210 EXPEDITION UNDER LIEUT.-QOV. COLLINS. 



Wales," the first volume appearing in 1798, and the 

 second, which carried on the history to August, 1801 , being 

 published in 1802. The book met with a very favour- 

 able reception, and was reviewed by Sydney Smith, in the 

 Edinburgh Review. The reviewer says, " Mr. Collins's 

 book is written with great plainness and candour: he 

 appears to be a man always meaning wellj of good plain 

 common sense ; and composed of those well-wearing 

 materials which adapt a person for situations where genius 

 and refinement would only prove a source of misery and 

 error," Collins is said to have been a remarkably hand- 

 some man, with delightful manners. He seems to have 

 had not a little tact in managing men, and to have 

 possessed many of the qualities requisite in the founder of 

 a colony. If he erred in his judgment of the capabilities 

 of Victoria as a place for settlement, he certainly showed 

 sagacity in his choice of a site for Hobart. 



The preparations for the new settlement were quickly 

 pushed on ; and, in April, 1803, the expedition was 

 ready for sea. The 307 male convicts, and their military 

 guard, were to be conveyed by H.M.S. Calcutta, in 

 which vessel the Lieut. -Governor himself, and a select 

 few of his staff — viz., Lieut. Sladden, the First Lieutenant 

 of Marines ; Mr. Knopwood, the Chaplain ; and Mr. 

 I'Anson, the Principal Surgeon — were also to be accom- 

 modated. At the period of which we are speaking, 

 March, 1802, which was during the short peace which followed upon 

 to May, 1803. the Treaty of Amiens, the ships of the Navy were 

 frequently employed for the conveyance of convicts to 

 Bonwick's New South Wales. In the early days of the colony the 

 "First Twenty g^jj-^yjg^g ^g,.g bought out under contract, — the con- 

 tralia." tractors receiving as much as <£17 7^. Qcl. per head for 



all shipped. The contractors had no interest in treating 

 the people well, or even in keeping them alive. The 

 consequence was a most scandalous state of things. It 

 was estimated that during the first eight years at least 

 one-tenth of those transported died on the voyage. In 

 the " Second Fleet," in 1790, the mortality was awful. 

 In one ship more than a fourth part died on board, and 

 a large number after arrival. The unhappy people 

 were shut up below, in filthy and stifling quarters; 

 seldom allowed on deck, for fear of mutiny ; kept under 

 no discipline ; and often subjected to brutal ill-usage. 

 Besides the dreadful mortality on the voyage, the 

 survivors arrived so enfeebled that the hospitals were 

 filled with sick, many of whom succumbed; while a 

 considerable proportion of the remainder never recovered 

 from the effects of the passage. Afterwards, by the 



