Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/176

 148 PBOGRESS OF THE SETTLEMENT 1700 captivity, and punishment with the lash, the intention of Tarwood and his companions was evidently to make their way, if possible, to some distant country. But they were J^JIj^ ^ot properly equipped for an expedition of that sort. They embarked in a small and crazy boat, poorly provisioned and ill-furnished, and they had no firearms with which to pro- cure animal food or protect themselves from the savages they might expect to encounter on the coast, where they would be obliged to land as they travelled northwards. It seemed likely enough, as Collins concluded, that in making their escape from the colony they were going straight to their death. But they did not thus perish. Nearly five years after their departure, when the incident had been almost forgotten, four of the number, who had been cap- SSavora. ^^^^ under remarkable circumstances, were brought back to Sydney. The fifth was dead. In August, 1795, the Providence, 28 guns, under the command of Captain Broughton, was off Port Jackson, but was driven northwards by adverse winds as far as Port Stephens, where four of the runaways were discovered. This was the first port they had reached, and they landed there. They did not attempt to continue their voyage, probably Mi^with from the want of provisions. Finding the natives friendly, they lived among them, dragging out a miserable existence until their recapture, which they did not try to avoid. It is worthy of remark that some years before the arrival of the Providence, Mr. Surveyor Grimes, while on a voyage of discovery in the schooner Francis, visited Port Stephens, where he remained for some days, but saw nothing of the fugitives, who at the time were at a distance from the coast ; they heard, however, of the arrival of the schooner soon afterwards from the natives, with whom some of the crew appear to have had an encounter. According to Collins, the Inter- abscouders took wives from the natives, and one or two had withnativeB. children.* •< The FroTidenoe met with yeiy bad weather on her passage from the Brazil
 * Collins frol. i, p. 426) gives the follo-vdlig account of the dlscoTerj : —