gh Torres' Strait.

If you do not consider waiting for the Porpoise's repairs advisable, it
is my intention to send her to England by a summer's passage round Cape
Horn; which it is thought she may perform in her present state. But
should you conceive it may ultimately forward the service you are
employed on, to go to England in her, leaving this port when you judge
proper, and taking the route most conducive to perfectioning any part of
the surveys you have commenced; I shall direct the commander of that ship
to receive you and as many of your officers and people as can be
accommodated, as passengers; and to follow your directions and give you
every assistance in every circumstance connected with the execution of
the orders you have received from my Lords Commissioners of the
Admiralty.

You will, Sir, have the goodness to consider of the above and whatever
the result of your deliberation may be, I will most cheerfully give my
concurrence and assistance; knowing that your zealous perseverance in
wishing to complete the service you have so beneficially commenced, could
only be impeded by unforeseen and distressing circumstances; but which I
hope, for the benefit of science and navigation, will only be a temporary
delay.

I am, etc.

(Signed), Philip Gidley King.

Each of the plans proposed in the governor's letter were attended with
one common disadvantage: a delay in the completion of the surveys.
Against the last proposition there did not seem to be any other
objection; but the four first included so many more inconveniences and
difficulties, either to the voyage, or to the colony, that I saw the
necessity of concurring with the governor's opinion; notwithstanding the
reluctance I felt at returning to England without having accomplished the
objects for which the Investigator was fitted out. My election was
therefore made to embark as a passenger in the Porpoise; in order to lay
my charts and journals before the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty,
and obtain, if such should be their pleasure, another ship to complete
the examination of Terra Australis. The last service I could render to
the colony with the Investigator and my people, was to lay down an
additional pair of moorings in Sydney Cove; and that done, we left the
ship as a storehouse hulk on the 21st, and prepared for our voyage to
England.

The Porpoise was commanded by Mr. William Scott, a senior master in the
navy; but he and the greater part