y officers, whilst Wright
was refitting his ship.

A few days afterwards there arrived in Sydney Harbour an East India
ship, the captain of which gave Wright some interesting particulars
concerning the _Portland_ and Captain Melton. The latter had had a
peculiar history. At the end of the year 1800 he appeared in Manila,
where he was entrusted with the command of a brig belonging to a Mr.
John Stewart Kerr, the American Consul of that city. His orders were to
proceed to Batavia, and there dispose of his cargo, bringing in return
saleable goods for the Manila market He was given also a letter of
credit for $20,000 the better to load the vessel. On arrival at Batavia
he sold the cargo and the brig into the bargain, and purchased in her
place the _Portland_, a ship of about 400 tons. From Batavia he wrote
to Kerr--he seemed to have been the Captain "Bully" Hayes of his
time--informed him of what he had done and mentioned that as he intended
to make "a long pleasure cruise" among the islands of the South Pacific,
he did not expect to return to Manila for some considerable time!

He also, it is needless to say, duly cashed his letter of credit for
$20,000, which six months afterwards was duly presented and taken up by
Mr. Kerr.

The _Portland_ was then chartered by a firm of Dutch merchants at
Batavia to proceed to Serra Bay to load rice and return to Batavia.
Melton sailed to Serra Bay, loaded his cargo of rice, and instead of
returning to Batavia, went to the Isle of France and there cheerfully
sold it. The next account of him received at Manila was that he
was having a "real good time" at the Cape of Good Hope, where his
fascinating manners and command of money (Kerr's money) made him many
friends. Suddenly, however, he and the _Portland_ disappeared, and
Elizabeth Morey, as we have mentioned, accompanied him. He had given out
that he was bound for the North-west coast of America, to enter into the
fur trade, but, beyond that rumour, nothing more was heard of him until
the _Union_ arrived at Port Jackson, and Elizabeth Morey told the tale
of his dreadful end.

*****

No further mention of the names of Captain Daniel Wright, Elizabeth
Morey, or the good ship _Union_ appear in the early Sydney records after
1806; but that the girl's rescue by the gallant mate of the whaleship
led to her ultimate happiness we can safely assume, for in the year 1836
there were married in Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, one "Marie Kaiulani