Whilst we were repairing the defects, H.M.

store-ship Dromedary arrived from England and brought us a selection of stores, for the want of which we should otherwise have been detained many months.
By this ship orders were received from the Admiralty to rig the cutter with rope manufactured from the New Zealand hemp (Phormium tenax) but there was a considerable difficulty in procuring enough even for a boom-sheet.

This specimen was prepared by a rope-maker of the colony, and the result of the trial has fully justified the good opinion previously formed of its valuable qualities.
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.