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At the Board of Trade, 1790: John St Barbe's letter on carrying convicts: William Richards attacked: Botany Bay and India: The year 1791: Lloyd's names and interest in the Pacific: `do you keep me out of the scrape': A war of secrecy: The Third Fleet embarkation continues: As the Third Fleet departed: Phases of The Blackheath Connection: The Macaulay-St Barbe Partnership: Capt. Manning's views of prospects at Sydney: Before Bligh's second breadfruit voyage: Bligh's second breadfruit voyage and the interests of the London Missionary Society: Before Heywood's vocabulary of the Tahitian language went to the London Missionary Society: The departure of the Pitt: Whalers, the Pacific, the Third Fleet, and the crushing of William Richards: Richards reacts to news from Botany Bay: William Richards before his bankruptcy: Richards further on business to New South Wales: At the Board of Trade: Moves against slavery:
The Blackheath
Connection
Chapter
40
At the Board of Trade, 1790:
About January 1790, Campbell and various of the British Creditors were totting up their American debts, assessing information which would be used in November 1791 when they would be petitioning government for redress of their problems. By 1790, of some 67 London firms, only about 12 pressed on with their claims to 1802 and beyond, [one of them being Campbell's estate after his death]. Only two claimants received more than £10,000, one being the persistent John Nutt who in 1803 claimed with interest, £251,387/13/6d. and received £10,978/16/2d after a 33-year fight. Campbell's estate did marginally better, which means Campbell had a well-constructed case, and backing it, a well-constructed set of ledgers. ([1]) And meanwhile, various themes of interest can be found in the concerns of Board of Trade meetings.
Item:
At the Council Chamber, Whitehall.
[where
the Law Clerk to this committee is Mr. Reeves].
The
1st January, 1790.
By
the Rt Honble the Lords of the Committee of Council appointed for the
Consideration of all Matters relating to Trade and Foreign
Plantations.
Present:
Lord Hawkesbury, President.
Marquis
of Grantham.
Mr
Pitt. ([2])
From
1 January, 1790 other officials attending Board of Trade Meetings
included Lord
Dover, W. W. Grenville, Rt Hon John Charles Villiers, Mr
Orde.
Individual merchants addressing or
attending the board in 1790 included Beeston Long and Richard Neave (26
Feb.) ([3])
of the West Indian Committee of Merchants in London, interested in the
export
of corn to the West Indies. (In 1791 the Lords Commissioners for the
Lieutenancy of the City of London included, John and Peter Calvert,
Thomas
Thomas, Samuel Marsh, Richard Neave. (Source: The Royal Calendar).
From 1 January, 1790, business items at the Board of Trade meanwhile included: -
*14 January, 1790, receipt of East Indies specimens of different sorts of cotton, for West Indies' use, sent to John Hilton, Esq., of Manchester, for manufacturers there to make trials of the samples.
*16 January, 1790, a letter from Gov. Shirley of West India, on "opening of the ports", a matter interesting West India merchants. A Treaty of Commerce with the Sweden, Corn Laws, A Treaty of Commerce and Friendship with Russia and Great Britain. Dartmouth merchants and the import of cotton.
*1 March, 1790, Treaty of Commerce with the Sweden, Corn Laws, Treaty of Commerce and Friendship with Russia and Great Britain, Dartmouth merchants and the import of cotton.
*Meeting, Board of Trade 9 March, 1790, Letter from Mr Enderby Jnr., with an account of the safe arrival at Greenwich of a South Whale Fishery vessel which had proceeded around Cape Horn into the South Seas, the first vessel by that course upon the Fishery. [this letter appears not to have been commented upon, just read out]. ([4]) 9 March, 1790: Mr. Enderby Jnr. reported the return of Emilia, the first whaler to fish west of Cape Horn. ([5])
*1 May, 1790, letter of 28 April from John Shoolbred [Secretary of the African Company], a request for Parliament to incorporate the Company, St Georges Co., with an exclusive right of export and import trade to Sierra Leone. ([6])
*4 May, 1790, Report on the establishment of a Court of Civil Jurisdiction on the Island of Newfoundland.
1790: Enderby's explorer-whaler for the western South American coasts, Emilia, returned to London with a full cargo of whale oil. John Meares was "a central figure in the new British fur trade in the north-west coast of America". ([7]) In May 1790, Meares returned in London from Nootka Sound, and gave evidence for two days on the fur trade and whaling prospects before the Committee for Trade and Plantations. ([8]) He was examined over 27-28 May, 1790. Mears thought he might to sell some items in Germany, noted the aversion of the Japanese to trading with Europeans, and said he once made a profit of 50,000-70,000 dollars.
On 13 July, 1790, the board treated a letter from Mr. Nepean on proposals that Nantucket South Whale Fishery people go from Nova Scotia to Milford Haven. The response was - An Act regarding "ships belonging to protestants", plus a positive attitude to the plan.
1790, 30 August: Samuel Enderby Jnr. wrote personally to Pitt on the progress of the South fishery and an expanding market for its oil. He asked for an enlargement of fishing areas and further removal of the restrictions of the East India and South Sea companies. Shortly, he also wrote to Pitt suggesting that whalers carry convicts and stores to Botany Bay, such ships later whaling off South America. ([9]) The attitude of the East India Company was further canvassed. By 28 September, 1790, the Company's Court of directors received a letter from George Rose at Treasury about Company ships carrying 2000 convicts. A reply was made on the 30th. ([10])
The Board of Trade in September, 1790 conducted an interview with the Turkey Company. On 7 September, 1790, it was decided government would buy hemp grown in Quebec, a matter in which Alexander Davison may have been linked. ([11])
Regarding matters of the Third Fleet: On 30 September, 1790, the Company informed Rose at Treasury, they had a desire to accommodate government, but any carriage of cotton will occasion loss to the Company. They were presently willing to waive their charter, and to allow (CC&K's) ships to take Bombay cotton, if that cotton was sold at Company's sales, and no interference provided. Signed, Morton. Behind these overtures had been the longer-term plans of Camden, Calvert and King to loom in on East India Company trade, in co-operation with the whalers.
These were trade matters in London. After mid-1790, the horrors of the Second Fleet arrival were being unfolded at Sydney. The story later to cause a furore in London.
* * *
In February 1790, news had reached London of a Spanish seizure of vessels in Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island. The ministry was caught unawares, but it felt a show of force was necessary and as the storeship HM Gorgon was about to depart for NSW, she was hastily prepared for a longer voyage to Nootka Sound. ([12]) With her went the sloop Discovery, about to embark on a survey voyage in the South Atlantic. These were to be joined by a frigate from the East India squadron, about to rendezvous with other vessels in the Sandwich Islands. Phillip in NSW and Cornwallis in India were told of this expedition. Vancouver's ship later sailed to receive back the appropriated land at Nootka and to survey the north-west coast of America. The role of NSW for this ramshackle response was as a way-station, and a place to collect convict settlers. Mackay feels that NSW did not enhance strategics. Rather, it added to Britain's strategic burdens. ([13]) If so, this meant that Britain's contempt for convicts overshadowed its good sense.
* * *
Campbell
Letter
194:
Adelphi 18 Feb
1790
To Joseph Smith,
I
beg leave to hand you a Minute of the Committee of the Merchants trading
to
North America previous to the year 1776 held on the 10th Feb 1790. I
pray you
to have the goodness to acquaint me for their information when it will
be
convenient for Mr Pitt to permit the Committee to attend
him.
With much respect I have
the
honour to
be
Sir
([14])
Campbell wrote to Nepean on 3 May, 1790. And yet again, Campbell had to inform a minor functionary that he himself could not undertake to transport a prisoner. It is astonishing that since late 1786, the Home Office had not been able to advise all relevant personnel about new procedures since transportation had been resumed, even via newspaper articles, but it had not.
Campbell
Letter
195:
May 12, 1790
To John Wyche, Town Clerk
[At Hanford, or Hamford]
This days post brought me your letter of 11th
Inst., in
answer to which I beg leave to inform you that I cannot enter into any
contract
for the Transportation of the Convicts you mention, but the
Legislature
having made provision for the disposal of such Male Convicts as are
under that
Sentence I would recommend your applying to the Secretary of
State as
proper on the occassion.
I
am
During March 1790 the Navy Office still assumed that future ships carrying convicts would be granted tea charters by the East India Company. Therefore they advised Treasury that an anticipated embarkation of 1000 prisoners would be delayed until August 1790, to suit the timing of the tea trade. Grenville went along with this and delayed the proposed embarkation till August, so creating the need for the use of another hulk. Later in May, 1790 transportation from Ireland was being considered at the highest levels. William Richards again pleaded with Treasury for his monies owing from the First Fleet, and he forwarded certificates signed by the naval agent, Lt. Shapcote, as to the effectuality of his transportation. The Treasury still baulked, and were baulking also at the amount he claimed for the scuttled Friendship. Was Richards being deliberately frozen out? His financial difficulty with Treasury could have amounted to up to £54,000. He continued to be ignored. Much depends if he was being frozen out by a semi-secret combination, or merely the inertia of an unsympathetic government.
* * *
In August 1790, Grenville sought information from Samuel Enderby on Tristan da Cunha and the ports of the Pacific Coast of South America. This information was used in negotiations with Spain, and the Nootka Convention was signed on 28 October, 1790. ([15]) The convention guaranteed unrestricted fishing in the South Atlantic and Pacific, providing British whalers kept ten leagues at least from occupied Spanish territories. In November 1790 the Discovery voyage was discussed again, she was to go out with brig Chatam. By the end of November the destination of both ships was changed to the South Atlantic. But on 11 December, 1790 came a sudden change in government's ideas - and shortly George Vancouver was made commander of Discovery, Roberts was paid off, and the two ships were not to go to the North Pacific after all. Britain still wanted to have a ship on-the-spot at Nootka, and was still interested in any long-fabled North-West Passage. ([16])
Meanwhile, on 1 August, 1790, Surprize sailed for Norfolk Island. Information on the arrival of the Second Fleet - and its death rate - was surfacing which would later cause a furore in London. About 26 August, 1790, convict Thomas Milburn wrote to his parents at Liverpool on the cruelties of the ship Neptune, Capt. Trail, and his mate, Ellerington. ([17]) On 8 August, 1790, Scarborough sailed from Sydney for Canton, followed by Neptune on 22 August. Judge-Advocate heard claims from convicts about their property been confiscated by Capt. Trail. Trail blamed the dead Shapcote for most of the losses. A convict stowaway was found in Trail's Neptune and Phillip angrily wrote to London that Trail should be prosecuted for this allowance to a stowaway. ([18]) Surprize left Norfolk Island on 29 August, and reached Canton on 26 October, 1790. Justinian arrived at Canton on 27 October, Scarborough and Lady Juliana got to Canton on 27 October, and Neptune on 7 November. Neptune had called at Macao for several weeks. Almost thirty of Neptune's crew deserted at China, many feeling they'd been ill-used. ([19]) In early December the ships moved down the Chinese coast to Whampoa, to take cargo. Then all five joined an East India convoy sailing for England on 20 March, 1791. Neptune called at St Helena on 11-14 August, 1791, Surprize called at St Helena on 8-9 July and moored at Limehouse on the Thames on 6 September, 1791. ([20]) Then Calvert's firm could begin to count its money?
John St Barbe's letter on carrying convicts:
On 7 November, 1791, HM Pandora Capt. Edwards sailed from Jack-in-the-Basket, Portsmouth, with instructions to search out and capture Bounty mutineers. Given the deliberations of the Board of Trade so positive to whaling earlier in 1790, it was not surprising that John St. Barbe on 13 October, 1790, with Samuel Enderby Junior at the wharf of Simon Paul on the Thames, suggested to Nepean at the Home Office that convicts could be sent out in whaling vessels. ([21]) He meant, regularly, and probably anticipated a safe voyage for the recently-departed Third Fleet. There was only a short wait. The whalers were considering the recent Nootka Convention. By 28 October, 1790, British ships were allowed free access to the fur trade and freedom of whaling on the coasts of Spanish America. The Annual Register of 1790 reported that the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Commons of the City of London presented the King with congratulations on the signing of the convention. Mr. Alderman Curtis in his maiden speech applauded the conventions and noted that more ships were preparing for the Southern Fishery than on any other occasion... as all whaling historians refer to...
*
* *
Alexander Davison had been given most of the freight of the Third Fleet. Meanwhile the first reports on the Second Fleet's arrival at Sydney had circulated in Britain from 2 June, 1791. Not till 2 August was the full horror realised. Government and the contractors soon embarrassed. ([22]) William Richards took a small revenge, writing on 18 August, 1791 to Banks to promote his more-careful plans for transportation. Banks replied the same day, remarking on the healthiness of the First Fleet, the unhealthiness of the second. But the events which led to legal action could not begin until the seamen got home. Camden, Calvert and King had still had time to tender successfully for the Third Fleet.
Bateson writes ([23]) "A further contract, covering the transportation of the prisoners in the Third Fleet, had been signed with [Camden, Calvert and King] on November 18, 1790, before the reports of the Second Fleet's passage reached England. This contract they completed, but they were not again employed in the convict service." Except that Calvert sent out one more ship, Surprize, in 1794. The Third Fleet contractors were of 3 Crescent, London, City, close by the Tower and Trinity House, not far from Campbell's warehouse in Haydon Square. They had taken charters with the East India Company for the import of China tea and/or Bombay cotton and were in haste to get prisoners aboard and away as soon as possible. Several of their ships' cargoes were listed for Goa. Their new contract was for 1820 British convicts and 200 from Ireland, for 4000 tons of shipping at a saving to government of £8000. Calverts had joined with the South whalers to find the shipping, and Calvert advised Evan Nepean on 23 December, 1790, his firm had arranged ten vessels to transport the convicts: Active, Admiral Barrington, Albermarle, Atlantic, Britannia, Mary Ann, Matilda, Queen, Salamander, William and Ann. (They were to lose Admiral Barrington at Goa; she had earlier been on the London-Copenhagen run). Of the Third Fleet, five whalers had licences to proceed to Peruvian coasts, ([24]) Mary Anne, Matilda, William and Ann, Salamander, Britannia (as David Collins listed). Another Third Fleet ship, lost, was Matilda, and her crew had instructions to get to Nootka Sound.
Shelton made out his contract... No. 3 - for which he
charged up to £819/1/2d, for the above-named transport Ships in January
1791,
The convicts were listed per county, but... "The Contractor having deviated from the original
plan directed
by Lord Grenville and Mr. Nepean alleging that some of their ships were
not
ready and that they must send the Convicts intended to go by one
particular
ship on board another and not being able to get any regular refund from
any of
the Ships to compare with the assignment necessary to be sent to Gov
Phillips
[sic] with the Convicts sending one of my Clerks to Portsmouth to the
ships to
examine and correct the Lists and assignments to send to Governor
Phillips in
which he was nessacarily engaged six drafts Paid coach hire and expences
to
whilst at and returning from Portsmouth..." ([25])
Shelton had improved his concentration since the First Fleet and in all, the Third Fleet is notable precisely because it provoked such little comment. Flynn reports that CC&K were paid £22,370 for transporting 1250 convicts with the Second Fleet, when Richards had been paid £54,000 for the First Fleet, and 770 convicts plus establishment. ([26]) For the Third Fleet, CC&K were paid £45,000, making a total payment of £68,000 for their efforts. But by February 1792, the government still owed them £5000. The evidence is, government paid its convict contractors only slowly, which was hardly a means of attracting merchants to deal with a new colony. Richards as part of his financial torture was being pressed by Hoppers Bros. for the scuttling of Friendship. ([27])
Five of the whalers had licences to proceed to the Peruvian coast. ([28]) The whalers planned that Thomas Melville, who already had experience of the passage about Cape Horn and of the western South American coast, would further explore that area. ([29]) For purposes of transportation, the Plymouth division of the Third Fleet was deployed under Lt. Robert Parry Young, the Portsmouth division under Lt. Richard Bowen. ([30])
* * *
Probably redundantly, but as part of business promotion, on 25 November, 1790, Enderby wrote to Pitt expressing pleasure with the Nootka Convention, and that he was sending four ships into the Pacific that year despite war seeming likely. He referred to four vessels taken up to carry convicts. ([31]) The whale fishery generally in the 1790s was working about Walvis Bay, South Georgia, Kerguelen, Amsterdam Island, Patagonia, Cape Horn, Pacific Ocean, Peru, and "Botany Bay". ([32])
Other business would soon involve overseer Campbell.
Campbell
Letter
196:
London 30 Nov 1790
Col Fred Geo: Mulcaster
Portsmouth -
I had the honour to receive your letter of the 25 inclosing
Copies of
the lists, sent the Master General, of the Convicts who are very useful
in
carrying on the Works at Cumberland Fort, and Weevil lines; to which
every
attention in my power shall be paid - When the Document are preparing
for the
intended embarkation to New So Wales ...... I Pray you Sir to present my
most
respectfull Compts to your Lady & to Capt
Twiss
I am ([33])
Campbell in a letter to Thomas Steele at Treasury was by now aware of another large embarkation impending, and that government was planning to discontinue further use of the hulk Justitia. He was tired.
Campbell
Letter
197:
Adelphi 11th December 1791
Thomas Steele Esq.
Sir,
I had
the
honour to receive your letter of the 27th. November informing me that a
considerable Number of Convicts from Woolwich are to be immediately sent
to New
South Wales, and giving me notice by order of the Lords of His Majesty's
Treasury that the Justitia Hulk is to be discontinued after the
expiration of
Three Months from the date of your letter. I have received the like
Notice from
the Secretary of State for the discharge of the Ceres Hulk at Langston
Harbour;
these Notices as far as depend on me shall be strictly complied with,
trusting
that before that time elapses, provision will be made for the removal of
such
Convicts as may remain in these respective Vessels after the drafts for
Transportation are gone.
Understanding that some plans are now in
contemplation of
Government for the future Management & Employment of Convicts, and
the
permanent establishment of a certain number of hulks for that purpose, I
take
this opportunity of requesting that you will have the goodness to inform
my
Lords of the Treasury, that from my advanced period of life and the
effect of
that anxiety of Mind I have experienced during the Number of years I
have
exercised the arduous Office of a Superintendent or Overseer, I have
reason to
fear the fatigue of Mind as well as Body in conducting so important a
Charge,
will be more than I can go through, and more especially in the Charge
and
Direction of the Convicts employed at Portsmouth & Langston Harbour;
I
therefore most humbly request their Lordships will permit me to
relinquish the
Management of the Vessels so Stationed, and that the Contract made with
their
Lordships for the Fortunee, and Agreement with the Secretary of State
for the
Lion, may cease and determine at the end of Three Months, or as soon as
their
Lordships shall be pleased to make the Necessary Arrangements for the
Care
& Employment of the Convicts these Vessels
contain.
Should My Lords be so indulgent as to grant my
request,
my Superintendance will be confined to such Convicts as shall be
employed in
the Censor & Stanislaus on the River Thames or such other Hulks as
it may
be necessary to employ there, and I shall cheerfully continue to execute
that
trust I hope to their Lordships satisfaction. From the Arrangements
which I
have lately made as well in my Ships & Lighters as with the people
employed
under me, I find that by experience and mode of management which that
experience has taught, I am enabled to make some reduction on the terms
formerly agreed upon
for the Care & Maintenance of these Convicts, and I beg the favour
of you
to acquaint their Lordships that from the 12th January when the quarter
terminates I shall charge no more than 13 1/2 per diem for the whole
expence,
Chaplain & Bounties excepted, of such Convicts as may then be
confined in
the two Ships above mentioned or such other as it may be found necessary
to
engage.
I entreat you to inform their Lordships that I
retain a
most grateful Sense of the Continuance & Protection received during
the
executing of the duties of my Office; without their Aid, it would have
been
difficult if not impractical to have established any degree of good
order among
such a Number and description of Men as I had to Manage, with that
benefit to
the Public which I flatter myself has been acquired from their labour in
the
different Works on which they have been employed.
With
much respect I have the honour to be
Sir
Your Most Obedient &
Most Humble Servant
Dun: Campbell.
I have had the honour to
Address a letter of the same
tenor & date to My Lord Grenville ([34])
[an enclosure with T1/691 is:]
Statement of the present Expence of the Convicts
on board
the Censor & Stanislaus at Woolwich and the proposed
reduction.
Present Annual Allowance for Censor &
Lighter £6500
The Censor will contain 274 men @ 13 1/2 per
man
per diem is for one year..... £5645/ 14/-
Saving on the Censor
£854/6/-
Present Allowance for the Stanislaus as per
Average
of the Four last quarterly Accounts delivered
is £5190/19/-
per Annum ....
£4927/10/-
This Vessel will contain 240 Men @ 13 1/2
is
Saving on the Stanislaus ...
£263/9/-
By the Justitia Hulk being discontinued the people
in the
Censor & Stanislaus will, I expect, have full employment on the
Works in
the Dockyard at Woolwich, and of course only a few lighters out of the
Fourteen, now attached to those ships, will be necessary for that
Service; the
withdrawing of which constitutes part of my Arrangements for the
proposed
reduction. ([35])
Campbell wanted to let go the overseership of the
hulks at
Portsmouth and Langston Harbour and keep only the Thames hulks. Perhaps
aware
of competition coming from William Richards, the only man besides
Bentham who
ever threatened to become a
competitor,
Campbell also proposed cheaper new rates for Thames prisoners. He wanted
advance information on coming embarkations, to be able to prepare
himself. He
had been talking with Henry Bradley, for Bradley on December 13 offered
to Rose
at the Treasury to take charge of the hulks Campbell wanted to
relinquish. The
two overseers were not looking forward to the mounting of the Third
Fleet at
all. ([36])
William Richards attacked:
On 20 December, 1790, the Home Office drafted a letter to Treasury asking why the Lady Juliana had been so slow on her voyage out, and asked for an inquiry. The delay "has been materially prejudicial to the execution of the service for which the ship was hired", complained the Secretary of State. At Sydney, both Tench and Collins had commented on the excessive length of her voyage. Flynn does not know if an inquiry was actually made, but suspects the slow voyage must have damaged Richards financially. Richards' allowing his ships long ports of call and good food suggests he was motivated by humanitarian concerns. ([37]) Government thought he should be more motivated by parsimony.
But it also seems that this disapproval worked against Richards when he made his moves in January, 1791, trying to drum up more convict-handling business. Richards on 5 January, 1791 wrote to Grenville after hearing some unfavourable reports from NSW. (He remained well-informed by his Botany Bay agent, Zacariah Clark). Richards mentioned an odd plan he had for convicts sentenced to transportation, of which the comptroller of the Navy, Sir Charles Middleton, had "spoken flatteringly". Sir Joseph Banks had also seen the proposal, which involved "a short kind of transportation" for convicts who would be placed in hulks at Milford Haven in Wales.
Milford Haven was a base for revenue cutters and some whalers. The senior whaler Rotch from Nantucket, some years earlier, had unsuccessfully promoted Milford Haven as a potential whalers' colony to government. Nothing came of Richards' overtures. It is impossible to know what Richards might have heard from merchants, but it is almost as though he developed the notion that since government might support whalers at Milford Haven, and since whalers would carry convicts to NSW, then he could assist government - to achieve economies of scale? - by managing hulks at Milford Haven and delivering convicts for New South Wales to whaling vessels going regularly into the Pacific. He may have known of St Barbe's letter? But there is no evidence that Richards spoke to anyone except distant officials about his ideas, which seemed to exist only in his imagination, not in the minds of other planners.
Also in 1791, Bentham was designing his new-style prison - the Panopticon - and he was also preparing to assail the hulks overseer, Campbell. ([38]) During 1791, Bentham began examining information on the costs of the new colony at NSW. He estimated it cost £48 per convict per year, four times his estimated costs for his Panopticon plan. (Shipping costs were 40 per cent of the costs Bentham was examining.) By May 1791, Bentham was discussing with Sir Charles Bunbury the propriety of putting before the public a "sketch" of the NSW colony. He thought the hurdles placed in the way of the convict with an expired sentence wishing to return to Britain was "a very tyrannical and dishonourable if not illegal conversion of transportation for a limited term into transportation for life", since return was almost "physically impossible". ([39]) Bentham was to pursue questions relating to funding of the transportation of convicts to NSW.
*
* *
Botany Bay and India: The year 1791:
By January 1791 a whaler the Astrea had been off the Patagonian coast, but there was still uncertainty about the Spanish. ([40]) In January 1791 the Bristol whaler and fur trader Sydenham Teast sought clear information from the Board of Trade on the rights and privileges of British ships off Pacific American coasts. ([41]) Where could they fish, where refit and refresh. If they could land to kill seals, whether they could trade to those Coasts and to Nootka? In the same month the Board of Trade began an investigation into the industry and the north-west fur trade. The greater need for whaling bases had shifted from NSW to the Pacific Coast of South America, as Gov. Phillip at NSW had dolefully predicted. And Vancouver's instructions later required him to search for such sites on his return to England, to try and locate the mythical Isla Grande as well.
On 2 January, 1791, Alexander Champion contacted Lord Hawkesbury at the Board of Trade as Capt. Joshua Coffin, a Nantucketeer, had returned from the coast of Africa on Champion's ship, the Lord Hawkesbury. Enderby and Champion would wait on Hawkesbury. ([42]) While the whalers attempted to firm their links with the Board of Trade, by 5 January, 1791, William Richards was contacting Grenville about unfavourable reports he'd received about the settlement at Sydney, and promoting his plan for convicts due for transportation. ([43]) On 8 January, 1791, Richards again contacted Banks, fearing the NSW settlement would be best given up on account of the unfavourableness of the soil. He also feared Justinian was lost, which in fact was little of his business.
Lloyd's names and interest in the Pacific:
In 1791, London sent 62 vessels into the whale fishery, Liverpool 2, Bristol 5, Hull 2, and Yarmouth, 1. ([44]) The Americans also perceived the value of Pacific whales and began their fifty-year period of whaling, finally using "the largest whaling fleet the world had ever known". ([45]) According to Lloyd's Register for 1791, old members amongst the Underwriters included Geo Abel (Macaulay's former partner), William Curtis (now MP for London), Mark Gregory (possibly a link to Turnbull, Macaulay and Gregory?), John Barnes (Africa Company?), Thos. King (of Camden, Calvert and King?), Le Mesurier and Secretan, G. M. Macaulay, Angerstein and Warren, James Mather (who had a ship in the First Fleet), James and Edward Ogle, and St Barbe and Green.
But there had also been an international incident, outcome of the old high-seas rivalry between Spain and Britain. As Harlow, writes, ([46]) by 21 January, 1791, the whalers would become bearers of a national grievance after the haughty Spanish had captured two whalers, Sappho and Elizabeth and Margaret. Government would need a strategy, as it had already been decided to encourage the Southern Whalers - they would become the "principal instruments" of government's policy on trade expansion in the northern Pacific. (The chief merchants interested here were Dixon, Meares, Portlock and Etches, a group distinct from the London-based South whalers).
There were new and forward-looking developments. Rather more backward-looking in 1791 were Campbell and Macaulay, again talking about recovering their American debts. (Macaulay between 1791 and 1795 was at 6 Leadenhall Street or c/- Lloyd's Coffee House, Cornhill. About now the London Sheriffs were George Macaulay and Sir Richard Carr-Glynn.) ([47]) Early in 1791, Macaulay was hatching a joint-contract transportation to NSW, involved was a wealthy man related to his first or second wife, a Mr. Theed. The plan also involved his Blackheath neighbour, St Barbe, and Macaulay's East Indiaman, Pitt. Macaulay by now was probably also talking or dealing with John Nutt, once in tobacco, an ex-Carolina merchant, probably a relative of Joseph Nutt, a director of the Bank of England. Macaulay often sought Joseph's company by 1796. John Nutt was involved with the British Creditors, co-signing their late 1791 petition to Henry Dundas with Campbell and William Molleson. ([48]) John Nutt in 1792 was a merchant at 33 Old Bethlehem: ([49]) Joseph Nutt was a director of the East India Company in 1793 and on the board of the Bank of England after 1794. ([50])
By 5 February, 1791, after centralisation in US had taken effect, London merchants John Nutt, Campbell and William Molleson, assembled their information on pre-war debts and asked government to try to force a settlement. Debts were due to 200 firms, 67 such firms in London. But absent from the list were firms such as John Norton and Sons, which had an American partner who did not become a loyalist. The Creditors claimed a total of £4,984,655/5/8d., which included 14 years' interest, which amounted to about two millions and upwards. As these claims were made, many Americans were still furious that Britain had still not left the northern frontier posts, which protected the Canadian fur traders on US land. ([51])
*
* *
`do you keep me out of the scrape':
Calvert and Co. were tough, abrasive men. Trouble had arisen with their captains as the Second Fleet departed. As the Third Fleet took its convicts, Calverts had the unusual effect of making Campbell decidedly uneasy. By now, Calvert and Co. were probably becoming apprehensive about the coming furore over their captains' treatment of the Second Fleet convicts. They also seem to have had some influence on Nepean, which was probably what made Campbell uneasy. Two of them were also Elder Brethren of Trinity House, which governed Thames navigation, and Campbell needed continued good relations with Trinity House for his hulks management. Campbell's uneasiness led him to do something not his habit, ever. To note the exact time he put pen to paper. It was as though he was letting Calvert and Co. know he was responding as quickly as possible to their communications. The anxiety spread. Stewart Erskine firstly had to be upbraided for rule-breaking, which was also not like Erskine.
Campbell
Letter
198:
Adelphi Feb 2
1791
Capt Erskine -
Yesterday I was much surprised to find from Mr. Calvert that you
received a number of Convicts that were intended for his ships bound to
Botany
Bay & the more upon finding that part of these were women. Neither
you nor
me have any authority to receive or detain Convicts in such a
predicament &
therefore you will do well to take the necessary measures for their
being
immediately removed to the Contractors charge who alone is answerable
for their
custody. I wish I had sent you money by Gibson yesterday.
---
-- I am
much
afraid Mr. Calvert will disoblige the Secretary [of State] by the steps
he has
pursued - do you keep me out of the scrape -
I am ([52])
Seldom had Campbell ever admitted fear of being put in a scrape. His characteristic tenor was of a dignified merchant who was used to having his directions obeyed and woe the tardy.
By 4 February, 1791, the Committee for Trade and Plantations was deliberating further on the desires of the Southern whalers' desires, - legal advisers were brought in. ([53]) By 10 February, 1791, the Board of Trade had instructed the Attorney and Solicitor-Generals to scrutinise the charters of the East India Company, the South Seas Co., Hudsons Bay Co., and to report "their opinion as to whether the whalers interest might be so excluded upon..." ([54])
There was shortly to begin a cat-and-mouse game between the East India Company and government. Both had secret committees which were to waft correspondence and ill-feeling between them. None of this would have been necessary if the whalers had not been active, mounting a significant fleet to go into the Pacific, carrying convicts, part of an effort that had been planned for months, since September 1790 if not earlier. Of course, the Company cannot have been happy with publicity given the Warren Hastings impeachment. ([55]) ([56])
Campbell's difficulties with the delivery of convicts to Calvert and Co. continued...
Campbell
Letter
199:
Adelphi,
7 Feb 1791
1/2 past 12
o'clock
Camden Calvert and King
I have this moment
received your
letter of this date desiring that I would give orders for the delivery
of 18
convicts as p list on the ship Atlantic Capt. Bowen & informing me
that the
ship is expected to pass Woolwich this afternoon and that the Captn
proposes to
take these convicts as he passes. In answer to your letter I have only
to
observe that your notice is unreasonably short, even if I had the
necessary
order from the Clerk of Arraign which as yet has not yet reached my
hand, the
moment it does I will send the needfull directions for the delivery of
the
Convicts in question (??) that you will station this ship so that they
may be
delivered with safety, which I think cannot be done when the vessel is
under
way
I
am ([57])
With the next necessity for an admonition, it is surprising Calvert and Co. would not have been aware of the legal requirements.
Campbell Letter 200:
4 o'clock Tue 8 Feb 1791
Camden Calvert and King.
In my way home I called
upon
Mr. Shelton to whom I communicated what was your wish on the head of
having
twenty convicts part of the 50 from the Justitia but Mr Shelton requests
this
business may be delayed till he has seen you; as it seems the Contract
you have
entered into must accompany the Convicts in the respective Ships: of
this
however he will be able to better inform you. When these matters are
settled to
mutual satisfaction I shall be ready to deliver whatever Convicts are
allotted
for your ships. When you have seen Mr. Shelton I pray you to drop me a
line
I
am
London had just found out about the Second Fleet atrocity. By 9 February, debates had begun in the House of Commons on NSW. Calvert and Co. continued in haste. For Campbell's staff, lists of prisoners flew. The next missive covering the embarkations was on 14 February, Campbell to Erskine: Calverts had to make "a new Allotment' for the convicts yet undelivered. Erskine received a list of 34 convicts from Justitia for Britannia Capt. Thos. Melville, plus seven from Justitia for William and Ann Capt. Eber Bunker. A former list of 20 (previously mentioned) was rescinded. Campbell wanted speedy handling as Calverts wished the convicts away by the next day, the 15th.
Campbell
Letter
201:
The usual good relations between Nepean and Campbell cooled temporarily, at least on Campbell's part. Campbell drafted an unusually curt note on 14 February:
"As you will receive herewith a fair copy of the
Accounts
you saw and approved of yesterday there are two Statings of it & and
you
will take what you like."
Then he reworded it more discreetly:
"Mr Campbell presents his most respectful
Compliments to
Mr Nepean & sends him by Mr Boyick fair Copies of the Accounts he
saw and
approved of yesterday; if Mr Nepean has no occasion for both he will
have the
goodness to return one by Mr Boyick."
[London
February 1791: NB: In the Duncan Campbell Letterbooks, this letter
penned by
James Boyick was placed between letters of 8 Feb. to Camden Calvert and
King
and to Capt. Erskine a second time, of 14 Feb., 1791.] ([58])
During February, Nepean had requested from both convict overseers, Campbell and Bradley, the number of convicts remaining after the embarkations. For Campbell's part, 93 had gone from Justitia, leaving 186. Censor, 70 gone, leaving 195. From Stanislaus had gone 112 leaving 115. Only 54 from Stanislaus had been embarked by mid-February. Shelton at the Old Bailey had been thinking of sending 100 from hulk Fortunee,65 from Ceres, 165 from Lion, leaving 253, 115 and 109 in those hulks respectively. But then, no orders had been received by the convicts concerning the Portsmouth convicts. ([59]) All of which made transportation seem a kind of lottery.
* * *
A war of secrecy:
Now began the cat-and-mouse war between government and the East India Company... On 14 February, 1791, the same Committee for Trade members as before met again with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Company, - and it was ordered that government's propositions be submitted to the Company's Court of Directors. ([60]) In all, the Chairman and deputy chairman remained unamused by government's plans. They were forced to consult the Court of Directors, who wanted their secret committee to assess the government view. A Company secret committee had previously existed, unofficially. Now it was lured into the open. ([61])
Jealous, secretive, privileged and greedy, the East India Company by its attitude greatly hampered actual and potential developments at NSW. In 1791 its secret committee of directors included Stephen Lushington, William Devaynes , ([62]) Hugh Inglis, ([63]) Thomas Fitzhugh and David Scott (who was interested in Nootka fur, in East India Company terms, not strictly legally. From 1800, David Scott Jnr. was to deal often with the Sydney merchant, Robert Campbell). ([64]) These men had presumably inherited policy, these were the directors most against whalers exploiting the Pacific on any but their own Company terms. It is regrettable here that the views of the Company director Francis Baring are not known, but they are not. ([65])
* * *
The Third Fleet embarkation continues:
Campbell
Letter
202:
Adelphi 1/4 past 5 o'clock 17 Feb 1791
Evan Nepean
Upon
my return from Woolwich this moment I received a note from Mr Bradley,
desiring
I would inform you what number of Convicts would remain in the Hulks at
Woolwich & Portsmouth after those for Transportation are gone. In
answer to
which I beg leave to acquaint you that after the Embarkation from
Woolwich Viz
from Justitia 93, Censor 70, Stanislaus 112 there will remain in the
first 186
the second 195 the last 115 as yet there is only 54 of these embarked.
By the
list Mr Shelton shewed me of the intended embarkation from Portsmouth
Vizt from
Fortunee 100, from the Ceres 165 there will remain in the first 253 the
second
115 & in the third 109. As yet there is no orders received touching
those
to go from that place.
I am
([66])
Campbell Letter
203:
Capt Erskine,
Annexed is a List of Twenty Convicts to be delivered to Messrs
Calvert
& Co who have contracted for the effectual Transportation of the
same,
these are to be put on board the Atlantic & you will take care to
get a receipt
from the Captn or one of the Superior Officers of that Ship. Mr C does
not
think the 3rd Mates receipt a suficient Voucher but in this you will do
as
circumstances oblige you
I am ([67])
Campbell
Letter
204:
London 14 Feb 1791
Capt Erskine
As Messrs Calvert & Co seem now to make a new Allottment for
the
Convicts yet to be delivered them I send you a list of 34 convicts to be
delivered from the Justitia on board their ship Britannia & seven
from the
same Ship on board the William & Ann of course the list formerly
sent you
for 20 is to be cancelled. You will be so good as to forward the
delivery of
the Convicts in the list sent with as much expedition as may be &
see that
a proper Officer signs the receipt for the same. Messrs Calvert wish to
have
their people tomorrow which if you can comply with pray do it. ([68])
Lord Henry Dundas also required information of Campbell on February 18. By the 26th, Campbell had forwarded to Dundas a return from Fortunee at Langston Harbour. Tempers still frayed as Calvert and Co. became demanding again, asking Campbell, who was becoming ill, to supervise a delivery.
Campbell also had personal grief. ([69]) On 18
February,
1791 he wrote to George Willox, Old Aberdeen, father of his son-in-law,
William
Willox, about Willox' ingratitude, his failure to leave provision for
his boys
before he left England. Campbell's advice to Willox had no effect, and
Boyick
before Willox left had conducted some correspondence with Willox, of
which
Campbell had been unaware till Willox had gone. Willox's state of health
was
also lamentable, and so was the fact that Willox, Campbell said, had
drawn "every Shilling out of my hands. I was
besides
obliged to advance him the Amount of a Bill he had on the India Compy
which is
payable by Instalments at distant periods."
Capt. Trail meanwhile had been apprehended over the Neptune case. Some of the repugnance felt about the behaviour of the contractors and Trail is expressed in Historical Records of New South Wales. ([70]) Trail was acquitted of a charge of wilful murder at the Old Bailey on 8 June, 1792, by Ald. John Boydell, a London mayor of the period.
Campbell became even more testy with Calvert on a weekend:
Campbell
Letter
205:
Adelphi 24
Feb 1791
Mr
Campbell presents his Compts to Messrs Camden Calvert and King, he is
informed
by Mr Boyick that they proposed to him taking away the People from
Woolwich on
Sunday: that being a day in which Mr Campbell's power of superintendance
is in
a great degree suspended he begs to desist removing the People on that
day, but
on Saturday or Monday Mr Campbell will be ready to deliver to Messrs
Camden
& Co the people for Transportation & begs to be informed which
of these
two days they fix upon
the favour of an answer is required by the bearer. ([71])
It was uncharacteristic of Campbell to be so brusque as to "require" such an immediate answer. He was obviously very annoyed.
As the Third Fleet departed:
Campbell may not have known it, but Calverts, who anyway had their own reasons for haste, may also have been pressed to hurry by the South Whalers, due to the secret, delicate negotiations were still going on between the East India Company and the government, which took the whalers' part. By 24 February, 1791, the Directors of the East India Company needed to be reminded by the Committee for Trade that the Committee still awaiting its opinions on the whalers' proposals. ([72]) By 25 February was a meeting of the secret Court of the Company directors, under consideration was a letter of the 24th. The secret court of directors agreed to appoint a special committee to confer with their Lordships and the Commissioners of Affairs for the East Indies the following Monday. ([73]) In brief, the Company was preparing to register opposition. George Macaulay and John St Barbe made their next moves in only days.
* * *
The Thames embarkation for the Third Fleet was accomplished by early March. Campbell had been feeling stretched.
Campbell
Letter
206:
1/2 past 12 oClock 1st Mar 1791
William Pollock
By a Message I received from Woolwich this morning I was informed
that
the Convicts intended for Transportation would all be on board Mr
Calverts
Ships by eleven o'Clock, when his vessel was immediately to proceed to
Gravesend. I have been confined to my Chamber for two days past, else
would
have waited upon Mr Nepean
I am ([74])
Campbell
Letter
207:
Adelphi March 2,
1791
[To] Evan Nepean
I
beg
leave to acquaint you for the information of Lord Grenville that the
Embarkation of the Convicts from the several Hulks at Woolwich was
completed
yesterday at Noon & that the Ships are all dropped down to Gravesend
in
order to pursue their voyage. As the Lords of His Majesty's Treasury
were
pleased to give me notice for the discontinuance of the Justitia after
three
Months from the date of Mr Steels letter of 27th Nov I now only wait for
Lord
Grenville's Commands in the arrangement and disposal of the Convicts now
left
in the Hulks at Woolwich. In (?) have waited upon you personally to have
received your Commission this occassion, but I have for these four or
five days
past been confined to my chambers & mostly to my bed with a very
disagreeable Cold and Sore Throat. With very great respect I have the
honor to
be ([75])
Shortly Justitia hulk was to be discharged from its long and horrible service begun in late 1775. She was put into Perry's Dock at Blackwall (which after 1800 was bought by Wigrams. Wigram and Reeve took one contract to ship contracts in 1806, according to Shelton's Contracts.)
From that dock, Bligh's ship, a new West Indiaman 420 tons, purchased from Mr. Perry, Providence, would be launched, then sent on a second breadfruit voyage. ([76])
By March 1792, Governor Phillip was expressing disappointment that whalers had all been "enticed away" so soon from NSW to the coasts of Peru. ([77]) Phillip wrote to Nepean about Melville's Britannia trying the NSW coast for three months before trying Peru, and added his fears that the fur trade on the North west coast of America would attract whalers away from the NSW Coast. Phillip felt the whalers have not given the NSW coast a fair trial. Capt. Thomas Melville of Britannia was reportedly still out whaling past NSW by August 1793. ([78]) And in all this, Capt. Manning of Pitt may have taken the liberty, or even been instructed, to deliver some viewpoints from his own employer, Macaulay, and/or the owners of the Third Fleet whalers.
The Third Fleet ship Matilda wrecked near the Marquesas. ([79]) Yet some of them were determined to get to Nootka Sound. Here is another case of seeming co-incidence at sea between ships with a Blackheath Connection. Some of Matilda's crew had been picked up by Bligh on Providence, on the second breadfruit voyage. ([80]) A helpful coincidence, superficially; yet some 12 or 13 of the crew did not go with Bligh, they stayed on Tahiti. Their reason was that on 26 March, 1792 a small vessel touched at Tahiti, Prince William Mary, and took some of Matilda's crew to the north-west coast of America. ([81]) The Jenny from Bristol had also called at Tahiti and Matthew Weatherhead, ex-Matilda, as wrecked, on 20 July, 1792, went aboard Jenny for Nootka Sound, with 12 or 13 men from Matilda, reaching there in December 1792. At Nootka, Weatherhead met George Vancouver.
It is possible that the London whalers wanted a view of the situation at Nootka Sound that was free from government propaganda and rhetoric, and that Weatherhead had been the man chosen to survey the situation - hence Weatherhead did not wish to be rescued by Bligh. (Bligh had retrieved some money stolen from Weatherhead by Tahitians). And so, what all resembles a coincidental and dramatic rescue situation in the wide Pacific, with Bligh the hero, turns out to be a situation with Nootka Sound in mind, ultimately dictated by whalers in London. Can we presume that conversations were held at Blackheath about Weatherhead's predicament on Tahiti?
* * *
Phases of The Blackheath Connection:
New to history, the Blackheath Connection (Phase 1 as discussed in earlier chapters) persisted in the 1790s. In a sense, its physical life died when the whaler Samuel Enderby Senior died in 1797. Oddly enough, the organisation which became the London Missionary Society gave the connection a new lease of life. The dying of the Blackheath Connection Phase 1 also marked a phase of development in NSW, of less reliance on government contractors, more reliance on mercantile, or private capital.
The explanation is complicated. After the first three fleets of convict ships had sailed for Australia, venting pent-up British energies and frustration in a great burst of maritime prowess, there was landed in NSW a powerfully bureaucratic infrastructure which would continue to alternatively guide, frustrate, inspire, harrass and harness European life in Australia. Convict shipping settled into a more sedate pattern. War broke out with France, reducing the number of transportable convicts and distracting shipping men from the Pacific. In a sense, there was a disappointment effect, since Australasian prospects seemed to dim, and especially, though the situation was ideal for an open-jail, Sydney seemed to be landlocked by escarpments and mountains, which suggested restrictions for either free settlers, or convicts freed from their servitude with no means or desire of returning to England. The vastness of New South Wales seemed to shrink to a hollow set in a wilderness, a hollow with poor soils, low fertility and few potentials for real self-sufficiency. This did not bother the keepers of convicts, but it frustrated many Australian colonials who sensed how life could be new in this new part of the world. To those who had visited Jamaica, that sugar island must have seemed a far richer prospect, economically, than New South Wales would ever be. But now, to return to London...
The convict shipping sent to early Australia sailed through four basic stages:
(1) Resurrection of transportation under the entirely new legislation of 1784 which gave the state ownership of convict labour;
(2) The involvement of a loose cartel based at Blackheath, a cartel which had helped ruin William Richards, till its opportunities were blasted from 1793 by war with France;
(3) The involvement after 1793 of several opportunists, master-owners, who had no long-standing or important links to large merchant houses, or were even renegade East India Company connections; some of these were of "the Blackheath Connection", and some assisted the London Missionary Society's maritime endeavours.
(4) From the late 1790s, the development of an interest by some larger houses in London, staffed by a younger generation, when conflict between whalers and the East India company had subsided. This fourth development was slow, but it involved some men with otherwise regular links with the East India Company. Such links meant that a convict ships captain might sail up to six voyages for the same employer. The entire pattern of the shipping has still not been analysed, and to analyse it here may risk distracting attention from Campbell's last years in London.
Between early 1792 and May 1800, Bateson has counted eighteen transports (not including William and Sovereign which had but one convict each), sailing to Sydney between early 1792 and May 1800. ([82]) Eighteen ships was few enough. William Richards meantime was crushed by his rivals and dropped out of sight.
The first phase of the Blackheath Connection - chiefly Macaulay, Enderbys, St Barbe and the whalers, and their slaver associates, but not including Duncan Campbell - did try to dominate shipping to Sydney, and the carriage of goods, but their ambitions were broken when war with France broke out in 1793, and their influence - Phase 1 - died by 1797. Another merchant interest arose from 1797, partly based at Blackheath, linked also to the London Missionary Society, and with an almost underground connection to the East India Company. Interests in Sydney did attempt to link with this commercial interest group in London, but were blocked by the very two parties earlier at war over shipping in the Pacific - the Enderby whaling interest and the East India Company. In this sense, mention of merchant names to about 1806 reflects these phases, one dying, one growing, with Blackheath retaining its status as a focus of British interest in the Pacific.
* * *
The Macaulay-St Barbe Partnership:
Following negotiations between government and the secret committee of the East India Company, the Blackheath Connection made another appearance. On 3 March, 1791, either George Macaulay or John St Barbe visited Shelton at the Old Bailey to sign contracts to transport convicts on Macaulay's Pitt. ([83]) (Pitt had already from about 1784 gone on one voyage to China for the East India Company under Capt. Couper.) Over 3-5 March, 1791, St Barbe took out a contract for the transportation of 408 convicts to New South Wales ([84]) on behalf of Macaulay: the remainder of a settlement for Pitt's employment was to be £3,953/18/-. Pitt, 775 tons, was now sailed by Capt. Edward Manning. Pitt has the reputation of beginning retailing at Sydney, due to Manning's sale of her cargo, she was not the first ship to Sydney to offer goods for sale. Bateson says Pitt was "the largest vessel so far employed in the convict service and the first regular East Indiaman to carry prisoners to Australia." This is not so informative until it is realised Macaulay was a maverick who had wanted to mount the First Fleet, but was prevented. ([85]) Macaulay may have turned over as much as £6888 gross for this employment of Pitt, the first private ship to sail to Sydney after the massive Third Fleet.
Capt. Manning's views of prospects at Sydney:
Macaulay's man Capt. Manning developed pity for the struggling colony and he agreed with Governor Phillip to obtain supplies in India (knowing, for example, Phillip had been obliged to charter the Third Fleet's Atlantic to India for stores). Pitt proceeded from Sydney for Bengal on 7 April, 1792, but offloaded her mission on another ship. On the Indian coast, Manning after September 1792 met with Capt. W. W. Bampton, a "country trader" as the East India Company called such men who cruised about the Indian coast, trading according more to eastern customs, not western. ([86]) Once that meeting had interested Bampton in the prospects of the colony, Bampton took up the helping role Pitt had adopted. Bampton on his ship, Shah Hormuzear assisted the colony greatly, not only by helpfully blazing a few sea routes between Sydney and India.
Pitt never came back to Sydney. Garran, writing on Bampton, suggests, "At Bengal, Manning mentioned to Bampton such articles as he thought were most wanted" in Sydney. Manning was able to tell Bampton that Phillip was likely to leave the colony soon, because of ill health and that the easy-going NSW Corps commandant, Major Francis Grose, would take over the colony. Manning also told of his own successful trading venture to Sydney, when he had brought goods for private trade and disposed of them for upwards of £4,000. Shah Hormuzear first arrived at Sydney on 27 February, 1793. ([87])
*
* *
The friend of Enderbys, Philip Gidley King, on 11 March, 1791, married Josepha Coombe at St. Martin in the Fields, as the Enderbys presumably knew. On 1 March, King had been promoted to Commander, and he would replace Arthur Phillip as governor of NSW, which may have been known to East India Company directors. On 11 March, 1791, came a Comptrollers report on an invoice for provisions purchased by Messrs Neave and Aislabie for shipment to Sydney. ([88]) During March 1791, hulk Justitia was discharged from government employ, and Campbell also discharged hulk Ceres at Langston Harbour. Lion hulk, an ex-east Indiaman, was managed by Campbell and moored at Portsmouth. ([89]) As the Third Fleet ships had been sent around to Plymouth and Portsmouth, the embarkation continued. By 7 March, Campbell and James Bradley had consulted on the remainder from the distant hulks, the Woolwich people, and the disposal of those from the discontinued Justitia. Boyick went with Bradley to discuss with Nepean the Portsmouth embarkation. When the embarkation was completed by 17 March, 70 felons from Justitia were put into Censor, which remained in service; hulk Stanislaus took 68. The Dunkirk was also discharged from service at Plymouth. The reaction of authority to the reduction in convict numbers after a large embarkation for the first time was a major reshuffle of the hulks establishment, and a reduction of it.
Fear of the whalers apart, presumably the Company directors realised that from 1791, the needs of the convict colony would also create the basis for the development of a small "country trade" between Sydney and India (just as Macaulay seems to have foreseen). Such possibilities were also demonstrated when Governor Phillip chartered the third fleet ship, Atlantic, Capt. Armstrong to India to procure necessary supplies. (Other ships, whalers, had begged off that mission). ([90]) Other possibilities were foreseen by William Richards. Several merchants in England developed views on such possibilities and accordingly contacted the Home O