VOYAGE OF THE "FREAK" 239 



While waiting for the boat, the men on the " Freak " saw a 

 CANOE and five NATIVES on the beach. Early next morning (6th 

 May), the boat, manned as before, started to continue the explora- 

 ation of the beach northward, LANDING first where the canoe and 

 natives had been seen. In the evening, the boat was picked up at 

 TERN ISLAND, near the mouth of the ESCAPE RIVER, having covered 

 48 miles, and the Officer reported : 



" I ran along close to the shore all day. I LANDED a little to the southward of 

 ORFORD Nsss. 1 We met about thirty NATIVES on the beach, who came up to us 

 without hesitation, and appeared very friendly ; they shook hands with all of us, 

 and brought us water. Jackey at first thought he recognised the native who escaped 

 from the ' Ariel ' among them ; he got a little excited and wanted to shoot him ; 

 when he approached nearer he was satisfied he was not the same individual. 2 At 

 another place where I landed I found part of the lower mast of a vessel about 400 

 tons, and pieces of WRECK ; saw no natives or indication of them on the beach." 



Next day (jth May) Captain Simpson boarded the schooner 

 " Coquette" which was lying at anchor. The " Coquette'' CAPTAIN 

 ELLIOTT, we learn from the Voyage oj the " Rattlesnake" had been 

 sent from Sydney to AWAIT the arrival of KENNEDY'S EXPEDITION 

 AT PORT ALBANY, the period for which the " Ariel " had been 

 chartered for that purpose having expired. She was, when the 

 " Freak " came up with her, trying to recover four anchors lost 

 shortly before by the ship " Lord Auckland" from Hobarton, when 

 the latter was aground on "X" Reef. Captain Elliott had heard 

 from the " Sea Nymph," from Hobart Town, of the fate of Kennedy's 

 expedition and was about to sail for Sydney. He had seen a 

 NATIVE at Port Albany who had, apparently, been WOUNDED in the 

 FACE WITH LARGE SHOT, and as he exactly answered the description 

 given by Jackey, there is little room for doubt that he was the 

 individual mentioned in the Statement of the latter as having been 

 wounded with buck-shot on ist December, 1848. 



Captain Elliott lent two men and himself joined Captain 

 Simpson's boating party which set out next morning (8th May) at 

 daylight. With this reinforcement, two boats were manned, 

 " thus making a most formidable party," says Captain Simpson. 



At the mouth of the ESCAPE RIVER, the little bay west of Sharp 

 Peak was pointed out by Jackey- Jackey as the place where KENNEDY 

 and he first met HOSTILE NATIVES. (SEE MAP A.) The party LANDED 

 about 12 miles up the inlet at the first place where the left bank 8 



1 Near the REAL " PUDDING-PAN HILL," not the hill so named by Kennedy. 



2 The NATIVE in question was reported missing while the " Ariel " was at anchor on 

 the night of nth January between Cape Bedford and Turtle Reef, near Cooktown 

 The night was dark and stormy and sharks were seen in the morning. It is doubtful 

 whether the native ever reached land, and if he did there were about 400 miles to walk 

 to Orford Ness, through hostile tribes. Even supposing him to have escaped death 

 at sea he could hardly have covered the distance on foot in four months, delayed 

 as he must have been, by the necessity for procuring food daily. R. L. J. 



3 His right, as the Captain reckoned. 



