WHITE— A Sketch of the Life of Samuel White. 237 



without rain, but the wind is still blowing hard. 26th: To-day 

 I packed up many specimens, birds, and shells and spent the 

 evening with Mr. Jardine. The weather is milder, but the 

 wind is still strong and sky clear." 



On Friday, 27th, my father seems to have had more 

 trouble with his captain, and he ordered the anchor up, and 

 made sail for Thursday Island, which w T as reached in a few 

 hours. In company of Captain Pennefather, Samuel White 

 went to the Senior Magistrate, and it was arranged that the 

 captain and crew would come before the Bench next day. 

 In a few notes written on the day my father says: — 



"At the invitation of Captain Pennefather I went on board 

 the Government Schooner 'Pearl.' This schooner is owned 

 and kept by the Queensland Government, and has only 

 recently been put into commission; she has been until recently 

 the survey ship owned partly by the British Government after 

 the manner of all the colonial survey ships. About a year 

 ago she was in the market, and I was nearly purchasing her, 

 but an unavoidable delay proved fatal, She is a schooner of 

 about 50 tons measurement, carries two six pounder Arm- 

 strong guns, and appears to have a large native crew on 

 board; she is kept for the regulation of the pearl fisheries, the 

 settling of disputes, and a little exploring between times." 



The next morning my father breakfasted with the Captain 

 of the "Pearl,", then appeared against his crew\ who were 

 sent down to Sydney. He seems to have let a Mr. Kobb have 

 all his ship stores, intending to get fresh supplies when he 

 returned. There were some things which had to go into bond. 

 It seems that the weather was so rough that nothing could be 

 landed from the yacht, and Samuel White passed most of his 

 time on his craft at anchor. On September 1st he writes: — 

 "Spent most of the day on board; went to see Mr. Robb and 

 arranged with him to store all my stuff.. He will come him- 

 self and take it from the ship, put what he does not want 

 into bond, and make use of the remainder for himself. Capt. 

 Pennefather came on board, and I lent him my big swivel gun, 

 and gave him a bag of shot and a bag of wads. I do not 

 think I will get away this week." It seems that the yacht 

 and owner remained in the same spot for another week. He 

 could not get rid of his stores, so sold flour, sugar, rice, 

 biscuits, rum, brandy, ale, beef, etc., etc., for £25, which cost 

 £200, and the rest of stores were put into bond. Then 

 he arranged with Mr. Jardine to send his men over to Thursday 

 Island and take the yacht over to Cape York to be laid up. 

 On the 15th Samuel White and his two taxidermists were 



