The necessity of procuring relief became every day more pressing.  The voyage of the Sirius to China was at an end; and nothing had yet arrived from England, though hourly expected.  It was the natural and general opinion, that our present situation was to be attributed to accident rather than to procrastination.  It was more probable, that the vessels which had been dispatched by the British government had met with some distress, that had either compelled them to return or had wholly prevented them from any further prosecution of the voyage, than that any delay should have taken place in their departure.  The governor, therefore, determined on sending the Supply armed tender to Batavia; and, as her commander was most zealously active in his preparations for the voyage, she was soon ready for sea.  Her tonnage, however, was trifling when compared with our necessities.  Lieutenant Ball was, therefore, directed to procure a supply of eight months provisions for himself, and to hire a vessel and purchase 200,000 pounds of flour, 80,000 pounds of beef, 60,000 pounds of pork, and 70,000 pounds of rice; together with some necessaries for the hospital, such as sugar, sago, hogs lard, vinegar, and dongaree.  The expectation of this relief was indeed distant, but yet it was more to be depended upon than that which might be coming from England.  A given time was fixed for the return of the Supply; but it was impossible to say when a vessel might arrive from Europe.  Whatever might be our distress for provisions, it would be some alleviation to look on to a certain fixed period when it might be expected to be removed.  Lieutenant Ball’s passage lay through the regions of fine weather, and the hope of every one was fixed upon the little vessel that was to convey him; yet it was painful to contemplate our very existence as depending upon her safety; to consider that a rough sea, a hidden rock, or the violence of elemental strife, might in one fatal moment precipitate us, with the little bark that had all our hopes on board, to the lowest abyss of misery.  In the well-known ability and undoubted exertions of her commander however, under God, all placed their dependance; and from that principle, when she sailed, instead of predicting mischance, we all, with one wish for her safe return, fixed and anticipated the period at which it might reasonably be expected.

She sailed on Saturday the 17th of April, having on board Lieutenant King, the late commandant of Norfolk Island, who was charged with the governor’s dispatches for the secretary of state, and Mr. Andrew Miller, the late commissary, whose ill state of health obliging him to resign that employment, the governor permitted him to return to England. and had appointed Mr. John Palmer, the purser of the Sirius, to supply his place.

Lieutenant Newton Fowell, of the Sirius, was, together with the gunner of that ship, also embarked.  The Supply was to touch at Norfolk Island, if practicable, and take on board Lieutenant Bradley of the Sirius, who, from his knowledge of the coast, was chosen by the governor to proceed to Batavia, and was to return to this port in whatever vessel might be freighted by Lieutenant Ball; Mr. Fowell and the gunner were to be left at the island.