r point of the Cove, all the marines and the New
South Wales corps, who were off duty, came down and cheered our
people, by way of taking leave, and wishing us a good
passage.

Never, upon any service, did there a better, or a more
friendly, understanding subsist between different corps, than had
ever been the case between the seamen and soldiers employed upon
this. When we came near the lower part of the harbour, our
friends took leave, and soon after the wind setting in from the
sea, we were obliged to anchor until the next morning, when a
land wind carried us clear out. The master of the ship had orders
from Governor Phillip to call at Norfolk Island, in order to take
on board the dispatches of Lieutenant-Governor Ross; but this
order was meant only in case it could be done without any
material loss of time.

We were in all, on board that little vessel, one hundred and
twenty-three souls, victualled for sixteen weeks. We had a very
long voyage before us. It was my wish, if possible, to avoid
touching at Batavia, in order to prevent sickness among our
people, in the very crouded state they were in, which, at the
season we should probably be there, was much to be dreaded. I had
expressed a desire to pass through amongst the Molucca Islands,
and endeavour to call at Timor, for the purpose of watering, and
getting such other articles as could be had there; as by the time
we could arrive among those islands, the easterly wind would be
set in strong; and from thence, to have proceeded as far as I
could with the provisions I had, either to the Mauritius, or the
Cape of Good Hope.

We therefore could not afford to lose much time in an attempt
to call at Norfolk Island; three weeks, however, we persevered in
endeavouring to reach it, and had arrived within twenty-five
leagues of it, when the wind set in strong from the eastward. I
now called the officers and the master of the ship together, to
consider of our situation, with respect to water and provisions.
We had been fitted out in a very hasty and careless manner, with
water-casks built from old worm-eaten staves, which had been
laying exposed to the sun for more than a year; so that by the
time we had arrived within the above distance of the island, we
had lost by leakage full three weeks water, and had every reason
to fear the loss of much more from the same cause: it was not
therefore time, with a heavy sailing vessel, to attempt beating
to windward, in order to r