On our arrival at Port Jackson, to the number of a hundred and seventy persons, the resources in corn were far from abundant; a great inundation and the overflowing of the River Hawkesbury, having in part destroyed the harvest which was upon the eve of being got in, and the following one being distant and uncertain, was not a fortunate circumstance for us.  Nevertheless we were made perfectly welcome, and so soon as our present and future wants were known, the ration given daily to the inhabitants and the garrison was reduced one-half.  The governor and the civil and military officers set the example of this generosity, which was immediately followed by the others.  We were not only strangers, but still at war, for the news of the peace was not yet known.

The original extract in my possession, is certified to be true by the gentleman to whom the letter was addressed.  Its contents afford a contrast to the proceedings of the governor of Mauritius, too striking to require any comment.

Amongst the acquaintances formed whilst in the Garden Prison, the most agreeable, most useful, and at the same time durable, was that of a young French merchant; a man well informed, a friend to letters, to science, and the arts; who spoke and wrote English, and had read many of our best authors.  To him I am principally indebted for having passed some agreeable days in prison, and his name therefore merits a place in this history of the misfortune which his friendship contributed to alleviate; nor am I the sole English prisoner who will mention the name of Thomas Pitot with eulogium.

On the 27th, an English squadron consisting of two ships of the line and two frigates, under the command of captain John Osborn, arrived to cruise off the island.

SEPTEMBER 1804

Some days afterward, my boatswain and six of the merchant officers, prisoners at Flacq, made their escape to one of the ships.  The captain-general, in a paroxysm of rage, ordered the officer commanding at Flacq to be dismissed, and every Englishman in the island, without distinction, to be closely confined; neither paroles of honour, nor sureties, nor permissions previously given to depart, being respected.  Six were brought to the Garden Prison, of whom the captains Moffat and Henry from Pamplemousses were two, and their wives followed them.  The seamen and remaining officers from Flacq passed our gate under a strong guard, and were marched to an old hospital about one mile on the south-west side of the town; where the seamen were shut up in the lower, and the officers in the upper apartment, there being only two rooms.