ed him not to accede to his
request; and therefore ordered, that the former officer and Mr. John
Aken, master of the Investigator, should take charge of the decked boats,
with a master's mate in each capable of conducting them to Port Jackson,
should illness or any accident happen to either of the officers.

TUESDAY 23 AUGUST 1803

By the evening of the 23rd, the Porpoise was well nigh emptied of all the
most essential things; and on a survey being made, there was found
sufficient water and provisions on the bank to serve ninety-four men,
which was our number, for three months, even at full
allowance; although many casks were stove in the hold by the bulging of
the larbord side, and much dry provisions spoiled by the salt water. The
principal contents of the warrant officers store rooms, as well as the
sails., rigging, and spars, were also on shore. My books, charts, and
papers had suffered much damage, from the top of the cabin being
displaced when the mizen mast fell; all such papers as chanced to be
loose on the night of the shipwreck were then washed away by the surfs,
and amongst them a chart of the west side of the Gulph of Carpentaria and
part of the North Coast, upon which I had been occupied in the afternoon.
Part of my small library shared the same fate; but the rest of the
charts, with my log and bearing books and astronomical observations were
all saved, though some of them in a wet and shattered state. The rare
plants collected on different parts of the south, the east, and north
coasts of Terra Australis, for His Majesty's botanic garden at Kew, and
which were in a flourishing g state before the shipwreck., were totally
destroyed by the salt water; as were the dried specimens of plants.
Fortunately, the naturalist and natural-history painter, who remained at
Port Jackson, had put on board only a small part of their collection of
specimens; the great mass, with the preserved birds, quadrupeds, and
insects being kept for a future opportunity. Mr. Westall. the landscape
painter, had his sketches and drawings wetted and partly destroyed in his
cabin; and my little collection in mineralogy and conchology was much
defaced, and one-half lost.

THURSDAY 25 AUGUST 1803

The carpenters were employed until the evening of the 25th, in preparing
the cutter for her intended expedition; and the rest of the people in
adding to the stores on the bank. As the Porpoise became lighter, the sea
threw her higher up on the r