78 



THE RISDON SETTLEMENT. 



9th January, 

 1804. 



23i'd January. 



1st March, 

 1804. 



Ibid. 



30th January, 

 1804. 



King's Order 

 to Palmer, 

 29th August, 

 1804. 



Knopwood's 

 Diary, 10th 

 March. 



and to send back to Port Jackson his detachment of 

 the' New South Wales Corps. And so a f^ame of cross 

 purposes began. For while Collins was still fuming and 

 fidgetting at Port Phillip, balancing the comparative 

 advantages of Port Dalrymple and the Derwent, and 

 gradually making up his mind in favour of the latter 

 place, Bowen had sailed from Risdon in the Ferret 

 with his burglarious soldier, and had presented himself 

 to the astonished Governor King at Port Jackson. The 

 Governor seems to have taken no pains to conceal the 

 annoyance he felt at his Commandant leaving his post 

 on so trifling an occasion, and sarcastically remarks in a 

 despatch to Lord Hobart, that BoAven's " return was 

 occasioned by the necessity he conceived himself to be 

 under of bringing up a soldier who had been implicated 

 with the rest in robbing the stores." He was the more 

 vexed at this inopportune return, as he knew that Collins 

 was on the point of leaving Port Phillip, and he was 

 particularly anxious that the Risdon Commandant should 

 be at hand to give the new Lieutenant-Governor the 

 benefit of his experience and knowledge of the locality. 



The colonial cutter Integrity had just been launched. 

 She was hastily fitted for sea, and Bowen was ordered 

 to return in her to the Derwent forthwith, calling at 

 Port Phillip to join Collins, to give him all necessary 

 assistance, and accompany him to Risdon. The Tn- 

 tegrity sailed on the 5th February ; but Bowen's ill 

 luck still attended him. When he reached Port Phillip 

 he found only a remnant of Collins' establishment, under 

 the charge of Lieut. Sladden, the Lieutenant-Governor 

 himself having sailed for the Derwent in the Ocean 

 with the bulk of his people two or three days before. 

 Bowen accordingly hastened on with his despatches, but 

 shortly after sailing the cutter's rudder fastenings carried 

 away, and she was placed in a vei"y dangerous position. 

 However, she managed to reach Kent's Bay, Cape Barren 

 Island, and there they found a sealing parly belonging 

 to the American ships Pilgrim and Perseverance. The 

 necessity for getting on was imperative ; so Bowen made 

 a verbal agreement with the American skipper, Captain 

 Amasa Delano, to carry them on in his ship, and after- 

 wards, if required, to proceed to Port Jackson. From 

 the diary of the Chaplain of Collins' party, the well 

 known Rev. Robert Knopwood, we learn that the Pilgrim 

 cast anchor in Sullivan's Cove on 10th March, and that 

 at six in the evening, a boat brought ashore " the Governor 

 of Risdon Creek, Lieut. Bowen, of the Royal Navy." 



It must have proved a considerable mortification to 



