fugitive was found lying at the foot of a rock on the west shore of the bay. From the ship's side he had been seen trying to climb the steep rocks, and at every attempt falling back exhausted, bruised and bleeding.
A boat, with armed searchers, rowed towards the spot. The convict made desperate attempts to get out of his pursuers' reach, and the people on the ships watched the scene as from the 'front of the house'—a gallery audience. The poor wretch was taken at the muzzle of a levelled musket. A flogging and heavy leg irons was all he got out of his dash for liberty.
Here is a story of another kind. The seamen of one of the transports clubbed together and handed their metal spoons to a 'coiner' among the prisoners. The fellow turned the spoons into good imitations of the silver dollars of the Brazils, and the sailors tried to pass the counterfeit money. At the first attempt the fraud was detected, and the sailors, to save themselves, confessed. Their grog was stopped, and the coiner was flogged.
The fleet stayed a week at Teneriffe exchanging courtesies with the Governor of the island, and receiving on board fresh provisions and water. On the 5th of August the ships reached Rio de Janeiro, where Phillip took in a great quantity of stores, including 10,000 musket balls.
From Rio he wrote several letters to Lord Sydney
