Page:Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia, Volume 1.djvu/45

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The same evening I waited upon his Excellency Governor Macquarie at Paramatta, and delivered to him his letters and the despatches which acquainted him with the particulars of my mission; upon which His Excellency, after expressing himself anxious to give every assistance in his power in forwarding the service I had to perform, imformed me that there were only two vessels belonging to the colony that could suit my purpose: one of one hundred tons that had been lately launched, and the other a brig of seventy tons, the Lady Nelson, that was built at Deptford in the year 1799, and sent out to the colony, expressly for the purpose of surveying the coast; She had, however, for the last ten years, been used as a coal-vessel, and was then hauled upon the slips, under-going a repair. Upon examining the two vessels, I found that the former, although of convenient burden, not only drew too