Before the financial bust of 1772: Quarantines against convicts: A family uproar: Legal commentary from Blackstone: Colonial political feeling rises: Death again in Campbell's household: Capt. Cook in the Pacific:

 

The Blackheath Connection

Chapter 12

 

Before the financial bust of 1772:

 

     Some Australian historians have taken the view that in 1772, the colonial demand for convict labour had become so strong, transporting convicts became so popular with merchants, government was able with little protest to stop paying the bounty of £5 for each felon transported. Shaw suggests, "The demand for convict labour in the plantations was so high that in 1772 the Treasury was able to stop paying its five pounds subsidy, though contractors were for a time still able to persuade local authorities to pay." (Shaw also says more convicts in 1772 were being sent into the navy). ([1]) We can be more cynical here. In 1772 was a financial bust in London that meant British merchants would have been glad of any little extra. It seems the Treasury ceased to pay the bounty due to financial stringency because of the bust. The lead-up to the situation needs to be detailed.

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     The connections between JS&C, colonial society and other matters have not yet been tidied. For example, Tayloe's son Benjamin Ogle Tayloe had a town house, the Octagon, in Washington. It is possible that Tayloe's unusual middle name, Ogle, had some link with the name of a ship Ogle ([2]) as follows. By 1750, the then-American tobacco dealer James Russell owned a 300-ton ship, Ogle. Thomas Lee, of the "revolutionary family" Lee, was a trading partner with Colonel Tayloe and Anthony Strother. Meanwhile, a  deal of information about the tobacco trade between London, Virginia and Maryland can be ranged around Campbell and his associates

 

    In 1767 was passed An Act for the more speedy and effectual transportation of offenders, 1767, Act 8 Geo III, c.15. ([3]) A ship departing England in January 1767 was Tryal, Capt. John Somervell for America; ([4]) it is not known if this Somerville was also a Campbell relative of Campbell, although he probably was. JS&C's Thornton  departed England in May 1767 with Capt. Chris Reed for American [Coldham's listings]. ([5]) According to Coldham's lists, men named Reed had captained convict ships since the early 1730s.

 

     Other connections surface. John Kidd was a merchant of Philadelphia, at Norfolk. ([6]) He may have been related to a JS&C captain, Kid, or, Kidd, who from 1767 to 1775 often sailed Thornton, making eight trips, carrying more than 1100 convicts to Virginia and Maryland. ([7]) Two agents named Ringold (Ringgold), Thomas and William, worked for contractors, selling felons in Maryland (for JS&C) from 1767. ([8]) The Ringolds have been quoted as saying that 600 convicts had been introduced into Maryland annually for the previous 30 years. ([9]) Another agent selling  convict labour in the colonies, though never connected with JS&C, was Harry Piper, who worked for the Whitehaven contractors, Dixon and Littledale, who were probably also importing tobacco. ([10]) (As for a triviality of available information on some colonial correspondents of convict contractors .... On 27 February, 1767, Landon Carter had nine loaves left of 90 loaves of sugar sent by Stewart and Campbell, which had been opened in December 1766.) ([11])

 

*      *      *

 

     Campbell's letter to his brother-in-law John, Saltspring, of 14 February, 1767 about the death of a female relative may be unique in domestic letter-writing of the eighteenth century, certainly amongst letters exchanged between males of a certain class. Death amongst his loved ones affected Campbell considerably; so much one deeply wonders again, why and how he managed a trade which tore people from their homeland and sent them abroad. The older woman relative dying in Campbell's house was perhaps even Rebecca's mother, Peachy. ([12]) (Her proper name may have been Patronella?) Duncan took pains to convey something of her last moments to Rebecca's brother and family on Jamaica. Campbell had a good education, true, but a good education does not necessarily produce the ability or the desire to write a moving passage in a letter, a passage designed solely to enable an absent relative some access to the experience of awe and melancholy tenderness one may feel at the death bed of a loved one. With one letter to John Saltspring, Duncan revealed an undeniable generosity of soul, and considerable tenderness.

 

Campbell Letter 5:

by the Jupiter Capt Iain

Dear Broth

          Since my last of the 3 Nov.er I have received your two letters of 29 Augt & 5 Octr. The Melancholy  .... of Capt John's Death I had heard before your letter came to hand. The many & repeated Examples one has of the losses of friends & Relations ought to be Sufficient to prepare & fortifie us with Resolution to support our Selves under the Will of Divine providence whenever it is pleased to Visit us with afflictions of that Sort. I am sure my family for some Months past have had in that Respect, & it is with the Greatest Concern I must Acquaint you with a Event of it. Poor Peachy has for a long While been in a Declining Way Though not so much as to Raise any fears in us of Immediate Danger & I was flattering myself that the Spring so Nigh At hand with proper Exercise would have been a means of Nurturing her to health and strength. But the 27 or 28 of last Month when I was at Gravesend Despatching Jack Somerville who now commands a Ship for us she was taken Suddenly Ill as soon as I heard of it I ....... Consequence as I was afraid her weak state could not Support any new Descender The Phisician who attended confirmed in my fears she was in little or no pain after the first two days her greatest complaint was a Shortness of Breath & pain in the Side, which was following with a purging to Remove .... both of which you May be Sure Everything was done & with some Success but her weak State & disgust of taking any type of food or Medecine Occasiond her Wasting Daylie till the 5 of this Month at 4 oclock in the Morning When Without pain or fear She Resigned herself to his hands Who gave her life. I never Saw a Nobler Instance of the Consequences of an Innocent and Virtuous life. She knew herself dying & Turned Inwards at the approaching Summons to her Eternal happiness. She went of with a Smile & was perfectly Sensible & Spoke till within 15 minutes of her Death, which came on so gradually that the Phisician & myself were at a loss for five minutes to know Whether She was gone or not I buried her on the 12 in the most Decent and genteel Way. In Mr Somervilles vault .... I need not tell you what Distress her poor Sisters Were in on this Occasion their affection to Each other Manner of living together will best Express that Poor Mrs Campbell who had been for a long distressed .... at home has been very Ailing Ever Since She is now Drinking the Milk for a Most Obstinate Cough and I think it has don her Some Service. I have taken Debie & douglass home to my house Where they Shall now Remain it is their desire to do so & it shall be their own fault if they are not happy with me. Debie I think has held out better than I expected as She has been a long while Ailing Douglass feels this stroke Much & I hope it will be a Means of turning her thoughts to More Solid Enjoyments than those her Mind seems formerly bent upon. Ever Since My Last my girls Inform She has altered her behaviour for the better in a large Degree. I am sure She has most Excellent Examples in her sisters however As I would wish to Secure her against all Dangers I would still advise you to follow the hint I gave you by Neil Somerville but of this your own judgement will direct & I submit Debie Shall Stay with me she will be a noble ..... for My Children to Copy & from what I understand She declines the thought of going to Jamaica. While the other Would probably thus it & I make No Doubt but in a Short Time Might Make a Very Desireable Connection. I was extremely Glad to be Informed by our Attorney in Virginia that Mr Campbell had told him he was making Ready with all .....for a Voyage to your Island & I hope long ..... this time you & he Met & will soon settle your Afairs So Far as to Enable you to Make a trip home I am sure from all accounts I hear your health Requires it. No one Circumstance can  .... happen that would give me more pleasure than a Meeting with you. Mr Stewart & myself continue Much in the Same Way as When I wrote to you last he has hardly had ten days health Since that time So that No Opportunity  .... for an Establishment but please God ..... matter between us shall be settled after which you shall hear fully from me. I flatter myself that long ... time the Orange Bay is .... in Green Island & that she will meet all the ... & Despatch in your Power & that my her Return I shall be furnished with your Sentiments on her future Voyages.

 

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     Shortly after Peachy's death, two young ladies joined Campbell's household, Debie and Douglass, probably sisters of Rebecca. Debie by March 1769 had been advised by doctors to take country air about a mile out of London, since they suspected she had "confirmed consumption". Her death, which was expected, came on 5 June, 1769. Douglass appears to have been of a frivolous disposition. Douglass (whose name indicated she had family links with the Campbells from the Blytheswood Estate at Bridgegate in Scotland) shortly became more decorous in her behaviour, as the family pointedly noted. Later she went home to Jamaica with (her brother?) John, Saltspring.

 

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Quarantines against convicts:

 

     Departing England in May 1767 was Thornton, Capt. Chris Reed for America. By then, convicts from Cork were being handled by Sedgeley, Wilhouse (sic) and Randolph of Bristol. ([13])

 

     Campbell by 5 October, 1767 had taken "a pretty little place" for summers at Hawley, about 9 miles upriver from Gravesend. It was his first known excursion into the country. Shortly after the despatch of the Campbell-owned Orange Bay in October 1767 to Jamaica, John Stewart protested "vigourously" to both the Privy Council and to Lord Baltimore in Maryland against the quarantines recently erected against convict-importing ships in Virginia and Maryland. ([14]) As a result the Virginian law was vetoed. A "more carefully contrived piece of work", the Maryland law withstood the British attack. A. E. Smith in discussing such quashings of colonial measures noted that the dominance of British trading assured the protection of the convict service, and that "the whole business (was) in truth an edifying example of the intimate relations between vested interests and statutory law". ([15])

 

      The convict contractor Sedgleys of Bristol adjusted to the quarantine furore by putting a ventilator in their ships. Smith records, JS&C "made theirs quite airy by opening a Range of Ports on each side between Decks". JS&C often lost one-seventh of their convicts by illness. Smallpox carried off most. More men died than women, which Campbell attributed to women's stronger constitutions.

 

     By 24 August, 1768, Jonathan Forward Sydenham of London still described himself as the contractor with the greatest part of the counties of England (i.e., presumably outside London) for transporting felons. ([16]) In 1768 his ship Middleton at Limehouse was threatened by 600 rioting sailors demanding money from the ship's master. Since he could have lost £40 for each convict found at large after a disturbance, Sydenham desperately asked Shelburne for armed protection, and got it, as noted earlier. ([17]) During August-September 1767 a ship Ruby reached America with 103 convicts "quite packed together". The factor was Harry Piper of Alexandria, acting for Dixon and Littledale of Whitehaven. ([18]) Later in 1767-1769, ([19]) William had been chartered by Dixon and Littledale to be factored by Harry Piper, who had only recently settled in the Potomac area. ([20]) Justitia departed England for JS&C in September 1767, Capt. Colin Somervell. By 7 November, Justitia arrived at the Rappahanock offering cargo space, having earlier dropped convicts at Maryland. ([21])  Between 1768-1773, the colonial William Lux was writing often to James Russell in London. In this period, a new firm was formed, William Lux and Bowly. Prior to 1773, Darby Lux became a partner in a rum-importing business with William Russell in the colony, the brother of James Russell in London. ([22])

 

     By 1768, William Randolph in Bristol had decided to leave the  convict contractors, Sedgely and Co., and join an upstart firm started by stepbrothers William Stevenson and James Cheston. These later amalgamated into Stevenson, Randolph and Cheston. ([23]) Another Liverpool-Bristol name trading to North America was Daltera; (at least, that was what Campbell knew by 1785), and some of their colonial correspondents were John and George Fowler. ([24])

 

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The convict ships ploughed on, all as listed by Coldham.

 

     Departing England in January 1768 was Neptune Capt. James Arbuckle. Departing in April 1768 was Thornton Capt. Chris Reed for JS&C. On 8 April, 1768 was made a covenant of agreement between Campbell, John Stewart and Mr. Burke at Treasury, doubtless an important arrangement for the merchants. It was so important (and as Campbell indicated to the London tobacco merchants Joseph Court on 1 July, 1792), in April 1768, Stewart and Campbell made an agreement with William Russell in the colonies for him to act as their agent. The arrangement was to last many years, and finally be unfruitful. ([25])

 

     About April 1768 the snow Rodney with 92 felons had been heading for Maryland, but was beaten off to Antigua, probably by bad weather, with her prisoners in "deplorable condition". ([26]) Departing England in June 1768 was the convict ship Tryal Capt. Dougal McDougal. Departing England October 1768, ship Justitia Capt. Colin Somervell. Departing England February 1769, ship Thornton Capt. Chris Reed. (It would later be estimated, that between 1769 and 1776, 960 convicts yearly were sent from the kingdom). ([27])

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A family uproar:

 

     For the period July to December 1768 there is an unaccountable break in Campbell's Letterbooks. Campbell may have been in North America, assessing for example the damage the convict service might suffer owing to the imposition of the colonial quarantines. At the time he had no demanding business in Scotland or Jamaica, no illness. The only letter arising in this period is undated, a slightly crazy letter written to an American, one John Campbell, an old and possibly senile gentleman. The old man was troubling Duncan about a desk which Rebecca had already had in London for fourteen years. Old John Campbell of Campbelltown wanted the desk back, or some such. This letter is riddled with the names of people seldom otherwise mentioned, and is the only evidence that Duncan brought his wife to London relatively soon after their marriage, rather than leave her with her family in Jamaica awhile as he sailed. The desk, one of Rebecca's "first sticks of furniture", could have been picked up in America on the voyage following the wedding. Presumably during Duncan's 1768 visit to America he had seen the old fellow, who remembered the desk and followed the matter up with a letter.

 

Campbell Letter 6:

[Undated in ms. Probably written, July-December 1768.]

 

John Campbell Esq

at Campbelltown        per Carolina Merchant Capt Wilson

Dear Sir

        I had the pleasure of receiving your letter of the 19 March. & was glad to find you was Still in the land of the living I can faithfully assure you the Legacy which you say I was to receive in case it had been otherwise never could have Raise a thought in my Mind but for your health and happiness.

 

I am extremely Sorry to find any action of mine Should have surprised you in so Disagreeable a Manner as I conceived it did by the tenor of your Letter: but as you have been pleased to Enter upon the particular Circumstances of Mr Deakin it behoves Me to give you the Reasons for my Conduct. Mr. Aneas Campbell had long been solicited by me for that desk which he tells me he would have sent as a present to Mrs Campbell but that he had promised it to you in Case you went home And Declared that if I would carry it to Britain & you did not go there in person to Demand it was to be Mrs Campbells desk this I assure you, upon the word of an honest man, was the terms of My taking it on board & this Mr Campbell repeatedly declared to me was his Intentions ...... afterwards. ... for the truth of this I believe I can appeal to my Brother at Saltspring & to Doctor Dugald McLachlan to whome when cast in England if I remember Rightly I Mentioned my having Declined Complying with your Brother's Request & I think he then Confirmed me in the Conditions upon which this Desk was Delivered. You seem to think it Extraordinary that Mr Campbell Should Supose you would go to England; the Very Shipping of the Desk showed his Thoughts on that head if he Entered the Desk for you what other Inducement could lead him to send it home for it was at his Request I carried it; Mrs Campbell has had it in her possession now thirteen or fourteen years & by your Never Mentioning it to Me the Many Times I had the pleasure of seeing you in America I thought you saw that Matter in  ..... I should not have hesitated in Sending this Desk or any in my house had you Expressed a Desire for it but as I imagine you have in Some measure forgot the Circumstances & that both my ..... to your Brother I perhaps have been the Cause of your Requisition. I hope will pardon my not sending it till you Enquire Whether State of the Conditions are Right But Should you .... I am sorry I will send it Immediately when Receipt of a Letter from you to that purpose however Reluctant Mrs Campbell may seem a parting with one of the first pieces of furniture She had in her house the pecuniary Value is not worth your or my While having the Smallest Altercation about. I have looked back to your Account & find you have Credit 3 pounds 1/- for old Pewter Recd. on your Account from P. Thornton. I hope your last Letters from Virginia Mentioned Mrs. Campbell being in perfect health to be Informed of hers & your Welfare as often as your .... permitt will give me much Satisfaction. Mrs Campbell joins me ....... ([28])

 

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Legal commentary from Blackstone:

 

     In considering the convict service, some writers become bemused that the chief legal commentator of Britain, Blackstone, had in so much of his legal writing emphasised the matter of Habeus Corpus, which in tradition reached back to Magna Carta. Shaw ([29]) states that in 1670, forbidding transportation without trail was one of the motives to bring the Bill which became the Habeus Corpus Act of 1679, when transportation to Jamaica or Tangier threatened to become promiscuous. "This Act also legalized the practice of pardoning criminals on condition they agreed to transportation," Shaw conveys. It often seems that the custom of transportation contravened both the spirit and the letter of Habeus Corpus. ([30]) With this, it should be said that Blackstone (died 1780) approved of transportation, so long as it was a terrible enough punishment. The following seems clear...

 

According to Blackstone, ([31]) The Law affecting Transportation 1768 meant: "no power on earth, except the authority of Parliament, can send any subject of England out of the land against his will; no, not even a criminal. For exile, or transportation, is a punishment unknown to the common law; ...  choice of the criminal himself... to escape a capital punishment, or else by the express direction of some modern act of parliament.  no freeman shall be banished, unless by judgement of his peers, or by the law of the land. And by the Habeus corpus act 31, Car II, c. 2. no subject of this realm shall be sent prisoner ... or places beyond the seas ... (where they cannot have the benefit and protection of the common law) but that all such imprisonments shall be illegal; that the person, who shall dare to commit another contrary to this law, shall be disabled from bearing any office, shall incur the penalty of praemunire, and be incapable of receiving the King's pardon; and the... recover treble costs... besides ... damages, which no jury shall assess at less than five hundred pounds."

 

     Blackstone with various quoted remarks, however, does seem to contradict himself about the legal rights of the transported person, and certainly the transportee had few of what are today regarded as basic civil rights. Generally, however, there is great consistency noticeable in the interest patterns of legal officials with whom JS&C dealt.      From 1769, if not earlier, Jerome Knapp was Clerk to Assize, County of Kent. Maidstone was a notable depot for convicts sentenced for transportation, and was attended to by JS&C till 1772, then by Campbell alone. ([32])  After 1800, two London attorneys, Andrew Knapp and William Baldwin produced for a sensation-seeking public five volumes of The Newgate Calendar. The name Knapp is just one legal name which keeps recurring as transportation is considered.

 

     In these times, any ships captain who could provide the necessary securities had a right to contract for the removal of county felons. ([33]) From 1769 to 1776, British courts annually ordered an average of 933 convicts for transportation. ([34]) Of these, as many as 505 received their sentences in London, Middlesex and the Home Counties, an area containing only 22 per cent of the English population. In 1757 it was thought that two thirds of the adults in London had arrived there from elsewhere. By 1769, Campbell was transporting 547 felons per year, including 117 women, from London, Middlesex, Bucks and the four counties of the Home Circuit. ([35])

 

     In January 1769, Christopher Reed sailed for JS&C on Thornton. ([36]) In March 1769, Neil Somerville took Orange Bay on her third voyage. By 6 June, 1771, to Campbell's chagrin, Neil Somerville had lost the Orange Bay in the Thames between Blackwall and Greenwich "by carelessness of a pilot". ([37]) The replacement vessel, given the same name, cost £1,700s. ([38]) Neil Somerville had a long career as her captain and by 6 September, 1779 he was taking Orange Bay (2) to Jamaica by Philadelphia, carrying timber after delivering prisoners.

 

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Colonial political feeling rises:

 

    By 1769, reports Olson, Campbell had become part of the London America merchants' core-group, who had earlier advised senior ministers on trade issues. Political dealings for merchants after the accession of Geo III in 1760 began to be fretted by the political protests of the London radical Wilkesites. The Americans began to say that Wilkes' problems meant not just tyranny for the colonies, but Tyranny at Home.  (There is no reference to these issues in Campbell's surviving papers.) Olson's research enables a representation. ([39]) Between 1769 and August 1775 appeared a new force in the politics of London's America merchants which alarmed some merchants - "The Wilkes Situation". The core-group was large and had an inter-colonial outlook which was more impersonal, less sensitive to situations in individual colonies. Merchants dealing only with one colony had less room to provide favours to Americans. The Americans did not begin to retaliate severely until the eve of the American Revolution, in August 1775, when they wanted the core-group merchants to be boycotted. ([40])

 

         From 1769 "the Wilkes situation" gave rise to a new lobby, the public opinion lobby, which was novel and alarming to conservatives. A Bill of Rights Society formed, and in May 1769 a Middlesex Freeholders' petition linked mismanagement of American affairs with violations of subjects' rights in England, and applied the American slogan, "no taxation without representation", to the plight of the unenfranchised in England, to the cause of Constitutional Liberty. Feeling ran high in London. ([41]) When the issues began to invade merchants' meetings in 1769 there was one well-reported fistfight over pro and anti-Wilkesite feelings. A Wilkesite leader lost two teeth to a merchant opposing Wilkes; though the loss, not the fight, was later denied. And in 1769, after having suffered some loss of business with William Molleson in Maryland and by less severe losses with William Lee in Virginia, James Russell had still become a major figure in the London-Chesapeake trade and his position and esteem in London was formally recognised by Maryland in 1769, when he became a London-based financial adviser for the colony. ([42])

 

       In March 1769, about 600 London merchants signed a petition in London protesting Wilkes' "outrageous" sentiments, and expressing loyalty to the King. The proceeding was taken badly in America as an anti-colonial gesture. ([43]) In 1769, one of John Buchanan's ships arrived in Maryland from London, to be charged with violating non-importation agreements, and sent back to London without discharging its British cargo or taking on tobacco. It was resented that John Buchanan had signed the anti-Wilkes petition. Molleson in London had also signed the petition and was resented by colonials. In all, Americans wanted the Londoners to bestir themselves more on American behalf against the Tea and the Intolerable Acts. ([44])

 

    In 1769 with the Wilkesite movement, some merchants began to assume an adversary, not advisory, attitude to government. Conservatives Duncan Campbell and Norton supported Wilkes' expulsion from Parliament. ([45]) Athawes opposed the Wilkes expulsion. Some 24 per cent of Virginia merchants signed an anti-Wilkes petition - and the Virginia merchants were more sensitive to the Wilkesite issue than other lobby groups. By then, the Virginia lobby now meeting more regularly. ([46]) John Norton, Edward Athawes, or their sons, John Norton Jnr and Samuel Athawes were on the committee. Capel Hanbury was on the committee, but he died in 1769 and was soon replaced by William Lee and Duncan Campbell. Some merchants avoided having an opinion in order to keep in favour with the Americans. ([47])

 

     To 1774, the Wilkesite way of doing things began to fret the core-group's unity. And there were two crisis periods here, with the Townshend Duties of 1769-1770 and the Coercive Acts of 1774-1775. ([48]) London merchants "as was customary" were nervous on their own initiative to criticize Acts and waited for signals from America. Wilkesites attacked, so the London core-group had to decide whether to adopt Wilkesite tactics or not. (By late 1775, the partly American-led Wilkesite division forced the core-group to develop a continuum of opinion on issues, until it was fragmented, then useless). By 1770, Wilkes was out of prison, and a formal program had been organised which must have greatly provoked the British "patriots", for support for the Americans was mentioned. ([49]) The organisation was more annoying than the program items, but in 1770 the Society for a Bill of Rights split, one result being the formation of a Society for Constitutional Information. Certain issues led to Wilkes himself becoming less radical. ([50]) Campbell was to become deeply involved, but historians have seen his merchant-politician role as disconnected from his role as convict contractor, meaning, his identity has been fragmented in history.

 

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Death again in the household:

 

     Death again visited the Campbell household. On 21 March, 1769 Campbell in a letter mentioned Capt. David Mitchell, one of his old acquaintances, that Debbie (his sister-in-law?) had been advised to take country air about a mile out of London The doctor recommended proper attendance and closeness to medical attendance; Debie had symptoms of a confirmed consumption. By 5 June, 1769, Campbell was writing on the death of Debbie, in his own house. By 8 June, 1769, as Campbell wrote to John Saltspring, Debie was very ill. Campbell's country house was too far distant for her to receive proper attendance, Debie had lived with Campbell and his young folks; John Saltspring's sisters had been expecting the illness for some time to bring its fatal close.

 

*    *    *

 

     By 1769 William Ringold was still working in Maryland selling convicts ... The quote typically attached to Ringold is: "These unhappy beings are consigned to an agent, who dresses them suitably to their real or supposed qualifications, advertises them for sale, and disposes of them for seven years to planters". ([51]) At this point, John Stewart had a relative, James Stewart, wine dealing at Oporto, Portugal. ([52]) As records show, by 18 January, 1769, John Stewart in London was drawing bonds for transportation with Jerome Knapp, Clerk of Assize for Kent.

 

*      *     *

 

Duncan Campbell was always willing to give advice to younger family members...

 

Campbell Letter 7

                               London the 21 March 1769

To Mr John Somerville

Dear Jack

         The within is a Copy of my last which Mr Burgess was so kind as to forward for me. but having the opportunity of Capt David Mitchell who is an old Acquaintance I could not omitt so safe a Conveyance of Droping you another Copy for fear of a Miscarriage. Since my last I have Recd. Severall Letters from Scotland where our friends are Well: I have also lately heard from Both your brothers who are likewise doing Very Well Frank has got a Good Birth in Jam.a & Neil is I suppose now on his way home from that Island. his 3rd Voyage in the Or. Bay. They are Both provided for; & I hope your situation by this Time is Equal if not Superior to Either, If you do but Give proper Application & be Discreet & lawful I cannot Doubt of your Success. You are Young, you are Blest with a full share of understanding for one of your Years, you have Seen Enough of the World to have Form'd a plan of Conduct the Most likely to Go through it with ...... & advantage. Indeed if the old proverb stand good: that bought Experience, is the best Experience you have Even that on your Side; Then for Godsake My Dear Jack Think What you are about you are Certainly in the place where Merit Seldom goes unrewarded & ample too. And let it not be said that you are the only Scotsman who has been in India & has not made a fortune & figure Be Discreet think well before you act or speak; & Vindicate yourself. When you are Right to the Last Extremity this is the way to gain confidence, that is the way to gain Respect. There is a Gentleman one Major Douse who goes out at this time to Bombay in the Company's Service. He is an Intimate friend to my Acquaintance George Kinlock, who has promised to write a letter to him in your favour perhaps on his Arrival Something or Another may be going on that may make openings of some sort. It may not therefore be Improper .... as to Throw yourself in his Way. I am Exceedingly Desirous to hear from you & to know What prospects you have; it is a long time indeed before one can Receive an Answer to a letter to your part of the World, however I have requested Capt. Mitchell, who will have the command of a Ship on his Return, to Enquire of Every Particular of your Situation.

 

The Power of Attorney you left with me is now lodged with Mr Sheers in Scotland so that it will be proper for you to Send Me a full Power in Case by & bye you Should as I hope you will have other Matters to Transact here. I am applying to by Han & Sulmard by a Taylor at Greenock for money you had of Mr ..... Glasgow which Matters I shal Endeavour to Accomodate in best Manner I can. Remember to write to your friends by all opportunity. Let no Distance, no Altercation of Circumstances, Inspect no Consideration make you forget those who Brought you up and Set you out in the World. My family join in Sincere Wishes for your Success in Every Undertaking in ....

                               Dear Jack

                               Your Affectionate Uncle

                               & faithful friend

                                       Dun. Campbell ([53])

 

*      *     *

 

Capt. James Cook and the Pacific:

 

On Sunday 30 September, 1770, the British Admiralty seized all the documents of Cook's men according to a policy of secrecy.

 

Cook's ship Endeavour.

     While at Dusky Sound, New Zealand, from 26 March to 11 May, 1773, Cook remarked on the great numbers of seals to be found on the small rocks and islets near the sea coast. ([54]) The subsequent maritime history of this seal-ground has gone greatly unexamined.

 

     The novelist Alistair Maclean had an idol - Captain James Cook. Maclean wrote...

"We know all about Cook and we know nothing about him. We know that he was courageous, prudent, wise, indefatigable, adventurous, a born leader of men: but what he was like,  what kind of an individual he was personally, we have but the most remote of conceptions.... ([55]) To have maintained so inviolate a privacy is indeed a feat, but to have done so in spite of the fact that he left us over one million words minutely recording his day-to-day activities over many years amounts to an accomplishment so staggering as to defy rational comprehension ..." ([56])

 

      That is one view of Cook's achievements. It is also known, Cook on his last voyage  could express a vile temper, and that despite the way he unleashed his temper, his men would still have walked or sailed through hell for him. But there is one reason why Australians should be careful of Cook and his fame. Cook's achievements as mariner and explorer should not be attached to the way Australian became a British colony. As Charles Bateson, researcher of convict shipping, has written:

 

"Its [Australia's] colonisation was the rich reward garnered from Cook's voyagings, but its settlement was not effected in the tradition and spirit which had inspired the great navigator. The circumstances of the founding of Australia are divorced entirely from those of its discovery and exploration by Cook... Never in history were a country's beginnings laid by such unhappy and unenthusiastic pioneers as... the convicts of Australia's first fleet...". ([57])

 

     These remarks are some of Bateson's most important. James Cook did not discover Australia, he merely mapped its eastern coast, leaving out Bass Strait. It was not mere, however, that he also claimed it for Britain. According to Cook himself in 1770, it was a matter for wonderment that eastern Australia had not already been settled by Europe. ([58]) About the time he claimed possession of eastern Australia for George III, 22 August, 1770, ("the Eastern coast from the Latitude of 38 degrees South down to this place I am confident was never seen or viseted (sic) by any European before us"). ([59]) Cook made this claim on Wednesday, 22 August, at Possession Island, once he had become convinced he would find nothing else the Dutch had not sighted earlier. As Cook took possession, his views on naming the area remained muddled till 24 October, by which date he was at Batavia. Cook had also been hoping to find an easy passage from north-eastern Australia to India, but of course, he found nothing useful. And regardless of any Dutch claims, what Cook possessed could have been construed, per the old papal division of the world, as Spanish territory.

 

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The convict ships sailed on...

 

Departing England, May 1769 was Tryal, Capt. Dougal McDougal for America, probably for Stewart and Campbell.

 

Departing England, September 1769 was Douglas Capt. W. Beckenridge for America, contractor unknown.

 

About 15 September, 1769, Messrs Currie and Shakespeare of London, possibly  cousins to Campbell, wrote to Campbell on the state of the account of Capt. Archibald Campbell. It was normal for letters from Currie to annoy or worry Campbell.

 

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[Finis Chapter 12]

Words 6191 words with footnotes 7877 pages 14 footnotes 59