SHIPS FOR ENGLAND. Despatches sent in tripUcate. Bouteto England— 1788 show ttemselves until it had been carried to a point w&ich 10 July, he had neyer contemplated when drafting his ideas on the subject. The ships were now nearly ready for sea, and Phillip wrote final letters to Sydney and Nepean a few days before they sailed. In one to the Under Secretary, he mentions that he had sent three copies of his despaptcHes by difiEerent ships^-^the object being to ensure not only the safety, but the earliest possible delivery, of his corre- spondence. When he wrote by different ships, he was always under a doubt as to whether " the letter last written might not be the first received." There was no means in those days of calculating, with any degree of accuracy, tiie probable time of a ship's arrival in England. As these ships were the first to undertake a voyage from Port Jackson to England, the route by which they were to go became a question of great importance, as well as interest, to all concerned ; and Phillip accordingly took the opinions of the masters on the subject. Of the different routes before them, the southern one by Van Diemen's Land was condemned because the season was too far advanced, while the passage by Cape Horn was objected to by the Governor. It was therefore agreed that they should go to the northward, either through Endeavour Straits — cbs they were then called — or round New Guinea ; although such a course would involve "exploring a passage through an unknown sea perplexed with islands, by men destitute of charts or observations of former navigators.*** By the Alexander, under the care of Liexitenant Shortland, agent for the transports, I have sent despatches for the Right Honourable the Lord Sydney and for yourself, with a rough survey Desptitohes. of Port Jackson. Duplicates of these despatches go by the Friendship under the care of Lieutenant Collins, of the marines^ triplicates of most by the master of the Borrowdale, and a quad- «{tfGape Hon condemned ; md Torres Straits adopted.
- Phillip's Voyage, p. 185. The voyage of the Alexander through the
Straits was considered a matter of so much importance, frcsm a nantioal point of view, that a full account of it» with a chart showing the ship's track to Batavia, was pablished in that work, pp. 186-219. Digitized by Google
