The _Francis_ being nearly worn out, the governor had purchased a
vessel called the _Harbinger_, to be employed in going to and from
Norfolk Island, the service of the _Porpoise_ being required for
longer voyages. The _Supply_, which had been long since condemned,
was fitting up as a hulk to receive such convicts as were incorrigible,
in which capacity she might still be very useful. It was intended that
the _Lady Nelson_ should, at the proper season, be employed in an
accurate survey of Bass Strait.
Accounts having been received of the Union between the Two Kingdoms, that
event was celebrated on the 4th of June 1801, and on that occasion the
new union flag was for the first time displayed in New South Wales. The
governor took that opportunity of releasing several of the Irish
insurgents who had been in confinement.
It appeared, on examining the registers of the several terms of
transportation of the convicts, that the clerks, who necessarily had had
access to them, had altered the sentences of about two hundred prisoners,
receiving a gratuity from each equal to ten or twelve pounds.
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