Forlorn Hope (boat)
"[2] The Bill passed with little enthusiasm but no real opposition, and provided for appointment of a Government Resident who would take a party to the Top End, select a site for the principal town, and survey it into half-acre lots.
The Government schooner Beatrice, 99 tons, Commander Hutchinson RN, left for Adam Bay on 22 April, and completed a survey of that harbour.
The barque Henry Ellis, 464 tons, Captain Thomas Phillips, was chartered for conveyance of livestock, personnel and stores, left Port Adelaide 29 April 1864.
Against this background, three men, Jefferson P. Stow JP, who had come to Adam Bay privately as an agent for land purchasers, and surveyors Arthur R. Hamilton and William McMinn had a bold plan: to purchase a vessel and sail it round to the Camden Harbour settlement in Western Australia, where they might encounter a ship bound for Fremantle, or at least replenish their provision for the journey to the next settlement.
Their provisions included 200 lbs of bread and biscuit, some cheese, twenty 6-lb tins of beef, a few medical comforts, some cakes, and 70 gallons of water.
Their intention was to cruise around to the Western Australian coast, then make for Camden Harbour, the latest WA Government settlement, of which many good things had been heard, and where they might pick up a passage to Fremantle or Adelaide.
On 6 May, which had been declared a holiday, they unfurled a banner, Finis coronat opus (the end crowns the work, an ironic jibe at Finniss, whose family sported that motto), set sail, to the cheers of those at the Cliffs, up the five miles or so of the Adelaide River to where many of their colleagues were working at "The Narrows", and stayed the night there, being given another rousing farewell in the morning as they made their way back downstream.
They camped a few days at Anson Bay near Cliff Head, and made several explorations inland, but found nothing of interest to prospective settlers.
To their delight they saw a boat, and met on-board Government Surveyor James Cowle (died in Tasmania 18 August 1887), who was surveying the harbour, but appeared dull and despondent.
Government's Camden Harbour settlement, finding the ground rocky and infertile, and both the horses, sheep and residents in poor physical shape.
While there, McMinn took tracings of Admiralty charts as far as Fremantle; they purchased a ship's compass from a settler, and the Resident had his mechanic fashion a heavier anchor for them.
They left the Harbour on 3 June, passing the wrecked ship Calliance, which had been purchased by several of the settlers from Victoria, who were now salvaging the copper sheathing by burning the hull.
They passed Cafarelli Island (part of the Buccaneer Archipelago) on the 6th On the 8th ironwork of rudder broke; lowered sails and rode out the storm.
Further round they struck up with a friendly family of Aborigines, who after being given the traditional gifts of knives and tobacco, took them to a source of fresh water, where they were able to refill the casks.
On 23 June they resumed sailing, but got caught in a current that dragged Forlorn Hope through a narrow strait which brought them to a vast area of reefs and islands.
On 5 July they passed Dirk Hartog Island on the outside having been misled by their chart to believe there was no passage between the island and mainland,[11] then continued hugging the coast without significant problems, and on 8 July reached Champion Bay, and the town of Geraldton where they were instant celebrities, no news of their leaving the Northern Territory or their subsequent travails having reached any port in Australia.
The gallant John White has found a more liberal diet, safer sailing, surer anchorage, and less liability of being blown from shore, with the Murray snagboat.
