ADMIRALTY INSTEUCTIONS. 3 



chronometers — from thence to Simon's Bay at the Cape of 

 Good Hope, for a supply of water, and to land the £50,000 

 you have been ordered to convey to that colony ; then to 

 make the best of your way to the Mauritius, to land the 

 treasure (£15,000) entrusted to your charge for that 

 island ; and having so done, to proceed to King George's 

 Sound for the purpose of carrying its exact meridian dis- 

 tance to Sydney, where you will lose no time in preparing 

 for the execution of the important service entrusted to you. 



"The several objects of that service have been drawn up 

 under our direction by our Hydrographer ; but notwith- 

 standing the order in which they are placed, we leave to 

 your own discretion the several periods of their perform- 

 ance, and likewise the times of your return to Sydney to 

 re-victual and refit — being satisfied that your zeal in 

 pushing forward the survey will never outstrip your atten- 

 tion to the health and comfort of your crew. 



" You will take the Bramble and her tender, the Castle- 

 reagh, under your orders, and employ them in those places 

 which require vessels of a lighter draft of water than the 

 Rattlesnake. They are to be attached as tenders to the 

 Rattlesnake, and to be manned from that ship ; and such 

 of the present crew of the Bramble as may have served five 

 years continuously, and volunteer to remain on the survey- 

 ing service in Australia, are to be entered in the Rattle- 

 snake under the provisions of the Act of Parliament. The 

 books of the Bramble are to be closed, and she is to be 

 considered as no longer in commission j and you are hereby 

 authorized, after being joined by her and by the Castle- 

 reagh, to enter ten supernumerary seamen for wages and 

 victuals in the Rattlesnake, (making her total complement 

 190,) to enable you efl'ectively to man the said two tenders. 



" In stretching ofi' from the Barrier Reefs to the east- 

 ward, in order to explore the safety of the sea intervening 



B 2 



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