358 NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



and consequently ignorant of the exact locality of the then infant 

 settlement. 1 



Six days later (9th March), on the arrival of the " Basilisk" 

 Mr. Sheridan claimed the assistance of the warship in punishing 

 the murderers of the captain of the " Maria " and his three men, 

 having by this time come to the conclusion that the existence of 

 the settlement itself was threatened by the blacks. The request 

 was met by the detail of fourteen men from the " Basilisk" under 

 Lieutenant Francis Hayter, who were joined by a detachment of 

 native troopers, led by Sub-Inspector R. Johnstone, on board the 

 " Peri" " The tribe was surprised before daylight," and a bloody 

 vengeance was meted out. 



Moresby himself took the " Basilisk " in search of the rafts, 

 and at COOPER'S POINT (lat. 17 25' S.) descried white men on the 

 beach. Eight emaciated and half-naked wretches were all that 

 remained of the thirteen men who had left the " Maria " on the 

 26th February, on the LARGER RAFT, unprovided with food or 

 water. They had but a single oar ; and a tent which was fashioned 

 into a sail was soon lost. It was not long before two men became 

 insane and two others were drowned. On the third day, another 

 man went raving mad and died. At night another went mad, but 

 was restrained from violence by his companions. In the small 

 hours of the following morning the raft grounded, and the men 

 scrambled to the beach, where they slept till daylight, when they 

 found fresh water and some wild fruits. Shortly afterwards they 

 met a party of natives, who entertained them with generous 

 hospitality, lodging them in their own gunyahs and giving them 

 a share of their own scanty provisions. Both hosts and guests 

 were on the verge of starvation when the " Basilisk " came to 

 their rescue. 



On the same day (i2th March) that the eight men were rescued 

 from the larger raft, LIEUTENANT SYDNEY SMITH, in the " Basilisk's " 

 cutter, found the remains of the SMALLER RAFT on the beach, not 

 more than 6 miles from the point where the larger had grounded, 

 the two localities being separated by what Moresby afterwards 



1 Thomas Tate, who had been a medical student, was Acting Surgeon on the "Maria" 

 and was generally spoken of as Doctor Tate. Later in 1872, he joined William Hann's 

 expedition as Botanist. According to his narrative, " An Old-Time Story" (Norman 

 Chronicle, 1903, and North Queensland Register, i3th December, 1915), the mate took 

 charge of one of the boats, with thirteen men, and Tate of two boats, with fifteen men. 

 The boats were beached on the seaward side of Hinchinbrook Island, where the starving 

 men spent five wretched days, the weather being too rough to permit of their putting 

 to sea again. Afterwards they coasted the island southward and entered the Hin- 

 chinbrook Passage, between the island and the mainland and, turning northward, 

 reached Cardwell in two days. Tate's story leaves little doubt that the Captain 

 (a German) deliberately deserted the wreck and the men for whom he was respon- 

 sible. The mate became temporarily insane from excitement and exposure, and had 

 to be put under restraint on his arrival at Cardwell. Tate, as the only other sur- 

 viving officer of the " Maria," went with Moresby in the " Basilisk " to the scene of 

 the wreck. 



