42 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



An erroneous impression long existed that the Calcutta had 

 watered from the Yarra Eiver, and was consequently the first vessel 

 of any size to cast anchor in Hobson's Bay. The record of her 

 official log, however, preserved in Deptford Dockyard, and copied 

 by Mr. Labilliere, proves conclusively from the bearings and dis- 

 tances quoted, that the Kannanook Creek was the farthest northing 

 she made in Port Phillip. Colonel Collins had failed to persuade 

 Captain Woodriff to assist him in removing the settlement, that 

 officer appearing to consider a King's ship too valuable to be risked 

 in examining comparatively unknown coasts ; but he had agreed 

 to remain until the decision of Governor King should be received 

 from Sydney. While waiting for this, Captain Woodriff allowed his 

 indefatigable First Lieutenant Tuckey to undertake a short excursion 

 overland to Western Port Bay, and although he passed over thou- 

 sands of acres of land now profitably occupied for pastoral and 

 agricultural purposes, he brought back the same stereotyped report 

 of barrenness and drought. In one place only, within a few miles 

 of Cape Schanck, did he find anything to praise, and there he admits 

 that he " found the country well watered, the soil very rich, and in 

 many places meadows of from fifty to a hundred acres, covered 

 with grass five feet high, and unencumbered with a single tree ". 

 And this within hah* a day's walk of the condemned settlement 



On Monday morning, the 12th of December, a signal was made 

 that a vessel was approaching the Heads, and late in the afternoon 

 the Ocean took up her old station, and the news soon spread round 

 the camp that the settlement was to be removed to some more fertile 

 district. Two days later the Government schooner Francis arrived 

 from Sydney to assist in the transfer, but was found to be so leaky 

 that she was hove down on the beach for repairs. Captain Wood- 

 riff was now anxious to be gone, and formally intimated to the 

 Governor that he should sail for Sydney on Sunday, the 18th of 

 December. He finally cleared the Heads on Monday morning, 

 and left the Governor to maintain the best order he could with his 

 small company of royal marines. The unwillingness displayed by 

 Collins to let the Calcutta go was probably due to his apprehension 

 that his civil and military staff were inadequate to cope with any 

 serious outbreak, should one occur amongst the convicts. He had, 



