m^l' OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 147 



Nothing could have excited more general indignation than the 

 treatment which thefe unfortunate people appeared to have met with ; 

 for, what crime could be more offenfive to every fentiment of hu- 

 manity, than the endeavour, by curtailing a ration certainly not toa- 

 ample, to derive a temporary advantage from the mifery of beings 

 already the vi&ims of calamity ! 



By the arrival of thefe mips feveral articles of comfort were intro^- 

 duced ; there being fcarcely a veffel that had not brought fomething 

 for fale. It could not, however, be faid that they were procurable on 

 eafier terms than what had been fold there in the laft year. The 

 Spanifh dollar was the current coin of the colony, which fome of the 

 matters taking at five millings, others at four fhiiings and fixpence* 

 the Governor, in confideration of the officers having been obliged to 

 receive it at five {hillings fterling when given for bills drawn in the 

 fettlement, iffued a proclamation, fixing the currency of the Spanifh ^ 

 dollar at that fum. 



The remainder of the tranfports expected did not arrive till the 

 middle of O&ober. The Albemarle was off the coaft fome days, and 

 arrived on the 13th, with two hundred and fifty male and fix female 

 convidts, her proportion of {lores and^ provifions, and a ferjeant's 

 party.. 



The convicts of this fhip made an attempt, in conjun&ion with 

 fome of the feamen, to feize her on the 9th of April, foon after fhe 

 left England ; and they would in all probability have fucceeded, but 

 for the a£livity and refolution {hewn by the mafter, Mr. George 

 Bowen, who, hearing the alarm, had juft time to arm himfelf with a 

 loaded blunderbufs, which he difcharged at one of the mutineers, Wil- 

 liam Syney (then in the a£t of aiming a blow with a cudafs at the man 

 at the wheel), and lodged its contents in his moulder. His companions,, 

 feeing what had befallen him, inftantly ran below; but the mafter,. 

 his officers, and fome of the feamen of the {hip, following them, fooa 

 fecured the ring-leaders, Owen Lyons and William Syney. A conful- 

 tation was held with the naval agent 3 the {hip's company, and the 



u. 2 military 



