Having now compleatly refitted the ship, and taken in a
sufficient quantity of Provisions of all kinds, I this afternoon took
leave of the General, and such others of the principal Gentlemen as I had
any connection with, all of whom upon every occasion gave me all the
assistance I required. A small dispute, however, now hapned between me
and some of the Dutch Naval Officers about a Seaman that had run from one
of the Dutch Ships in the Road, and enter'd on board mine; this man the
General demanded as a Subject of Holland, and I promised to deliver him
up provided he was not an English Subject, and sent the necessary orders
on board for that purpose. In the morning the Commodore's Captain came
and told me that he had been on board my ship for the man, but that the
Officer had refused to give him up, alledging that he was an Englishman,
and that he, the Captain, was just then come from the General to demand
the man of me as a Deanish Subject, he standing upon their Ship's books
as born at Elsinore. I told him that I believed there must be some
mistake in the General's message, for I apprehended he would not demand a
Deanish Seaman from me who had committed no other crime than preferring
the English Service before that of the Dutch; but to convince him how
unwilling I was to disoblige any one concerned, I had sent orders on
board to deliver the man to him in case he was found to be a Foreigner;
but as that was not done I suspected that the man was a Subject of
England, and if I found him to be such I was resolved to keep him. Soon
after this I received a letter from Mr. Hicks, which I carried to the
Shabander, and desired that it might be shewn to the General, and at the
same time to acquaint him that, after my having such unanswerable proof
of the man's being an English Subject, as was mentioned in that letter,
it was impossible for me to deliver him up. After this I heard no more
about it.
Joseph Banks Journal
Xmas day by our account being fixd for sailing, we this morn hird a large countrey Praw, which came up to the door and took in Dr Solander, now tolerably recoverd, and carried him on board the ship where in the evening we all joind him. There was not I beleive a man in the ship but gave his utmost aid to getting up the Anchor, so compleatly tird was every one of the unwholesome air of this place. We had buried here 8 people, in general however the Crew was in rather better health than they had been a fortnight before.
While we were at work a man was missd who it was supposd did not intend to stay ashore, so a boat was sent after him, which before its return delayd us so long that we lost intirely the sea breeze, and were obligd to come too again a few cables lenghs only from where we lay before.
Sydney Parkinson Journal
One of our midshipmen ran away from us here, and it was suspected that he was the person who cut off Orton’s ears.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment