blame that might otherwise be attached to the loss of his Majesty’s armed vessel[1].”
Governor King lost no time in engaging the ship Rolla, Mr. Robert Cumming commander, then lying in Sydney Cove, bound to China, to go to the rescue of the officers and men on Wreck-Reef Bank; and as Captain Flinders agreed with him, that the Cumberland colonial schooner, of 29 tons, was capable of performing the voyage to England by way of Torres’ Strait, he directed the commissary to make that vessel over to him, and to complete her from the stores of the Investigator. The Francis, another vessel of the same description, was likewise ordered to accompany the Rolla, for the purpose of receiving and bringing back those who preferred returning to Port Jackson, and as many stores as she could carry.
Every thing being prepared for his departure, Captain Flinders sailed out of the harbour on the 21st Sept. at daylight, but did not get sight of the ensign upon the top of the bank till the 7th of the following month.
“It was six weeks on this day,” says he, “since I had quitted the reef in the boat, for the purpose of seeking the means to relieve my officers and people. The bank was first seen from the Rolla’s mast head, and soon afterwards two boats were perceived under sail: advancing nearer, we saw one boat make for the Rolla, and the other returning to the bank. The Porpoise had not yet gone to pieces; but was still lying on her beam ends, high up on the reef, a frail, but impressive monument of our misfortune. In the afternoon I anchored under the lee of the bank, in 18 fathoms coral sand, and a salute of 11 guns from it was immediately fired, the carronades of the Porpoise having been transported from the wreck. * * * *
“The two boats we had seen were the Porpoise’s remaining cutter, and a new boat constructed during my absence; it was just completed, and Lieutenant Fowler had this morning gone out to try its sailing against the cutter. It was about the size of the Cumberland, had a deck, and was called the Resource.
“On the 10th, three days after our arrival, the Rolla had received the people destined for her, with part of the provisions and stores; and the Cumberland was ready to sail. * * * *
“The officers’ journals, which were to be sent to the admiralty at the conclusion of the voyage, had not been demanded at the time of our- ↑ Nav. Chron. v. 32, p. 184.
