50 Voyage of the Novara. 



diving-bells, the excavations being charged with two or three 

 lbs. of powder. A steam-engine of 40-horse power pumps 

 the dock diy,* besides being geared to set in motion the 

 various machinery in the shops, such as lathes, iron planes, &c. 

 The dock gates are iron-plated. Although constructed en- 

 tirely by convict labour, the expense was enormous, since to 

 overcome the extraordinary difficulty presented by the soil, 

 the entire machinery, down to the very smallest tool, had to 

 be imported from England. 



The frigate lay about a week in dock. Besides the usual 

 handicraftsmen there were upwards of thirty caulkers em- 

 ployed, each of whom was paid 145. per diem, net, but the 

 entire cost was IT^. a day, as each man was conveyed to and 

 fro, morning and evening, at Government expense. But as 

 provisions are high, the workman can save by the end of 

 the week little if at all more than the English labourer who 

 does not receive one-thiixl of his wages. At present there 

 are on the island 360 prisoners, all such as have been sentenced 

 to ten years penal servitude at least. This establishment 

 was, however, to be broken up, and the convicts distributed 

 among other prisons, so soon as the dock was quite com- 

 pleted. 



The main features of a prison reform, contemplated by Sir 

 Wm. Denison, with the praiseworthy object not merely of 

 prevention of crime, but of ameliorating the moral condition 



* The rise and fall of the tide at Port Jackson is very small, not above four or five 

 feet. 



