148 THE TROPICAL AGKICULTUEIST. [Sept. 1, 1903. 
Captain soon found his value as a young seaman, 
and before long made Steuart his boatswain, and 
later offered to appoint him second mate. The 
voyage or rather cruise lasted three years, during 
which the "Cumberland" saw much of New 
Zealand, and we have graphic accounts of adven- 
tures and narrow escapes from the Maoris, some 
of them cannibals, JOO years ago. However, all 
went well, and in July, 1810, the ship with a 
valuable cargo of spermaceti whale oil, arrived at 
Portsmouth. We find Steuart next (only 20 years 
of age) in command himself of the " Charles," 
making voyages from London to Lisbon, then 
fitting her out as a transport for H.M, Service 
like his father before him. This employment lasted 
till 1814 (or later) and brought Captain Steuart 
to the notice of Admiral Lord Keith who wished 
him to become a Master in the Navy. But, we 
next find him at Capetown, in command of a vessel 
called the " Leda," locally owned, and plying 
between Cape Colony and London. In November, 
1817, the [owners proposed to him a voyage to 
Ceylon to fill up time, until certain wines they 
were preparing, were ready for shipment to London. 
Captain Steuart reports that at first he con- 
founded his destination with Sierra Leone, then 
much better known and notorious for its bad fevers. 
He arrived at Galle 12th January, 1818 ; saw Mr. W. 
C. Gibson, Master Attendant ; went on to Colombo 
and passed the Portuguese ship that voyaged once 
a year from Macao, with tea, silk, preserves, &c., 
for Colombo, which Captain Steuart reached on 16th 
January. Old Capt. Chrisp (sic.) Master Attendant, 
had been chief officer on an E. 1, Coy.'s ship 
and described himself as a kind of ' ' Deputy Vice^ 
Admiral, Captaii^ of the Vert, and Marine Aide- 
de-Camp to H.E. The Governor." For foreign 
ships he was Consul as well ; and for the few 
Colombo merchants he found the means of 
reaching ships in the roads ; supplied all marine 
stores, anchors, &c. ; and often arbitrated between 
Captains in search of high freights and merchants 
ashore who wanted to charter for low freight. 
All this we mention, because in 1825 Captain 
Steuart succeeded Captain Chrisp in all these 
duties. But first the "Leda" loaded at Colombo 
and her commander lived ashore for a month with 
Mr. Wm. Smith Boyd who had just begun as a 
merchant. Colombo and Galle were bereft of 
soldiers at the time (1818), all being upcountry for vhe 
Kandyan war, . and only the Staff Officer and a few 
soldiers left in each town. The "Leda " left Galle 
23rd February, 1818; reached Table Bay, 24th 
April after a stormy passage ; sailed again 20th 
June, reached Falmouth 4th September ; he bade 
farewell to the ship in London 8th October, and 
got the command of the ship " Eclipse " and 
sailed 23rd March, 1819 for Colombo, which was 
reached 10th July, after some adventures duly 
recorded. After discharging cargo, the "Eclipse"' 
took H.M. 59th Regiment to Calcutta and came 
back to Trincomalee on 27th November and took 
headquarters of 45th regiment round to Colombo, 
where a cargo, chiefly of coconut oil, was loaded 
or London. Capt. Steuart gives a curious 
account of the mode adopted to prepare the casks 
(brought from London apparently !) to receive the 
oil. They were first filled with water ; but Capt. 
Steuart insisted on warm oil being put in at 
Colombo and the casks placed in the sun, and as 
the staves shrank the hoops were driven home_ 
Previous to this the leakage of coconut oU on 
the long voyage home was enormous, causing 
sometimes a loss in place of profit on the cargo. 
On 1st February, 1820, the "Eclipse" sailed from 
Colombo for London having on board Sir Eobert 
and Lady Brownrigg, Dr. Davy, Rev. George 
Bisset, Col. Hardy and other officers. (Grand 
entertainments were given to the Governor before 
he left). After an eventful voyage, calling at 
Table Bay, St. Helena, Ascension, &c., Dover was 
reached on 22nd June. The new Governor Sir 
Edward Paget got such an account of Capt. Steuart 
from his predecessor that he applied for the 
"Eclipse" to convey himself and staff out to 
Ceylon ; but the King ordered a frigate to the 
service and so the "Eclipse" sailed for Mauritius 
and Colombo, reaching the latter on 17th March. 
1821. With a full cargo again, Capt. Steuart left 
on return in April and got to England in August. 
Sir Edward Barnes was now at home and ordered 
out to succeed Paget as Governor, — (the latter 
being promoted to India)— and the new Governor 
was so anxious to have Steuart as his Captain, 
that he offered the Commander of the vessel selected 
to carry him (Captain Vaughan of the " Hercules") 
a gift of £500 to stay behind, but in vain. How- 
ever, with the assistance of friends, Capt. Steuart 
purchased a ship of his own, the "Mediterranean," 
and sailing from Gravesend on 30th July, 1824, 
" with my wife " (all the reference we can find to 
his marriage), and other passengers and cargo for 
Ceylon, called at Madeira for some pipes of wine 
and reached Colombo on 22nd December. He 
found Sir Edward Barnes ready to make him 
Master Attendant, Captain Chrisp retiring, and he 
got leave to proceed to Calcutta to sell his ship 
which he did, and returning was gazetted Master 
Attendant of Colombo from 9th May, 1825. Chrisp 
now compared the duties of the office to that of 
"Boots " at an inn -at the beck and call of every, 
body— expected to do everything that could not be 
done by any of the civil and military servants, then 
in Ceylon ; and certainly, Capt. Steuart had a 
