230 
Wild Life in Southern Seas. 
of importance in the convict colony is whaling 
news, and that concerning the ships arriving 
regularly from England bringing convicts or 
stores. These latter in most cases proceed to 
the whaling grounds. The ships as they come 
in bring little scraps of news of the momentous 
events happening in Europe at those times, and 
the entries in the Gazette show us that the 
whaling-men of those days had another element 
of excitement and adventure in the lives they 
led than that of encountering the whale. 
For instance, in April, 1804, arrived the 
barque Scorpion, Captain Dagg. She “ sailed 
from England with a Letter of Marque the 
24th of last June ; she has mounted fourteen 
carriage guns, now in her hold, and carries 
thirty-two men.” 
Most of the whalers at this time came out 
armed with Letters of Marque, and more than 
one vessel belonging to the Dutch settlements 
was made prize to English whalers. There 
was the case of the Policy, which ship, in 1804, 
was attacked by a Batavian vessel, called the 
Swift. Captain Foster, of the Policy, turned 
the tables on the Dutchman, fought him for 
some hours, took him prisoner, and brought 
