1788 a precedent in its consequences subversive of all order and military discipline, and takes all the power of mitigation out of the hands 21 Marc of the commanding officer, or in any other manner that may appear to your Excellency most likely to restore harmony and support that military discipline and good order which is absolutely necessary to maintain in the present critical situation of the detachment. I have, &c., [Enclosure No. 5.] GENERAL ORDER. R. Ross, Major. 22 March. Parole, Bengal. Head-quarters, 22nd March, 1788. THE major commandant of the detachment doing duty in this settlement having, by letter dated the 21st instant, reported the following officers under an arrest, viz. :-Captain-Lieutenant Watkin Tench, First Lieutenant Robert Kellow, First Lieutenant John Poulden, First Lieutenant Thos. Davey, and First Lieutenant Thomas Timins, the first as president and the others as members of a court-martial which he ordered to assemble on the 18th inst., for the trial of a private belonging to the detachment, The the said court having, in his opinion, passed a sentence which position tends to the subversion of all military discipline, and requesting that a general court-martial may be ordered to assemble for the trial of the aforesaid officers for refusing to make any alteration in the said sentence, or that it might be settled in any manner most likely to restore harmony and support that military discipline and good order which is so absolutely necessary to be maintained. Officers wish The officers under arrest having declined the proposal made of submitting the determination of this affair to any number of officers, and having informed the Judge-Advocate, who had orders to propose that or any other mode of settling this matter without a general court-martial, that they being put under an arrest by for courtthe Commandant did not conceive that anything less than a legal decision by a general court-martial, or a public reparation from their commandant, would clear their characters. martial. martial The service does not at this moment permit a general court- A general martial to be assembled, the officers composing the detachment court (exclusive of the five officers under arrest) being no more than impossible three captains and eleven subalterns, one of which is confined to his bed by sickness, which reduces the number of officers in this settlement eligible to sit on this occasion to thirteen, consequently not leaving any one officer for duty. It is therefore ordered that the minutes of the trial of the aforesaid private soldier, with the letters that have passed on the occasion between the court and the commandant of the detachment, be delivered to the Judge-Advocate, that when the service permits by there being a sufficient number of officers to form a general court 1788 martial, and for the necessary duty of the camp, a general court22 March. martial may be then held on the said Capt.-Lt. Watkin Tench, First Lt. Robt. Kellow, First Lt. John Poulden, First Lt. Thos. Davey, and First Lt. Thos. Timins, if such general court-martial shall be then required by either of the parties. To be held when practicable. Officers to return to duty. Ready to meet the charge. 19 March. The officers thank Phillip, The officers now under arrest to return to their duty. A true copy from the original. DAVID COLLINS, Judge-Advocate. [Enclosure No. 6.] DECLARATION OF OFFICERS. WE are put under an arrest by the commanding officer for disobedience of his orders. We are now ordered out of it, and whenever Major Ross shall think proper to bring the merits or demerits of our conduct to a legal decision we are ready to meet the charge, and we once more repeat that a general court-martial only can bring the matter to a proper issue. Sir, WATKIN TENCH, Capt.-Lt. of Mars. OFFICERS TO GOVERNOR PHILLIP.† Port Jackson, 19th March, 1788. The friendly and handsome part you have taken in endeavouring to reconcile the unfortunate difference of opinion which subsists between us, as the members of a court-martial, and Major Ross, as commandant of the battalion of marines, demands our warmest and most respectful acknowledgments. It is not, at the same time, without pain that we state to you that we conceive the treatment we have received so violent, and our present disgraceful situation so notorious, that we cannot, without injustice to our feelings, consent to have the arrest we now suffer under taken off until a public reparation should have been made for the leave arrest. indignity we have been used with. We farther, sir, beg permission to say that it is our unanimous opinion, should the measure we have stated be deemed ineligible by the commanding officer, that no meeting of officers, short of the customary usage of service in like cases, can adequately and properly fix on a mode of extricating us from the ignominious condition in which we have the honour to subscribing ourselves, sir, But refuse to Your most, &c., MAJOR ROSS TO SECRETARY STEPHENS. Camp, Sydney Cove, New South Wales, 1788 10 July. want to return. Sir, Inclosed you will find some letters from officers of this Officers who detachment requesting to be relieved at the expiration of the time for which they understood their Lordships intended they should continue here. You will therefore please to communicate them to their [Enclosures.] Sir, Camp, Port Jackson, 24th June, 1788. I beg you will be pleased (the first opportunity) to forward my request to my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty that I may be relieved at the expiration of three years, or at the first relief of this garrison, as my private affairs will require my attention in England by that time. I am, &c., JOHN POULDen. 24 June. Poulden. Lieut. Timins, July 8th, said "My private affairs being so Timins. situated as to render a longer absence from them highly injurious." Lieut. Davey, July 9th-Ditto to Lt. Timins. Davey, Clarke, Lieut. Creswell, June 15th-"A longer stay in this country Creswell. than the term of three years will be injurious to my private affairs." Lieut. Kellow, July 18th-"As a longer stay in this country Kellow. will be very injurious to my private affairs." Sir, GOVERNOR PHILLIP TO SECRETARY STEPHENS.* July 10th, 1788. 10 July. Cape. You will please to inform the Right Honorable the Lords Departure Commissioners of the Admiralty that I sailed from the Cape from the of Good Hope with the ships under my command the 12th of November, leaving my despatches for their Lordships with Captain Cox, who was at the Cape on his way to Europe from India. The wind continuing southerly for some days after we sailed, it was the 23rd before we past the Cape, and the 25th being eighty leagues to the eastward of it, then having strong westerly winds, I left the Sirius and went on board the Supply, armed On board the Supply tender, in order to precede the transports, in hopes of gaining a sufficient time to examine Botany Bay, and fix on the most A portion of this despatch being identical with Phillip's despatch to the Home Office, May 15, 1788, is omitted. The passages omitted are indicated by asterisks. 1788 10 July. the transports. eligible situation for the colony; at the same time I named Lieutenant Shortland, the agent for the transports, who was on board the Alexander, to follow with that ship, the Scarborough, and Friendship. They sailed better than the other transports, and I wished to make some preparation for landing the stores and provisions, which the convicts on board those ships would enable me to do, if they arrived soon after the Supply, and before Hunter with the other ships, as I had reason to expect. Captain Hunter, in the Sirius, was left with the rest of the transports. This was the first separation that had taken place since we left England, and the ships were then all very healthy. The strong westerly wind continued, shifting regularly from the N.W. to the S. W. quarter, and then backing round to the northward, very seldom coming to the eastward, and then for a few hours only, untill the 3rd of January, when we saw the southern extremity of New South Wales. The westerly winds now left us, and we had variable winds with southerly currents until the 18th, when we anchored Botany Bay. in Botany Bay. The Alexander, Scarborough, and Friendship came in the next day, and the Sirius, with the rest of the ships, the day following. These ships had all continued very healthy. Major Ross having, by letters of the 8th and 10th of May, requested that the surgeons might be ordered to examine into the Sick officers. state of health of First Lieutenant James Maxwell, who had not done any duty for some months, on account of a defection in his sight, and of Second Lieutenant William Collins, who from a very long and severe illness was in so weak a state that there were no hopes of his recovery in this country, an order was given to the principal surgeon of the garrison and the surgeon of his Majesty's ship Sirius to enquire into the same, who have given it as their opinion that the recovery of these officers depended on their return to Europe, they have my leave; the report of the surgeons is enclosed for their Lordship's information. Movements of the ships. As Major Ross will inform their Lordships of the particulars respecting the detachment of marines under his command, I do not trouble their Lordships with a repetition, and only inclose the returns. Lieutenant Dawes, of the Sirius, who had done duty with the detachment for some time, replaced Second Lieutenant Collins. The transports began to land their provisions and stores as soon as store-houses were ready to receive them. The Prince of Wales was cleared the 23rd of May, and the Borrowdale the 12th of June; the rest of the ships in succession, and, the Fishburn and Golden Grove excepted, all were cleared by the 25th These ships as they were cleared had orders to get ready to return to Europe, but the worm had so much destroyed their sheathing that most of them were obliged to heave down. The Fishburn, having the spirits on board for the garrison for three years, was retained untill a proper place could be got ready to receive them. 1788 10 July. Lieutenant Ball, in the Supply, having sailed the 6th of May, returned the 25th without being able to procure any turtle; by the account that officer now gives of the island* it will not be any great use to us; no turtle breed there, there is no good water, or any anchoring ground; the Supply being obliged to come too lost The Supply an anchor and cable. The three transports that sailed for China loses an came to this island before the Supply left it, and one of them was cable. near being lost. anchor and islands and I shall send the Sirius to the northward as soon as her carpenter can be spared, and from what Monsieur La Perouse said I think one of the Isles des Navigateurs the most likely to furnish the refreshments we want; at the same time, no supplies we shall be Supplies able to procure in this country for several years will maintain the from the colony, and regular supplies of provisions must be sent from from Europe. The seeds we have been able to put in the ground this year will, I hope, furnish sufficient seed for the next year, and that is the most I expect. Of the live stock brought from the Cape the greater part is dead; several of the sheep have been Loss of live killed, and it is doubtful whether by the natives' dogs or by some stock. of our own people. Europe. The natives, who are far more numerous than I expected to find them, have lately revenged the insults they received from some seamen and convicts, by wounding one of the convicts, and carrying off a second, who, from circumstances, there is no doubt but they killed; these people were out collecting vegetables; and two men who were cutting rushes have been killed by the natives. Men killed As I am well convinced that we have been the agressors, and by natives. it is not possible to find out the people that committed these murthers, I have only taken such steps as may prevent the like accidents in future, and have endeavoured, by going to the places to which the natives generally resort, to satisfy them that our intentions are friendly; but since these accidents, except two canoes that went alongside the Sirius, the natives generally avoid us. The day after the two last men were killed I went out in hopes of finding their tools on some of the natives, which might have enabled me to have come to an explanation with them; but not a native appeared in Botany Bay, where I slept that night, The blacks and though twenty canoes were fishing when we made our fire on the beach, none came near us; fifty canoes were seen on the beach next morning, but not a man could be found, and, on our return to Port Jackson, in a small cove on the sea-shore, we fell in with a number of hutts, and the moment we appeared, the natives armed, and made signs for us not to advance, but on my going forward unarmed, and making signs of friendship, most of Lord Howe Island. disappear. |
