Page:A colonial autocracy, New South Wales under Governor Macquarie, 1810-1821.djvu/194



ON THE HIGH SEAS.

the Judge-Advocate had a Commission as Judge of the Court of Vice-Admiralty, there were but few matters with which his court, being one of instance only, could deal. There was, for example, no Commission giving jurisdiction in cases of prize, and when, during the American War, British vessels put in bringing prizes for adjudication, they had to be sent on to India or Ceylon. The court might take cognisance of "all breaches of the laws of trade, navigation and revenue, as well as suits for the recovery of seamen's wages". There was, however, a great ignorance of Admiralty law in Sydney, and in point of fact the only case brought before the Court of Vice-Admiralty from 1810 to 1821 was that of the Tottenham in 1818. Questions of seamen's wages were generally submitted to the magistrates, and the Judge-Advocate's Commission was thus for all practical purposes non-existent.

Macquarie had, of course, no control over commanders of the Navy, and occasionally found his powerlessness in this respect inconvenient, though visits from King's ships were not frequent. During the war with America a few put in for refreshments and repairs, and amongst others the Samarang, sloop of war, with Captain Chase in command. He brought with him from India a supply of £10,000 worth of silver dollars for use in the Colony, and stayed some time in the harbour, "most tyrannically trampling upon the personal freedom of His Majesty's (166)