NARRATIVE.

CHAPTER I.

Voyage to Van Diemens Land.-Embarkation -Emigrant Pensioners.-Disorderly conduct.-Intemperance.-The Ocean.-Bottled Water.-Petrels.Coast of Spain. - Birds. Storm.-Danger.-Equator.-Sunset.-Trinidad

and Martin Vaz.-Funeral.-Whales.-Fishes.-Albatross.-African Coast.Cape Town.-Schools.-Slavery.-Public Institutions.-Religious Meeting.— Departure.-L'Agullas Bank.-Southern Ocean.-Birds.-Religious Labours. -Coast of V. D. Land.-Colour of the Sea.-Piratical Vessel.-Sharks.-Bad Bay.-Arrival at Hobart Town.

ALL necessary arrangements for a long voyage having previously been made, we embarked in St. Katharine's Dock, London, on the 3rd of the 9th month, 1831, on board the Science-a fine barque, of 236 tons, William Saunders, master. A few of our friends accompanied us to Gravesend, where we anchored that afternoon, and others joined us there on the following day, with whom we went to meeting, at Rochester. In this, the last assembly for public worship which we attended in our native land, we were favoured to feel much of the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and of confirmation respecting our projected voyage being undertaken in the divine counsel.

In the cabin of the Science, there were two other passengers; and in the steerage, forty-six Chelsea pensioners, who had commuted their pensions for an advance of four years'

B

payment; nine women, chiefly pensioners' wives; six children, and a young man, whom one of the pensioners had befriended. These, with the crew, amounted to above eighty persons.

On the 5th, some of the pensioners received a part of their advance from the Government, to enable them to purchase necessaries for the voyage, for which purpose some of them went on shore; but they wasted their money in strong drink, and returned on board so much intoxicated, that the necessity of preventing others doing the same, was obvious. The men became very unruly, but were appeased by the women being allowed to go on shore to make purchases, and by a boat with supplies of clothing, bedding, &c. being sent off to the ship. In the evening we proceeded further down the river, and, on the 6th, dropped anchor off Deal. Here the men were determined to go on shore, and were taken from the vessel by Deal boatmen, in spite of remonstrance and threats from the captain: many of them came back intoxicated, but one returned no more.

We sailed from the Downs on the 9th, and from that time till we reached the Cape of Good Hope, few days passed without some of the pensioners being intoxicated and quarrelling: sometimes but few were sober; and, occasionally, the women were as bad as the men. Three times the captain was seized by different men, who threatened to throw him overboard. One man was nearly murdered by one of his fellows, and all kinds of sin prevailed among them. A fruitful source of this disorder was a daily allowance to each person of about five liquid ounces of spirits. Some saved it for a few days, and then got drunk with it: some purchased it from others, and so long as their money lasted, or they could sell their clothes, were constantly intoxicated. The general excitement produced by this quantity of spirits, made them irritable in temper, and seemed to rouse every corrupt passion of the human mind. To all expostulation, the constant reply was: "We are free men, and it is our own: we have paid for it, and have a right to do as we please with it."

From having been long accustomed to act in obedience to military discipline, instead of upon principle, these men

were generally as incapable of taking care of themselves, when temptation was in the way, as children; and the state of confusion they were in was often appalling. From first going on board we read to them twice a day from the Bible or religious tracts. This was nearly the only time they were quiet. At first some of them tried to stop us by making a noise, but finding we proceeded without noticing them, they ceased: and at the conclusion of the voyage, some of them acknowledged, that the time of our reading had been the only time in which they had had any comfort.

On arriving at the Cape of Good Hope, the captain delivered three of the most disorderly men to the civil authorities: two of them were detained, and three others and a woman of bad character, left the vessel of their own accord. Those who remained on board conducted themselves better after we got to sea again, notwithstanding several of them had become of evil notoriety during our short stay in Cape Town.

But to return to our voyage. On the 16th of 9th month, in the evening, we now and then caught a glimpse of the light on the Lizard Point, Cornwall; which was the last trace we saw of our native shores. Several of the pensioners had begun to repent of having embarked, before reaching this point! On the 17th, we were out of soundings, and the ocean presented the dark blue colour that prevails where it is unfathomably deep. The circle of view, not being broken by other objects, appeared very limited. From the ordinary elevation of a ship's deck, this circle is only estimated at about eight miles in diameter. The night of the 18th was stormy, and we were in some danger from want of skill in the second mate, in whose watch the vessel was "taken aback" in a squall. On the 19th, our water began to be very disagreeable; and we found bottled spring-water, of which we brought out a good stock, a great luxury. Many Stormy Petrels followed the vessel on the 20th, and at various subsequent periods. These little birds, which are about the size of a swallow, have a propensity to keep about the wake or track of a ship in windy weather, and before, as well as during a storm; therefore when they follow a vessel in calm weather,

they are considered as the harbingers of a breeze: but notwithstanding this, they are frequently to be seen in the same situation in continued fine weather, especially about meal times, when various crumbs of refuse food are cast overboard, which, floating into the wake of the vessel, are picked up with avidity by these lively little birds, that skim over the surface, sometimes alighting upon the unbroken waves, and running upon them with their webbed feet, balancing themselves by means of their wings, which they hold erect, and ready for flight.

We were off Cape Finisterre, on the N. W. coast of Spain, on the 21st; some of the land seemed of considerable elevation. On the 8th of 10th month, we entered the Torrid Zone; and saw a few Flying-fish; the first living creatures, except the Petrels, that we had seen for many days. A Swallow also cheered us by a visit: it flew many times around the vessel. A great number of Black and White Gulls, and some Porpoises, were seen in the evening. On the 17th, we lost the trade winds, that had urged us on rapidly for many days, and reached a latitude where squalls, often attended by thunder and heavy rain, and dead calms and variable breezes, frequently follow each other in quick succession, the thermometer varying from 780 to 82o in the shade. During a severe squall on the 25th, large patches of phosphorescent light were seen on the surface of the ocean for a short time: they presented a scene of great beauty, the interest of which was not diminished by the raging of the sea. The Swallow noticed on the 8th, and another which joined it, perished in the storm. On the 25th, we were in considerable danger, in consequence of the second mate getting intoxicated, and falling asleep in his watch, when the wind was strong, and only an inexperienced youth, at the wheel by which the vessel is steered. mate was in consequence degraded from his office.

The

26th of 10th month, we crossed the Equator in 27° west longitude. None of those disagreeable scenes took place, that are often exhibited on such occasions, and that are as heathenish in their origin as in their practice; in which Neptune is represented by some person, and ceremonies are