"Governor Ready" (built there) having spoiled her cargo was a circumstance not to be overlooked, and therefore she was unjustly singled out as an unsafe and unseaworthy vessel[1].
Thus circumstanced, Captain Young made up his mind to proceed to Batavia. This change was not altogether agreeable to me, having on a former occasion suffered much both from shipwreck and disease, near and at the Island of Java; but I made up my mind not to leave the ship, and it required some effort on my part to persevere in this resolution, as I was solicited to embark in the "Mermaid," (commanded by an old friend and mess-mate of mine, Captain Henniker,) which was on the point of sailing for England direct, via Cape Horn.
At daylight on the 2d of April we got under weigh, and gliding down the river, under the influence of a stiff breeze, Hobart Town and its singularly romantic environs soon receded from our view. As the wind was blowing strongly from the westward, we proposed going through D'Entrecasteaux's channel, so that, should
- ↑ We were obliged to put in at the Cape of Good Hope to get the damage of the ship repaired. The day previous to our leaving Table Bay, two ships, (British built I believe,) the "Mellish" and "Ferguson," reached there in a sad plight, having been dismasted on the same day, by the same gale, within a few miles of us. The ship "Woodlark" foundered this year in nearly the same place, lat. 28°. 8'. S. long. 52°. 40'. E. and within two days of the same time, February 11th, having encountered the same kind of weather that we did. Had the "Woodlark" been as staunch as the "Governor Ready," she might, in like manner, have weathered out the gale.
