In Memory Of La Perouse.

It is to the Sydney Cove aforesaid and a visit she paid to Stewart Island in 1810, three years after her gang is reported to have been seized by the natives, we are indebted for the discovery of a wreck at the South Cape. An impression prevailed that it afforded a solution of the mystery which hangs round the fate of the unfortunate French navigator De la Perouse. We now know he could not have been wrecked at Stewart Island. Still, it is possible the wreckage referred to was part of his equipment. He was shaping for New Zealand when last heard of, and the discovery supports the theory that he may have looked in at the island en route. An old volume, dated 1789, long since out of print, in the possession of W. Legrand, book collector, Collins street, Melbourne, gives the following account of La Perouse in these seas:—…. While the squadron was under weigh from Botany Bay to Jackson's Port two strange sails appeared, with their hulls just in view, and soon after Governor Phillip landed at Sydney Cove he was waited upon by a party bearing the French flag. These ships proved to be two French frigates, which sailed from Europe, August, 1785, under command of Mons. De La Perouse, on a voyage of discoveries to the South Seas. They were in some distress for stores and provisions, but the Governor could not contribute much to their relief. However, they remained five weeks in Botany Bay, and during that time visits were continually reciprocally made, as the distance from that place to Sydney Cove was but 10 miles overland.

The account of the wreckage found by the Sydney Cove is dated December 8, 1826, signed by one W. Nicholls, described as the ship's mate, and is for the information of the Commandant at Hobart Town:—"On the 8th of January, 1810, I was sent on shore with several other men from the ship Sydney Cove, Captain Charles M'Larren, at the South Cape of New Zealand, in order to procure seal skins. After leaving the vessel I made towards the shore, and was page 100some distance from it when it began to blow a gale of wind directly off the shore. This forced us to go into a bay near the Cape, contrary to my wish, as I had passed it before, and saw that it was iron-bound, having no beach. I proceeded to the north-west of this bay to procure the best shelter I could, and found, to my great surprise, an inlet. At the end of the inlet there was a pebbly beach, where we had hauled up our boat for the night. The next morning one of my men told me he had found a mast near the beach. I went to look at it, and found it to be a ship's topmast of a very large size. It was very sound, but to all appearances had lain in the water a long time. It was full of turpentine, which, of course, had preserved it. As I was compelled by contrary winds to remain in this inlet three days I had time narrowly to examine the mast. I measured it, and found its length 64ft from the heel to the upper part of the cheeks. The head had been broken off close to the cheeks. There were two lignum vitæ sheaves near the heel, which I took out. Each of these sheaves was 16 inches in diameter; had an iron pin, two round brass plates a quarter of an inch thick, and four small iron bolts or rivets, which went through the sheaves and the two brass plates to secure them. I have been some years in the British Navy, and am well assured that this bushing was not English. On taking off the plates from the sheaves I found inside the plates 'No. 32,' which was without doubt the number of the vessel the mast belonged to. Every ship in the British Navy is numbered, and I doubt not it is the case in other countries. When the ship came for me and any men I informed Captain M'Larren about the mast. He looked at the work, and gave it as his opinion that the bushing was French. He observed that he did not know of any vessel that was ever lost on that coast that required a topmast of that size except the Endeavour, which was towed into Dusky Bay, and everything that belonged to her got on shore. I am inclined to think that this topmast belonged to the vessel in which Admiral De la Perouse sailed, and which was never heard of a month after she left Botany Bay, at the time Governor Phillip was about forming a settlement at the place. It was known that he shaped his course for New Zealand, and it is very likely he may have been lost on a very dangerous double reef called 'The Traps,' which is about 20 miles out to sea, nearly apposite to where I found the mast. 'The Traps' were not charted when De la Perouse was on discovery. The Sydney Cove was nearly lost on them one night, and I understand Mr Kelly, harbourmaster at Sydney, had also nearly fallen a victim on them. I had almost forgotten to say that, at Captain M'Larren's request, I gave him the sheaves of the mast to carry them to Europe; but as the ship he sailed in was confiscated at Rio de Janeiro it is probable they may have been lost. Captain M'Larren is still sailing out of Rio, and it is very likely he has some memorandum which will corroborate this statement of mine, the greatest part of which I have taken from my log." The Colonial Times (Hobart Town), December 8, 1826, commenting thereon, writes:—It appears more than likely the mast discovered in New Zealand was part of the wreck of La Boussole, in which De la Perouse sailed, especially when we consider his being about to proceed to that coast where the mast was found when the last tidings were heard of him. The question appears now to rest upon the No. 32, which, if the number of La Boussole proves the identity of the mast beyond a doubt, at all events it leaves room for much conjecture, which can only be confirmed or refuted by proving who the vessel No. 32 belongs to and which has been lost in these seas. April 13, 1827, the same journal writes:— Hitherto the inquiries made after De la Perouse have only furnished negative testimony to many of the suppositions as to his fate. However, in this they have been in some measure satisfactory, as they have clearly proved that he has not been lost at those places already explored. The idea of the vessel being entangled in the icy seas of the south is wholly incompatible with his plan; and had he been lost in the gale off the Isles of Prance, which occurred in 1788, he would probably have been heard of previously in the intermediate ports of his route. The long forgotten supposition that these navigators had perished page 101on the coast of New Zealand may have been in some measure revived by the circumstances of a large topmast being found nearly opposite The Traps on that coast, as related by Mr Nicholls, in December last. However, it is not impossible this mast may have belonged to one of the French frigates, and yet these frigates lost among the Malicolo Islands; for the portions of a wreck will sometimes drift immense distances by the violence of the currents. A further confirmation of the idea of Captain Dillon is the story conveyed by Admiral Manby to Paris, and republished in the Asiatic Journal of October, 1825, of a whaler having found vestiges of La Perouse, such as French swords, medals, and a Cross of St. Louis, at some island between New Caledonia and New Guinea. It is true that this nameless island was stated to be exactly halfway between New Guinea and New Caledonia; but as neither latitude nor longitude are any other than an average position ascribed to it, there is an equal probability of its being one of the Malicolo Islands as any other. Shortly afterward Captain Dillon, in the Research, settled the question in the affirmative. His ship's surgeon—Dr Griffith—furnishes a long narrative of the voyage, printed in the Asiatic Journal. From Sydney the Research proceeded direct to the Bay of Islands, where certain repairs to the vessel were completed. From New Zealand she proceeded to the Friendly Islands. She then went on to the Solomon Island, touching first at Tucopia. There Captain Dillon found the handle of a sword guard, identified as belonging to La Perouse's party. Thence he proceeded to Malicolo, a few hours' sail distant, where he found the relics alluded to. That, of course, is accepted as conclusive evidence of the fate of our unfortunate Frenchman and his expeditionaries.

Another narrative-discovery, related incidentally by Dr Griffith, gives the voyage further significance in relation to Southern New Zealand. Early in 1827 a little vessel belonging to one Captain Walker, at anchor in the Derwent, was piratically seized by a gang of convict labourers and carried off. Walker was the only man of the crew aboard at the time. Getting outside, the pirates sent him adrift in an open boat. He made the land, but before he had time to give the alarm they got well off with their prize. Some months afterwards they were heard of in Dusky Bay, from whence they carried on a good deal of lawless operations around the coast. They found their way to Tucopia, where they still were when the Research arrived. The Ellen had been broken up by the natives for the sake of her ironwork.