At the Cape of Good Hope Lieutenant Riou took on board a quantity of stock for the settlement, and completed a garden which had been prepared under the immediate direction of Sir Joseph Banks, and in which there were near one hundred and fifty of the finest fruit trees, several of them bearing fruit. There was scarcely an officer in the colony that had not his share of private property embarked on board of this richly freighted ship; their respective friends having procured permission from government for that purpose. But it was as painful then to learn, as it will ever be to recollect, that on the 23rd day of December preceding, the _Guardian_ struck against an island of ice in latitude 45 degrees 54 minutes South, and longitude 41 degrees 30 minutes East, whereby she received so much injury, that Lieutenant Riou was compelled, in order to save her from instantly sinking, to throw overboard the greatest part of her valuable cargo both on the public and private account. The stock was all killed, (seven horses, sixteen cows, two bulls, a number of sheep, goats, and two deer,) the garden destroyed, and the ship herself saved only by the interposition of Providence, and the admirable conduct of the commander. The _Guardian_ was a fast-sailing ship, and would probably have arrived in the latter end of January or the beginning of February last. At that period the large quantity of live stock in the colony was daily increasing; the people required for labour were, comparatively with their present state, strong and healthy; the necessity of dividing the Convicts, and sending the _Sirius_ to Norfolk Island, would not have existed; the ration of provisions, instead of the diminutions which had been necessarily directed, would have been increased to the full allowance; and the tillage of the ground consequently proceeded in with that spirit which must be exerted to the utmost before the settlement could render itself independent of the mother country for subsistence. But to what a distance was that period now thrown by this unfortunate accident, and by the delay which took place in the voyage of the _Lady Juliana_! Government had placed a naval officer in this transport, Lieutenant Thomas Edgar*, for the purpose of seeing justice done to the convicts as to their provisions, cleanliness, etc. and to guard against any unnecessary delays on the voyage. Being directed to follow the route of the _Sirius_ and her convoy, he called at Teneriffe and St. Iago, stayed seven weeks at Rio de Janeiro, and one month at the Cape of Good Hope; completing his circuitous voyage of ten months duration by arriving here on the 3rd day of June 1790. [* He had sailed with the late Captain Cook.]