mitted to the Home Government, orders were given to abandon the settlement; and, in willing obedience to these orders, it was abandoned on the 31st of March, 1829; the live animals, stores, plants, &c., being transferred to Raffles Bay. The Commandant, with the soldiers and volunteers, (i. e. prisoners) sailed in the barque Lucy Anne[1] for Sydney, and arrived there in safety on the 10th of June.
Although there are different opinions as to the policy of this proceeding, yet, on the whole, it may be considered judicious; as the settlement was attended with considerable expense, and unlikely to become of much importance, being, as before mentioned, entirely out of the track of the Malay proas, not one of whom had ever visited it. But it might have made some return to the mother country, especially as it abounds in various kinds of trees fit for every purpose of domestic economy, and also for ship-building, according to the
- ↑ A few days after their departure, they had a narrow escape from ship-wreck, as may be evident from the following extract of a letter from the commander of the Lucy Anne:—"On the 11th, expecting next morning to make Carter's Island, and the night being fine, with a light air, we continued under easy sail, going from one to two knots, with orders to call me, if any soundings at midnight; when, about half-past one in the morning, we ran ashore on a sandy part of a reef. It being fortunately smooth bottom, and little or no swell, so that she seldom beat, and that pretty easy, we had her afloat and at anchor in four and a half fathoms, and a second out in six fathoms, before daylight; at which period, a slight breeze rising, we cast with a spring, and stood off north-east, and at daybreak saw an Island with little shrubs, about five or six miles, apparently the centre of the reef."
