LORD HOBART - 1838
left Timor with Captain Hawson, and arrived Port Adelaide on April 28th, 1838 |
"Before we make our final bow to the accomplished Mr Fisher, we have a few words to say of the last grand feat performed by him as colonial "purse" holder of the Commissioners. In September last, when the weather began to grow sultry, and elderly officials would rather ride than walk, and young gentlemen surveyors yearned more to smoke their cigars on horseback than to follow a chain on foot, it occurred to M r Fisher that the survey, which had hitherto been lagging sadly, might be finished at a gallop, provided a force of 100 Timor ponies - or rats (as they are called at the Mauritius) - could be directed upon it. The idea was a bright one. The ponies cold be of no possible use to the survey if they were got. The season was the wrong one; nine-tenths of the poor animals were sure to perish by reason of the heat known to prevail during that period; so no time was to be lost in sending for them. The Colonial Treasurer was coaxed out of £600 of the public money; and the South Australian Company having just purchased the LORD HOBART for £1500 Mr Fisher chartered that vessel for the voyage at the astonishingly moderate freight of twenty-one shillings per ton per month, or at a rate sufficient to pay the price given for the ship in one single voyage. Well, away goes the LORD HOBART for Timor; and at the end of seven months returns to Port Adelaide with seven ponies out of 119 shipped. Two or three of these are since dead." |
Then comes the awkward part of ths business. Mr David MacLaren presents in name of the South Australian Company,
to the Honorable Mr Fisher, a slight memorandum to the following effect:-
The Hon. J.H. Fisher, Resident Commissioner
Adelaide, April 30th, 1838
A request for payment to The South Australian Company,
|
For Freightage &c. of the brig the LORD HOBART, 189 66-94 tons, as per agreement,
sailed from Nepean Bay September 11, 1837; voyage terminated April 25, 1838;
two days additional to be charged as a compensation for the detention of the schooner JOHN PIRIE by the Hon. the Resident Commissioner, from September 9, 1837 until April 25, 1838 inclusive (seven months and seventeen days at 21s per ton per month) | £1506 16s 6d |
| For Board to Mr C. Birdseye per the LORD HOBART from September 3 1837 to April 22 1838 inclusive - 230 days at 7/6d per day | £86 5s.0 |
| For Board to Mr Alex Dawsey and four others from October 25, 1837 till April 26 1838 inclusive - 184 days as 2/- per man per day | Total - £1685 1s 6d. |
What the honorable Mr Fisher said on reading the above significant document we do not know.
What the Commissioners and public will say we can pretty much guess.
But let us see what the 5 remaining ponies have cost:
1. First advance to Mr Fisher for outfit and purchase - £600.0.0
2. Mr Fisher's debt to Mr McLaren as above - £1685.1.6
3. Mr Birdseye's salary as agent - £100.0.0
4. Birdseye's advances on account of Commission - £215.0.0
Total - £2,600.1.6
or only £520.0.3 per pony - the dear little things
It was reported that the Colonial Treasurer positively refused to pay the Company's bill for freight, or have anything further to do with the matter.
The LORD HOBART was a month and upwards under the shipwrights' hands in Sydney, and yet we see no deduction made for this.
Is it usual to charge freight for the period a vessel is undergoing repairs to render her sea-worthy ?
This quandary may have been answered in a future issue of the SA Register.
Later that year the LORD HOBART again visited Port Adelaide, from Sydney, arriving on October 13th, 1838.
No mention in the SA Register regarding passengers or cargo.
