About this time a small decked long boat arrived from Norfolk island, and brought an account that the master of the American snow _Mercury_ had landed there the remainder of the people who had been left by Captain Bampton in Dusky Bay. When the _Endeavour_ was wrecked there about 20 months before*, the governor, not having any vessel at Port Jackson fit for such a purpose, had expressed a wish to the master of the snow, to this effect, when he was about leaving New South Wales. The master made no objection, only stipulating that he might be permitted to take from the wreck such stores as he might be in want of, but to this the governor could not give his sanction, leaving him only to make what terms he could with any of the people belonging to her whom he might find alive. This service he performed under many difficulties, and brought off all that now remained of these unfortunate people, amounting to 35 in number, and landed them at Norfolk Island. [* Vide Vol I Ch. XXX Page 384, viz: 'By letters received from Mr. Bampton, who sailed from his place in the _Endeavour_ in the month of September last, we now heard, that on his reaching Dusky Bay in New Zealand his ship unfortunately proved so leaky, that with the advice and consent of his officers and people she was run on shore and scuttled.' and Vol I Ch. XXX Page 388, viz: 'On the 17th the vessel built by the shipwright Hatherleigh at Dusky Bay arrived, with some of the people left behind by Mr. Bampton. They were so distressed for provisions, that the person who had the direction of the vessel could not bring away the whole; and it was singularly fortunate that he arrived as he did, for with all the economy that could be used, his small stock of provisions was consumed to the last mouthful the day before he made the land.'] By this conveyance the governor was also informed, that the _Britannia_ had touched at the Island, and landed several convicts who had secreted themselves on board her while she lay in this harbour. Disappointed as these people generally were in their attempts to escape from the settlement in this manner, yet it had become so certain a system, that all the vigilance which could be exerted both on shore and afloat was insufficient to prevent them. As the masters were seldom refused permission to ship such as were free, it was their business to receive no more on board than they could feed; and during the run between Sydney and Norfolk island, the supernumeraries were generally discovered and brought up from below. Indeed, considering the description of people who formed the major or part of these deserters, it was not safe to have many of them on board, being a lawless, abandoned, daring set of wretches, to whom the commission of every crime was more familiar than the practice of any one virtue.