Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/632

 508 LETTERS 1700 passage in her to Batavia, and from thence to the Cape of CSood Hope (in his way to Europe), where he has orders to charter a ship and send her to us immediately, should no other ships have paaaed that place in their way hera Whatever may be my fate and that of my feJlow-safferers, God bless you all in England, prays your faithful and sincere, dca, Ac Under the usual heading " Botany Bay," another letter from Sydney Cove, dated April 14, 1790, appeared in an English new»* Paste and paper, from which it was cut out and pasted on a sheet of paper, "' indorsed in the handwriting of Sir Joseph Banks— " Grade, April 25, 1791 " — that being the name of the newspaper and the date of publication. It was headed — "Extract of a letter from an Officer, dated Port Jackson, New South Wales, April U, 1790/' By the time this reaches you, the fate of this settlement and all it contains will be decided. It is now more than two years sinoe we landed here, and within less than a month of three since we Cut off from left Emrland. So cut off from all intercourse with the rest of mankind are we that, subsequent to the month of August, 1788, we know not of any transaction that has happened in Europe. The little European knowledge that we are masters of, we picked out of old English newspapers which were brought from the Cape of Good Hope about a twelvemonth back in the Siriua But great as our anxiety is on this head, it falls short of what we suffer on Pertohingrby another account. The dread of perishing by famine stares us in the face ; on the day I write we have but eight weeks' provision in the public stores, and all chance of a reinforcement under seven months is cut off, unless ships from England should yet, notwithstanding the lateness of the season, come in upon us. To add to our misfortunes, the Sirius (one of the two ships-of-war on this station) was totally and irretrievably lost on Norfolk Island the 19th of last month. The particulars of this trying calamity I cannot at present spare time to write, but I am happy to say that Captain Hunter and all the rest of her crew were saved with WfTOk of difficulty. She had left us for Norfolk Island in the beginning of the month, and carried to that place the Lieutenant-Governor, half the battalion of marines, and two hundred convicts, whom it was thought advisable to send there, in order that we may be as vari- ously dispersed in the approaching crisis to procure food as possible. Had the Sirius returned safely here, it was intended to have dispatch'd her immediately to China to load with provisions for the colony. All that can now be done is to dispatch the Supply, a little brig commanded by a lieutenant of the navy, to !^tavia, where she is, if possible, by offering any price, to procure a large ship and load her with relief for us. Our present allowance is a short one — 2 9^. of pork, which was cured four years ago, and shrinks Digitized by Google