It rapidly became clear that the location chosen for the
settlement was not ideal.
One of the main difficulties was the scarcity of fresh
water. A survey of the area was made and the unfavourable report soon prompted
Collins and the other members of the expedition to consider abandoning the
place in favour of ‘a more eligible situation’, either to Port Dalrymple on the
north side of Van Diemen’s Land or to the river Derwent on the south coast of
the same island where a small party from Port Jackson was already established.
The crew of the HMS Calcutta, including James Caithness,
were meanwhile busily employed collecting ship-timber to be taken back to England . This
is a reminder that war against Napoleon was about to erupt once more and every
British ship afloat would need to be fit for action, so Calcutta’s task was of
great importance and Captain Woodriff was well aware that speed was of the essence.
It was finally decided to move the infant colony to the
Derwent and this was partly accomplished before the Calcutta sailed on 18 December. The name Hobart was given to the new settlement.
Mount Nelson near Hobart |
HMS Calcutta took on timber at Port Jackson and sailed again
on 17 March 1804, passing south of New Zealand which was sighted on 29
March.
Calcutta doubled Cape Horn on 27 April, arriving atRio de Janeiro 22 May, thus, as Tuckey
pointed out, ‘accomplishing a voyage round the world, discharging and receiving
a cargo, in eleven months’. He reports:
Sydney Cove, Port Jackson, where Calcutta loaded 600 logs destined for England's shipyards |
Calcutta doubled Cape Horn on 27 April, arriving at
The remainder of the Calcutta 's
voyage was almost totally barren of incident, either to amuse or instruct. In the long navigation
between New Zealand and Cape Horn , scarce a single incident occurred either to
interest the seaman, or the naturalist.Throughout this navigation, the wind
seldom deviated to the northward of N. W. or to the southward of S. W. with strong gales,
which enabled us to make an average of one hundred and eighty miles a-day
for twenty nine days.
At Rio de Janeiro they took
on water and all on board must have echoed Tuckey’s fervently-expressed wish to
‘see the shores which custom and reason bid us hail as the happiest of our
globe’: in short, they sailed for home on 1 June. The end of one chapter for
James Caithness and further adventures awaited him in the next.
Panorama: Greater Hobart |
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