'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎28] (47/622)

28
HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
Captain Lewis that the crew of the 4 Charles Eaton' were
murdered and eaten by the inhabitants of an island about sixty
iiiiles to the northward, called by them Boydan, or Boydaney,
of the group called the Six Sisters, from whom the Murray
Islanders had rescued these two lads, and treated them with
great kindness. It was with the utmost difficulty Captain
Lewis could induce the savages to give up their charges, and
young D'Oyley cried most bitterly on parting from his pro
tectors, particularly the women, who, during the past two years
had lavished their affections upon the fair-haired child. The
only relic of the murdered crew that was discovered, was
a gigantic figure of a man's head, adorned with no less than
forty-two skulls, some terribly fractured, which were supposed
to be the heads of the late crew of the barque and other
Europeans. They w T ere all conveyed to Sydney, where they
received interment.
The 4 Tigris' sailed from Murray Island on the 29th of July,
and anchored at Half-Way Island, about fifty miles distant,
where a party of officers discovered, carved on a tree, the words
" Dig under." In doing so, they found a bottle containing a
letter from Captain Lewis, dated the 28th of July, detailing
his proceedings. On the following day they sighted the
'Isabella,' near the York Islands, and, after visiting her, landed
at Double Island. The two vessels proceeded in compan} 7 , and
Commander Igglesden named a small islet. Grant Island, after
the Governor of Bombay. Some officers landed at Wednesday
Island, where the natives appeared very hostile, and at Booby
Island, where records of passing ships were found in a
bottle.
On the 6th of August the 4 Tigris' struck on a patch of
coral rock, about one mile to the north of Cape Croker (not laid
down in the charts), and was only saved from going to pieces
by the strength of her teak timbers. The surf broke clean
over the gunwale, and she lost her rudder, fore-foot, the whole
of her false keel, and twenty feet of her main keel. On the
following da}^, the ' Tigris ^ was steered into Raffles Bay by her
head and after-sails. In 1824 a settlement had been formed
here (and also at Port Cockburn in Melville Island) by Sir
Gordon Bremer, of H.M.S. 'Tamar,' which was abandoned in
March, 1829, owing to the unhealthiness of the climate and the
hostility of the natives. The only remains of the settlement
were the debris of the fort and some railings. The 6 Tigris,'
after having fitted a temporary rudder, and repaired other
damages, proceeded, on the 17th of August, to Coupang, in the
island of limor, and thence to Batavia and Bombay, where she
cast anchor on the 7th of November.
The impression created in 1820 by the successful bombard-