at Parramatta, and were attended by the
gentlemen of the civil department residing in that township.

On the morning of the 9th the ships _Resolution_ and _Salamander_ left
the cove, purposing to sail on their fishing voyage; soon after which, it
being discovered that three convicts, Mary Morgan and John Randall and
his wife, were missing, a boat was sent down the harbour to search the
_Resolution_, on board of which ship it was said they were concealed. No
person being found, the boat returned for further orders, leaving a
sergeant and four men on board; but before she could return, Mr. Locke
the master, after forcing the party out of his ship, got under way and
stood out to sea. Mr. Irish, the master of the _Salamander_, did
not accompany him; but came up to the town, to testify to the
lieutenant-governor his uneasiness at its being supposed that he could
be capable of taking any person improperly from the colony.

On the day following it appeared that several persons were missing, and
two convicts in the night swam off to the _Salamander_, one of whom was
supposed to have been drowned, but was afterwards found concealed in her
hold and sent on shore. The _Resolution_ during this time was seen
hovering about the coast, either waiting for her companion, or to pick up
a boat with the runaways. On the 13th, the _Salamander_ got under way,
with a southerly wind; but it falling calm when the ship was between the
Heads, she drifted, and was set with the ebb tide so near the north head
of the harbour as to be obliged to anchor suddenly in eighteen fathoms
water. When anchored they got a kedge-anchor out, and began to heave; but
the surf on the head and the swell from the sea were so great, occasioned
by the late southerly winds, that in heaving the cable parted.
Fortunately the stream-hawser hung her; and a breeze from the northward
springing up, she was brought into the harbour with the loss of an
anchor. This loss being repaired by her getting another from the
_Surprise_, she was enabled to sail finally on the 15th.

The impropriety of the conduct of the _Resolution's_ master was so
glaring, that the lieutenant-governor caused some depositions to be taken
respecting it, which he purposed transmitting to the navy-board. This man
had been permitted to ship as many persons from the settlement as he
stated to be necessary to complete his ship's company; notwithstanding
which, there was not any doubt of his having received on