tbouglit appearB, in the account (of Collins) that it was *' a melancholj althou|L;jli natural reflection that, had not such numbers died both in the passage and since the landing of those who survived the %oyage, we should not at this moment have had anything to reoeiire from the public stores : thus strangely did we derive a benefit from the miseries of our fellow-creatures! The arrival of the AthintiCt however, on the 20th Ma3% wuth rice and inferior flom% raised the drooping spirits of the colonists; and on tJie 26th July, the Britannia, with a large supply of beef and pork, flour, and clothing, enabled Plhllip to raise the ration until further orders, and to relieve the sufferers at Norfolk Island. PhilHp wrote to King (Aug. 1791} :^^
- ' When the Atlantic arrived we had only tbh'teen days'
tlour and forty-five days' of maize in store, at one and a- half pounds flour, and four and a-half pounds maize per man for seven days/' A scale of increased ration spread general joy throughout the colony. In Sept* 1791, Phillip was comforted by the return of his confidential envoy, King, w^ho had conferred with, and brought despatches from, the Secretary of State- Having left Sytlney in April 1790, in the Suppli^, he sailed in a Dutcli packet from Bat a via m August, The master and all but four of the crew were struck down by fever, and King, compelling the convalescent to sleep on deck, navigated the vessel to the Mauritius, Only four of the twenty-six who left Batavia were able to leave the Mauritius. Touching at the Cape of Good Hope, King was able in December, ofl' Beaehy Head, to make signals for '^ a boat, which came off, and denmnfled forty guineas for setting rae on sliore, which was reduced to seventeen, for which I was put on shore with great difficulty at Dungeness lighthouse 19th December, and on the 21st I arrived in London and delivered the despatches" (King to Nepean). Phillip's conduct was highly commended. King was specially appointed Lt.*Governor of Norfolk Island," '" Kin^ wi'oUi from Norfolk Islaiul that a convict ilierl 20th July, 179*2, after Biirteiiiig iaexpreesiblti tonneiits, from eating his week'a aUovvance in one ineal, Ah«r this a regulation wa» inu.de to issue the allowsiDGe twice in the week, 0r3 others had been aiinilarly voracious. " Kind's naval promotion, about which Phillip waa anxious, followed in J'9L I I I
