.jpg?w=1)
Details
CAPTAIN JOHN SHORTLAND, R.N. (1769-1810)
Autograph letter signed ('J.no Shortland') to Viscount Sydney, HMS Reliance, Sydney Cove, 19 August 1797, 7 pages, 4, giving his views on the development of the COLONY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, referring to the arrival at Port Jackson of George Bass with specimens of coal which he had collected ('this Coal is about 30 or 40 miles to the southward of this Harbour [...] an excursion [...] is fix'd on by the Governor in a very short time, when that place will be particularly examined'); reporting the discovery by Bass of the skeletons of the mate and carpenter of the Sydney Cove [a ship which left Bengal in November 1796 for Port Jackson and was wrecked off Preservation Island], the results of Bass's enquiries about their fate, ('he was inform'd by the Natives about there that they were kill'd by Black Men who lived further to the southward') and the arrival at Port Jackson of the survivors.
Shortland describes the difficulties of his own journey to and from the Cape of Good Hope in Reliance in early 1797 to buy stock and provisions for the colony,
"At length we [...] received [...] for the Colony [...] 40 Cows, 3 Bulls, 6 Cow Calves and 96 sheep, from which numbers [...] we landed [at Port Jackson] (after the Animals being on B[oar]d 104 days) 30 Cows, 3 Bulls, 7 Cow Calves, and 78 Sheep for Breeding, from the produce of the latter we landed 11 Lambs which nearly made up for the loss of 18 Sheep; the Supply brought nearly the same number of Horned Cattle, but not near the quantity of Sheep'.
Shortland gives an account of his visit to HMS Supply which had been condemned as unseaworthy after the return to Port Jackson from the Cape ('I assure you I never saw so compleat a mass of dirt, it is really surprising how she reach'd this Port'), describes the chance discovery by Lieutenant William Kent of HMS Supply of the foremast of the longboat of HMS Reliance at Port Stephens which had perished with the loss of six sailors ('the men therefore from every circumstance must have perish'd in the water. We had some Idea at their being first miss'd that they had deserted with the Boat, but we are now perfectly satisfied it never cou'd have been their intention so to do') and gives news of Bennelong ('Our friend [...] is still with us, but very often runs into the woods, he attends regularly the Battles of the Natives and very often takes a part himself").
WRITTEN DURING SHORTLAND'S SECOND TOUR OF DUTY IN NEW SOUTH WALES TO THE MINISTER AFTER WHOM THE CITY OF SYDNEY WAS NAMED.
Shortland came from a distinguished naval family. He was the elder son of Commander John Shortland (1739-1803) who was appointed naval agent to the transports of the First Fleet and commanded the first squadron to reach Botany Bay; on his return journey Shortland discovered and charted many islands and reefs. John Shortland, the younger, entered the Royal Navy in 1781. His father secured his appointment in 1787 as master's mate in HMS Sirius when the First Fleet sailed for New South Wales and he remained in the colony for nearly five years. In 1794 Shortland returned to New South Wales with the newly appointed Governor John Hunter as first lieutenant in HMS Reliance. In this capacity he was too busy to join his shipmates, Bass and Flinders, in their expeditions but on 9 September 1797 while on his way to Port Stephens in pursuit of some convicts he entered the estuary of the Hunter River. During his brief stay Shortland named the river, made the first chart of the harbour and collected some samples of coal. Shortland left New South Wales for Europe in Reliance in 1800.
Shortland describes in this letter the introduction or discovery of the two resources upon which the prosperity of the colony of New South Wales was founded: the merino sheep which he, together with Waterhouse (see next lot) and Kent, purchased on their journey to the Cape (from the widow of Colonel Gordon who had introduced them from Europe) and the discovery of coal. The merinos which were among the sheep listed in this letter were the first to be introduced into the colony.
In a despatch from Governor Hunter to the Duke of Portland dated Sydney 10 January 1798, the following passage occurs: 'A small river [the Hunter] has been lately discovered by a boat I had occasion to send northward in pursuit of the deserters; it is about sixty-five miles from this part; on its south shore and near the water a considerable quantity of coal was discovered, and specimens were brought hither [...] There was a considerable quantity of coal discovered to the southward of this harbour [referred to by Bass, who had beeen sent by Hunter to investigate the claim by survivors of the wreck of the Sydney Cove that they had found coal], and I directed it to be examined; specimens were accordingly brought, which I sent to Sir Joseph Banks by the last China ship' [Historical Records of New South Wales, III, 1895, p.347].
Autograph letter signed ('J.
Shortland describes the difficulties of his own journey to and from the Cape of Good Hope in Reliance in early 1797 to buy stock and provisions for the colony,
"At length we [...] received [...] for the Colony [...] 40 Cows, 3 Bulls, 6 Cow Calves and 96 sheep, from which numbers [...] we landed [at Port Jackson] (after the Animals being on B[oar]d 104 days) 30 Cows, 3 Bulls, 7 Cow Calves, and 78 Sheep for Breeding, from the produce of the latter we landed 11 Lambs which nearly made up for the loss of 18 Sheep; the Supply brought nearly the same number of Horned Cattle, but not near the quantity of Sheep'.
Shortland gives an account of his visit to HMS Supply which had been condemned as unseaworthy after the return to Port Jackson from the Cape ('I assure you I never saw so compleat a mass of dirt, it is really surprising how she reach'd this Port'), describes the chance discovery by Lieutenant William Kent of HMS Supply of the foremast of the longboat of HMS Reliance at Port Stephens which had perished with the loss of six sailors ('the men therefore from every circumstance must have perish'd in the water. We had some Idea at their being first miss'd that they had deserted with the Boat, but we are now perfectly satisfied it never cou'd have been their intention so to do') and gives news of Bennelong ('Our friend [...] is still with us, but very often runs into the woods, he attends regularly the Battles of the Natives and very often takes a part himself").
WRITTEN DURING SHORTLAND'S SECOND TOUR OF DUTY IN NEW SOUTH WALES TO THE MINISTER AFTER WHOM THE CITY OF SYDNEY WAS NAMED.
Shortland came from a distinguished naval family. He was the elder son of Commander John Shortland (1739-1803) who was appointed naval agent to the transports of the First Fleet and commanded the first squadron to reach Botany Bay; on his return journey Shortland discovered and charted many islands and reefs. John Shortland, the younger, entered the Royal Navy in 1781. His father secured his appointment in 1787 as master's mate in HMS Sirius when the First Fleet sailed for New South Wales and he remained in the colony for nearly five years. In 1794 Shortland returned to New South Wales with the newly appointed Governor John Hunter as first lieutenant in HMS Reliance. In this capacity he was too busy to join his shipmates, Bass and Flinders, in their expeditions but on 9 September 1797 while on his way to Port Stephens in pursuit of some convicts he entered the estuary of the Hunter River. During his brief stay Shortland named the river, made the first chart of the harbour and collected some samples of coal. Shortland left New South Wales for Europe in Reliance in 1800.
Shortland describes in this letter the introduction or discovery of the two resources upon which the prosperity of the colony of New South Wales was founded: the merino sheep which he, together with Waterhouse (see next lot) and Kent, purchased on their journey to the Cape (from the widow of Colonel Gordon who had introduced them from Europe) and the discovery of coal. The merinos which were among the sheep listed in this letter were the first to be introduced into the colony.
In a despatch from Governor Hunter to the Duke of Portland dated Sydney 10 January 1798, the following passage occurs: 'A small river [the Hunter] has been lately discovered by a boat I had occasion to send northward in pursuit of the deserters; it is about sixty-five miles from this part; on its south shore and near the water a considerable quantity of coal was discovered, and specimens were brought hither [...] There was a considerable quantity of coal discovered to the southward of this harbour [referred to by Bass, who had beeen sent by Hunter to investigate the claim by survivors of the wreck of the Sydney Cove that they had found coal], and I directed it to be examined; specimens were accordingly brought, which I sent to Sir Joseph Banks by the last China ship' [Historical Records of New South Wales, III, 1895, p.347].