contraband cargo. The Governor wrote home in reference to this in November 1791, to the Commissioners of the Navy, as follows:—
'Having been informed that there were great quantities of cordage, copper, lead and iron on board the Albemarle, Active, Admiral Barrington and Queen transports, the masters of those ships were sent for, and from the master of the Albemarle an account was received of what they admitted to have been put on board by the owners, which they say was done after Government had sent all the stores and provisions which were intended for the colony, and that they had never declared their ships full. A copy of the account received from the master of the Albemarle is enclosed, but which can be but a very small part of what those ships have brought out: a copy of the masters' declaration as to their having never declared their ships full is likewise enclosed.
'The great inconvenience attending the want of limestone has been pointed out: and if it was necessary for those ships to bring ballast, limestone might have been put on board, and would have been easily changed for the stone of this country, and which I hope the Board will order to be done on any future occasion.'
It must be admitted that Phillip's time was pretty well occupied in the serious duties of his office, and that in a colony where the Governor had to devise means to feed his people, to see that ships arriving
