great quantity there on the part of the reinforcement. The whole
of the crew were saved, every exertion being used, and all
assistance received from the _Supply_ and colonists on shore. The
passengers fortunately landed before the accident, and I will just
mention to you the method by which the crew were saved. When they
found that the ship was ruined and giving way upon the beam right
athwart, they made a rope fast to a drift-buoy, which by the surf
was driven on shore. By this a stout hawser was convey'd, and
those on shore made it fast a good way up a pine-tree. The other
end, being on board, was hove taut. On this hawser was placed the
heart of a stay (a piece of wood with a hole through it), and to
this a grating was slung after the manner of a pair of scales. Two
lines were made fast on either side of the heart, one to haul it
on shore, the other to haul it on board. On this the shipwreck'd
seated themselves, two or more at a time, and thus were dragged on
shore thro' a dashing surf, which broke frequently over their
heads, keeping them a considerable time under water, some of them
coming out of the water half drowned and a good deal bruised.
Captn. Hunter was a good deal hurt, and with repeated seas knock'd
off the grating, in so much that all the lookers-on feared greatly
for his letting go; but he got on shore safe, and his hurts are by
no means dangerous. Many private effects were saved, the sea
driving them on shore when thrown overboard, but 'twas not always
so courteous. Much is lost, and many escaped with nothing more
than they stood in."

Hunter and his crew were left at Norfolk Island [Sidenote: 1792]
for many weary months before a vessel could be obtained in which to send
them to England, and it was not until the end of the following March--a
year after the loss of their ship--that they sailed from Sydney in the
_Waaksamheyd_, a small Dutch _snow_.[D]

[Footnote D: A favourite rig of that period. A snow was similar to a brig,
except that she carried upon a small spar, just abaft the mainmast, a kind
of trysail, then called the spanker.]

In this miserable little vessel Hunter made a remarkable voyage home, of
which he gives an account in his book. His official letter to the
Secretary of the Admiralty, dated Portsmouth, April 23rd, 1792, tells in a
few words what sort of a passage could be m