In my communication to the Admiralty in June, 1818 from Timor, I had mentioned the necessity of a medical man being attached to the vessel; and upon my last return I found one had arrived with an appointment to the Mermaid; but, to my great mortification, he was unable to join, from being afflicted with mental derangement which continued so long and so severely that I was under the necessity of sending him back to England.  We had now every prospect of encountering a third voyage without the assistance of a surgeon.  Hitherto we had been fortunate in not having materially suffered from the want of so valuable an officer; but it was scarcely probable we could expect to continue upon such a service much longer without severe sickness.  As any assistance therefore was preferable to none, I accepted the proffered services of a young man who was strongly recommended by his Excellency the Governor, and he was on the point of joining me, when a surgeon of the navy, Mr. James Hunter, who had just arrived in charge of a convict ship, volunteered his services which were gladly accepted, and he was immediately attached to the Mermaid’s establishment.

The accession of a surgeon to our small party relieved me of a greater weight of anxiety than I can describe; and when it is considered that Mr. Hunter left an employment of a much more lucrative nature to join an arduous service in a vessel whose only cabin was scarcely large enough to contain our mess-table, and which afforded neither comfort nor convenience of any description, I may be allowed here to acknowledge my thanks for the sacrifice he made.

After all our defects were repaired, and we were otherwise quite ready for sea, we were detained nearly a month before our crew was completed.

June 14.

And it was not until the 14th of June that we left Port Jackson.

For a day or two previous to our departure the weather had been very unsettled; and when we sailed, there was every appearance of an approaching gale of wind:  we had however been detained so long in collecting a crew that I was glad to sail the moment we were ready:  besides I hoped to get to the northward before the threatening storm commenced.  Unfortunately however we had no sooner put to sea than it set in; and by the time we were abreast of Smoky Cape the wind, after flying about, fixed itself in the eastern board, and blew extremely hard with thick weather and heavy rain.

June 20 to 22.

The gale lasted with little intermission during the 20th and 21st; and at four o’clock the next morning we had the misfortune to lose our bowsprit by the vessel’s plunging into a head sea.  We had however made a sufficient offing to enable us to keep away two points, so that, by rigging the wreck of the bowsprit, which was barely long enough to spread the storm jib, we contrived to steer a course we had every reason to think would carry her clear of Port Stevens.  We continued to run to the southward until the afternoon, when, supposing we had passed that port, we bore away to the South-West.  At midnight the gale fell, and the wind changed to the westward.