Before taking leave of the marines the story of what happened when the Sirius was lost at Norfolk Island should be told.  Lieutenant King, of the Sirius, had been sent to colonize the island by Governor Phillip, and was acting as governor of it, but when the Sirius went ashore Major Ross thought proper to establish martial law, [Sidenote:  1789-1790] and so (the quotation is from King’s journal)—­

“at 8 a.m. on March 22nd, 1790, every person in the settlement was assembled under the lower flagstaff, where the Union flag was hoisted.  The troops were drawn up in two lines, having the Union at their head in the centre, with the colours of the detachment displayed, the Sirius’s ship’s company on the right and the convicts on the left, the officers in the centre, when the proclamation was read declaring the law-martial to be that by which the island was in future to be governed until further orders.  The lieutenant-governor addressed the convicts, after which the whole gave three cheers, and then every person, beginning with the lieutenant-governor and Captain Hunter, passed under the Union in token of a promise or oath to submit and be amenable to the law-martial then declared.  The convicts and the Sirius’s ship’s company were then sent round to Cascade Bay, where proportions of flour and pork were received from the Supply and brought round to the settlement.”

In June, 1789, the Home Government determined to form a corps for special service in New South Wales and bring the marines home.  Several suggestions had been made to this effect, and offers from more than one officer had been received to raise a regiment.  Ultimately an offer by Major Grose was accepted to raise 300 rank and file.  The short and ignoble story of this corps can be traced in the records of New South Wales, and Mr. Britton, in his volume of official history, devotes a chapter to an admirable summary of the annals of the regiment.

Grose was the son of Francis Grose, the antiquarian, who died in 1791.  Francis the younger entered the army as ensign in the 52nd Regiment in 1775; served in the American War of Independence; fought at Bunker’s Hill; was twice wounded; went home on account of his wounds; was promoted to captain; did two years’ recruiting; was then promoted a major in the 96th; then raised the New South Wales Regiment; was promoted lieutenant-colonel while serving in the colony where he, as already has been said, acted as governor for two years between the time of Phillip’s departure and Hunter’s arrival.  In 1795, owing to his wounds troubling him, he was compelled to return to England, where he was given a staff appointment, and in 1805 was promoted major-general.

Nicholas Nepean, the senior captain, entered the service in the Plymouth division of the marines, and had served under Admiral Keppel.  He left New South Wales after a couple of years’ service, and joined the 91st, and was rapidly promoted, until in 1807 he was made brigadier-general and given a command at Cape Breton.  He was a brother of Evan Nepean, Under-Secretary at the Home Office at the time of the foundation of the colony; and the Nepean river, the source of Sydney’s water supply, to this day reminds Australians of the family connection.