Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/475

 361 FIRST NEWS FROM BOTANY BAY, The despatches written by Phillip in May did not reach 1789 England until the month of March following; the exact date being the 25th of that months according to a memo, in the handwriting of Sir Joseph Banks preserved among his papers — " First News from Botany Bay, March 25, 1789." The fact that he recorded the date is suggestive of the keen interest he felt in the progress of the colony; and it is no great stretch of imagination to suppose that when he read the pressing appeals for assistance contained in the The only despatches, he lost no time in urging Sydney to respond Engiani to them by the immediate despatch of a store-ship. Per- haps it came upon him as a painful surprise when he found that no ship had yet been sent out in accordance with the original understanding. If faith was to be kept with Phillip, there was no time to lose in sending out the sup- plies he needed, six months being then the shortest time in which a ship could be expected to do the voyage. Had Sir Joseph known the degree of negligence displayed in the equipment of the Expedition, it would have prepared him for the indifference to its fate manifested in the long delay in sending out relief. Sydney did not feel suflBcient interest in the fortunes of the colonists to show any foresight or sagacity in providing for contingencies. It was not at all an improbable sup- Noprovwion position — as Phillip pointed out — that the three store-ships ^d«. ° in the First Fleet might have been separated from the other vessels and lost on the voyage out. Had such an event happened, the Commodore would have been compelled Digitized by Google