found Riou with the wreck of the _Guardian_, he who fell at
Copenhagen, and whose epitaph is written in Nelson's despatch, telling how
"the good and gallant Captain Riou" fought the _Amazon_. The _Guardian_,
loaded with stores for Port Jackson, had struck an iceberg, and her wreck
had been navigated in heroic fashion by Riou to the Cape. To the colony
her loss was a great misfortune, and King realized that there was so much
the greater need for hurry, and two months later he reached England. This
was on the 20th of December, eight months from Port Jackson!

At home his superiors quickly recognized that King was a good officer, and
Phillip's warm recommendations were acted upon. [Sidenote: 1792]
He was given a commission as lieutenant-governor of Norfolk Island, L250 a
year, and the rank of commander. He spent three months in England,
married, and sailed again in the _Gorgon_, which was the first warship,
unless the _Sirius_ and _Supply_ and the Frenchmen are counted as such, to
visit Sydney.

Phillip went home, Grose took charge at Sydney, and King returned to his
island command, which during his absence had been under Major Ross, of the
Marines, and martial law. Then began serious trouble. In England,
curiously enough, no thought of New Zealand had been taken yet. Some of
the masters of transports to New South Wales, who were already beginning
to experiment in whaling (whales in plenty had been seen from Dampier's
time), had visited the coasts of New Zealand, and King himself was
strongly of opinion that a settlement should be attempted there.

The expedition under Vancouver was, in 1792, in New Zealand and Australian
waters. Vancouver induced a couple of Maoris to leave their home for the
purpose of teaching the colonists how to use the flax plant, promising the
natives that they should be returned to New Zealand. The Maoris were
despatched by Vancouver in the _Daedalus_ to Port Jackson, and Grose sent
them on to Norfolk Island. Little was to be learnt from them, and, as a
matter of fact, the attempt to grow and use flax never came to anything.

King was very kind to the two natives, who became much attached to him,
and he, anxious to carry out the promise of the white man to return them
to their homes, did a very imprudent thing. The _Britannia_, a returning
storeship, was detained by contrary winds at the island on her way to the
East Indies. The wind served for New Zealand. King chartered her to take