About 4 miles (6.4 km) off shore, the mutineers cast the pilot and the ship's crew adrift.
The ship was owned by Richard Kelly, who had purchased it on favourable terms as compensation for the loss of his schooner Black Jack through the negligence in 1823 of the pilot at Port Macquarie.
Both Isabella and Black Jack had been on government service at the time of their loss.
[1] Richard Kelly received compensation in 1833 from Governor Darling in the form of some 1,920 acres (7.8 km2) of land in the Parish of Scoone, Brisbane.
[2] This occurred despite a previous order that because Richard Kelly had been caught bribing a storekeeper in 1822 he was never to receive any indulgence in the power of the Crown...[3]