the expedition. The trial in Sydney Harbour was thus described in the "Sydney Morning Herald" of 7th August:—
"About two months ago Her Majesty's High Commissioner for New Guinea, Sir Peter Scratchley, chartered the A. S. N. Company's steamer 'Governor Blackall,' in which to visit the different parts of the new colony over which he has been appointed to act as the Queen's representative; and on her arrival in Sydney she was taken over to the Company's works, and altered and improved in her internal fittings to such an extent as to give her the appearance of a new ship. Yesterday the steamer was taken for a trial trip, and the result was regarded as in every way highly satisfactory. She cast off from the A.S.N. Company's wharf at about a quarter to eleven, and proceeded down the harbour and outside the Heads for a distance of several miles, the speed attained when covering the measured mile being equal to eleven knots per hour. As the day was beautifully fine, with a gentle 'north-easter,' the trip was greatly enjoyed by the company present, among whom were Messrs. Cruickshank (chief Government engineer-surveyor), A. B. Portus (superintendent of dredges), Gray (Mort's Dock), Captain Vine Hall, Dr. Glanville, and others.
"There was but one opinion among the the company as to the suitability of the steamer for the work in which she is to be engaged, also in reference to the exceedingly comfortable, even luxurious manner in which she has been fitted out. The 'Governor Blackall' is a most attractive looking vessel of 487 tons gross register, and was built from designs supplied by Mr. Norman Selfe by Mort's Dock and Engineering Company, in 1871, to the order of the Queensland Government, who employed her for some years in conveying the mails along the coast of that colony. She then came into the possession of the Australasian Steam Navigation Company, and has been running in the coastal trade of Queensland ever since. About five years ago the Company went to the expense of providing her with new engines and boilers, which, with the other parts of the ship, have been carefully overhauled and put in first class order, so that yesterday the machinery worked very smoothly and without the lightest hitch of any kind. On the 1st of July last the
