 
 ashore and wrecked in trying to save the life of a 
 man who had fallen overboard. He was tried by 
 court martial and acquitted, and in the course of 
 the trial was asked why he had put his ship about 
 in such a dangerous place. He replied, 'I con- 
 sider the life of a British seaman of more value than 
 any ship in His Majesty's Navy.' Although by 
 such an answer he showed himself more kindly- 
 hearted than worldly - wise, - he was afterwards pro- 
 moted to be Rear-Admiral. 
 
 And by such men as these were the settlers in 
 the early days of New South Wales governed, and 
 when you hear people, as is often the case now-a- 
 days, saying that the prisoners were cruelly treated, 
 just take this journal of mine and read this post- 
 script to them, that all may know what manner of 
 men they were who founded New South Wales. 
 
 THE END 
 
 Colston &* Company Ltd., Printers, Edinburgh. 
 
from 2bint cmicks to t&ape tf/ork. | 
 
 By Lieut J. Ccok, Commander of* 
 
 Sis Majesty's bark ihe JENDSAyOUR. 
 
 1770. 
 
 London: T. Fisher Unwin, Paternoster Square, E.C.