ld not
expect to find every advantage combined in one vessel that was necessary
for the purpose of surveying, the latter objection was of necessity
overruled; and being in every other respect superior to the Lady Nelson,
and requiring no repairs, she was eventually purchased for the sum of
2000 pounds sterling, and immediately appropriated to my use.

A schooner would have been much more convenient; but, as there was no
opportunity of making such an alteration, it could not be effected. My
statement of the arrangements that were requisite for our accommodation
was approved of by the Governor, who gave the necessary orders to the
Engineer, a captain of the forty-sixth regiment; and the Deputy
Commissary General was instructed to attend to all my demands, and to
supply the requisite quantities of provisions and stores; but,
notwithstanding every wish on the part of His Excellency to forward our
outfit and complete the vessel for sea without delay, it was not until
the 21st of December that the alterations were finished. Had we met with
as much opposition and inattention from the commissariat department as
from the engineer, the vessel would not have been ready for sea for six
months; it is, however, a duty I owe to Deputy Commissary General Allan,
to acknowledge the readiness with which that officer's department
attended to my wants.

The following is a list of the officers and men who formed the crew of
the Mermaid:--

Commander:
Lieutenant Phillip Parker King.

Master's mates, 2:
Mr. Frederick Bedwell.
Mr. John Septimus Roe.

Botanical collector:
Mr. Allan Cunningham.

Seamen, 12.

Boys, 2.

Total, 18.

In addition to this establishment, I accepted the proffered services of
Boongaree, a Port Jackson native, who had formerly accompanied Captain
Flinders in the Investigator, and also on a previous occasion in the
Norfolk schooner. This man is well known in the colony as the chief of
the Broken Bay tribe; he was about forty-five years of age, of a sharp,
intelligent, and unassuming disposition, and promised to be of much
service to us in our intercourse with the natives: this addition made our
number amount to nineteen, for which we carried provisions for nine
months, and twelve weeks' water.

...

VOYAGES FOR THE SURVEY

OF THE

INTERTROPICAL COASTS

OF

AUSTRALIA.

CHAPTER 1.
Intended mode of proceeding, and departure from Port Jackson.
Visit Twofold Bay.
Natives seen.
Passage through B