Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/265

 SETTLEMENT IN 1792. 223 bad cnring does not appear^ but it was decided that butter ^^^ was not a substance that could be used with advantage^ and oil was substituted.* Accordingly, a quantity of oil j^/gJSS?*^ was put on board the Eoyal Admiral and the Kitty, the vessels which followed the Britannia. But the oil was no better than the butter ; it could not be used as an article of diet, and was even unfit for culinary purposes. It was employed instead of candles, or it would have been wasted, t Shortly after the arrival of the Britannia, three vessels Arrival of . vetselfl from entered the port — the Royal Admiral and the Kitty from EngteidMid England, and the Philadelphia from America. From the master of the Philadelphia, Phillip purchased a quantity of American beef, while those who had the means bought what they coidd afford from the miscellaneous stores with which the vessel was freighted. J The Boyal Admiral The Rovai arrived on the 7th October, 1792, with over three hundred convicts. The Kitty arrived on the 18th November, with The Kitty, only a few women ; she sailed in March, but had to put back to Spithead to stop a leak, and while in port eight of the ten male convicts who were embarked made their escape. This was ^^an unfortunate accident, for they had been particularly selected as men who might be useful in the colony." § The Kitty had not arrived when Phillip wrote his last despatch (11th October, 1792) — the last, at all events, that appears in the Records. Although the official papers are not complete, it seems probable that Phillip wrote no later despatch than that of the 11th October. He had made up deqpJoh. • Fnder Secretary King to Phillip, lOth JanuAiy, 1792.— Historical Secorde, Yol. i, part 2, p. 590. t Collinn, vol. i, p. 241. j Sydney was indebted for the visit of this vessel, the first which had arrived under a foreign flag, to Lieutenant King. The Philadelphia was at the Cape in July, 1791, when King was there on his way out to Norfolk Island in the Gorgon. Sing suggested to the master. Captain Patriokson, that it might prove a ffood speculation to take out a cargo of provisions to Port Jackson, and the latter fell in with the idea. Having taken the vostel to England and diicharged her cargo, he made the best of his wav to Philadelphia, reloaded, and sailed early in April for Sydney, arriving on the 1st November The facta are stated by Collins, vol. i, p. 243. § lb., p. 246.