The Porpoise's two cutters and the gig were hauled up to high-water mark; but the latter not having been well secured, and the night tide rising higher than was expected, it was carried away, to our great loss. In the morning [FRIDAY 19 AUGUST 1803], we had the satisfaction to see the ship still entire, and thrown higher up the reef; the Cato had gone to pieces, and all that remained was one of the quarters, which had floated over the front ledge of the reef, and lodged near our bank. Of the Bridgewater nothing could be seen; and many fears were entertained for her safety. For the better preservation of discipline, and of that union between the crews of the Porpoise and Cato and passengers of the Investigator, so necessary in our circumstances, it was highly expedient that they should be put on the same footing and united under one head. The Porpoise was lost beyond a possibility of hope, and the situation of the commander and crew thereby rendered similar to that of their passengers; I therefore considered myself authorised and called upon, as the senior officer, to take the command of the whole; and my intention being communicated to lieutenant Fowler, he assented without hesitation to its expediency and propriety, and I owe to captain Park a similar acknowledgement. The people were then assembled upon the top of the bank; and I informed the seamen of the Cato, one or two of whom had shown signs of discontent at being ordered to work, that as they doubtless expected to be fed from our provisions, so they must exert themselves to save as much as possible;* and although they were not in the King's pay, yet as a magistrate acting within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty, I would punish all deviations from obedience and good conduct in them, the same as amongst our own seamen. I ordered the Cato's men, who had saved nothing, to be quartered in the messes of our people, in the proportion of one to three; and directed lieutenant Fowler, who had charge of the provisions, to victual all alike. The surgeon of the Porpoise was ordered to examine the wounded, and give in a list of those really incapable of duty; and a large party, consisting of as many men as the two cutters could contain, went off to the wreck under the command of Mr. Fowler, to disembark provisions and stores. [* When a merchant ship is lost, the seamen not only cease to be in pay, but lose all wages due to them after the last delivery of the cargo; and the sole interest they have to save the stores, even of their own ship, is for the preservation of themselves, or the prospect of being rewarded by the owners or insurers.]