idence for this vast resource;
but as these singular advantages could only be for a season, we
reflected, with pain, that they must have an end, and that in all
probability this would be the case before we got a relief. Fish
was generally mentioned by Governor Phillip, when speaking of
this island, as an inexhaustible resource; he also mentioned the
vast quantity of birds (tropic birds and gannets) which were to
be caught here upon the two small islands (Mount Pitt was not
then known to be the resource we have found it).

If the governor had ever been here himself, or spent a winter
upon Norfolk Island, as I have done, he certainly would not have
laid any stress upon resources so very precarious as we had found
them; and consequently not to be depended upon as a certain
advantage. I have seen the weather so stormy, and the surf so
high for near a month together, that a boat could not be launched
more than twice during that period, and then only for a few
hours; and even when they had got out, they would sometimes bring
in a hundred fish of from two to four pounds weight, and at other
times only five or six fish: so that this supply was very
uncertain and very trifling, when it was considered that we were
above 500 people.

The procurement of the birds upon the small islands was
attended with the same disadvantages, by the difficulty of
landing, from the constant surf.

In the end of May the wreck of the ship still held together,
but the beams and knees were all either broken or loose; she was
so much out of the reach of the surf when it was very heavy, that
it broke with considerable less force upon her than formerly.
Every time that the weather would admit, a few sailors were sent
on board to save whatever articles could be got at, and to send
them on shore.

Our distress did not occasion us to forget that the 4th of
June was the birth-day of our much beloved sovereign. On the
morning of this day the colours were displayed, and at noon three
vollies of musquetry were fired by the marines; as an
acknowledgment that we were Britons, who, however distant and
distressed, revered our king, and loved our country.

The seamen, having but little to do on the wreck, were now
employed in clearing ground for a garden, that they might have a
few vegetables to lengthen out their pittance of provisions.
About the middle of this month I sent some sailors on board to
see if any alteration had taken place in the wreck, that mi