236 



THE FOUNDING OF HOBART. 



Sydney 

 Gazette, 25t]i 

 March, 1804. 



judgment fully justified. His adventurous and plucky 

 voyage in an open boat from Port Phillip to Port Jack- 

 son with despatches will be remembered. Since that 

 time he had done good service in examining Port 

 Dalrymple, in company with Surveyor-General Harris 

 and Agricultural Superintendent Clark, while the 

 Governor was still lingering at Port Phillip undecided 

 as to his final destination. He was now raised to the 

 dignity of Harbour Master of the port, and was a person 

 of no small consequence in the settlement. 

 Gth Aug. 1804. The Lieut.-Governor, in his despatches to the Colonial 

 Oflice, enlarges on the advantages of Hobart for pur- 

 poses of commerce, and speaks of the spot chosen 

 for the settlement as " a port the advantages of which, 

 when once known, will ensure its being the general 

 rendezvous of all shipping bound into these seas." For 

 the present, however, merchant ships were absolutely for- 

 bidden, under severe penalties, from entering the Derwent, 

 except in case of absolute necessity. The masters of 

 vessels sailing from Port Jackson for Van Diemen's 

 Land had to enter into a recognizance of ^100, and two 

 sureties in £50 each, to be forfeited if they landed any 

 person or took any one away without the Governor's 

 written permission. No one but the Harbour Master 

 was allowed to board any vessel arriving' in the river. 

 These restrictions on merchant ships were not removed 

 until the year 1813. 



But while trading was tlius prohibited, the develop- 

 ment of the whale fishery, from which Hobart in after 

 years drew so much wealth, early engaged the Governor's 

 attention. By his desire William Collins drew up a 

 scheme for the establishment of an extensive whaling 

 station at Sullivan's Cove. This memorandum, which 

 was forwarded to the Secretary for the Colonies for 

 his approval, is well written, and shows that the 

 Harbour Master was a man of good education and 

 shi'ewd practical sense. He works out a plan for making 

 Sullivan's Cove the centre of a South Sea sperm whale 

 fishery, — advising on the description of the vessels to 

 be employed, their plant and equipment, the number 

 of men required, the mode of their remuneration by 

 lays on the take, the necessary local superintendence, 

 and all the details of the scheme, with an estimate of 

 probable profits. The sperm whale season lasted from 

 December to April. William Collins says that when 

 the season for sperm whales and for sealing on the 

 islands was over, the vessels could arrive in the Der- 



Memo. 4th 

 Aug. 1804. 



