onomical
observations, two log books, and such charts as were necessary to
completing the Gulph of Carpentaria; for which a receipt was required,
without any obligation to return them. The third log book, containing
transactions and remarks in different vessels during the preceding six
months, was important to me on many accounts, and especially for the
observations it contained upon Torres' Strait and the Gulph; but it was
said to be in the hands of the general, who could not be disturbed, and
two boxes of despatches from governor King and colonel Paterson had been
taken away. All the other books and papers, including my passport,
commission, etc., with some accounts from the commissary of New South
Wales and many private letters from individuals in that colony, were
locked up in a trunk and sealed as before.

SATURDAY 31 DECEMBER 1803

On the 31st. I sent to the town major's office an open letter addressed
to the secretary of the Admiralty, giving a short account of my
embarkation and shipwreck in the Porpoise, voyage in the Cumberland, and
situation in Mauritius; with two private letters, and a request that they
might be forwarded by the first opportunity. Next day [SUNDAY 1 JANUARY
1804] the receipt of them was acknowledged, and a promise given to inform
me of the means by which they should be sent, and it was done
accordingly; but not one of the letters, or of their duplicates, was ever
received.

Having calculated with Mr. Aken the observations previously taken for the
rate of the time keeper,* I now worked earnestly upon the chart of the
Gulph of Carpentaria; and this employment served to divert my chagrin,
and the indignation which, however useless it might be, I could not but
feel at the author of our imprisonment. The want of my log book, however,
was a great obstacle to laying down the parts seen in the Cumberland; and
nothing more having been said of it, a short letter was written to
general De Caen on the 5th, reminding him that the log was necessary to
the construction of my charts, and that only a small part of the printed
books had yet been delivered. A verbal answer was brought by the
interpreter, and two days afterward the books came from the schooner; but
respecting the log no answer was made.

[* The rate from December 19 to 25, was 36.9" losing, or only 0.16" more
than that previously found at Coepang in Timor; but the longitude deduced
from the first observation with the Coepang rate, was 57 de