80 



THE RISDON SETTLEMENT. 



26th March. 

 17th April. 



King to 

 Palmer, 29th 

 August, 1804. 



King to 

 Hobart, 20th 

 December, 

 1804. 



American 

 sealers — 

 Murrell's 

 statement. 



King to 

 Hobart, 2Gth 

 December, 

 1804. 



were now under proper regulation, and that on Sundays, 

 when the weather was not unfavourable, the Chaplain, 11 

 after divine service at Sullivan's Cove, had occasionally || 

 gone over to Risdon in the afternoon, and, as he phrases 

 it, " done his duty to all the convicts, &c., &c.,'^ dining 

 afterwards with Dr, Mountgarret. 



Captain Delano, meanwhile, was making a good thing 

 out of Bowen's misfortunes. The I^itegrity was still 

 lying at Cape Barren Island, disabled, and she had to 

 be brought on. So after enjoying and returning the 

 hospitalities of the place for a fortnight, the American 

 captain sailed again for the Straits, with new rudder 

 fastenings for the disabled vessel, and in less than a 

 month ihe Pilgrim once more appeared in the Dervvent 

 with the Integrity in company. The Pilgrim sailed 

 away a few days later to continue her sealing voyage, 

 and her captain carried with him not only the reward 

 of an approving conscience, but also Bowen's bill on 

 Governor King for .£400. When the bill was pre- 

 sented in the following August, King's surprise was 

 considerable, and he made some vigorous protests. But 

 the bill was in due form, for services performed, and 

 the Governor had to pay. He could only relieve his 

 feehngs by writing to Lord Hobart in strong terms as 

 to the American's conduct ; but he says, " I did not 

 consider I could, with that respect due to the British 

 character, either curtail or refuse payment of the bill, 

 notwithstanding the extortionate advantage that had 

 been taken of Mr. Bowen's necessities, and his not 

 entering into a written agreement." 



We hear again of Captain Delano and his party a 

 month or two later, and they seem to have been very un- 

 desirable visitors. Not only had they been smuggling spirits 

 against the stringent regulations and decoying prisoners, 

 but they had made themselves still more obnoxious by 

 their brutal treatment of a sealing party at Kent's Bay 

 belonging to the Smyrise sloop, of Sydney. According 

 to the statement of the master of the Surprise, he had 

 been flogged and nearly killed by Delano's men for 

 venturing to come into the Straits and interfere with 

 them by killing seals in their neighbourhood. Governor 

 King was inclined to take vigorous measures to put a 

 stop to the lawless conduct which was then only too 

 common amongst the American sealers in Bass' Straits, 

 and proposed to the Home Government that he should 

 be authorised to go the length of seizing their ships as 

 the only means of teaching them better behaviour. 



But to return to the fortunes of the Risdon Settlement. 



