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HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY. 107

on the 20th, the China fleet sailed for England under convoy of
H.M.'s ships ' Leopard ' and ' Thames,' Captain McCluer taking
the opportunity to send his journals to the Court of Directors ;
on the 2Hth, he sailed for the Pelew Islands, where he cast
anchor on the 10th of June. The King again solicited the
assistance of the English against his enemies, in the island of
Artingali, which Captain McCluer granted, and Lieutenant
Wedgeborough was directed to proceed in command of the
party. Accordingly, on the 16th of June, " the long boat left
the ship, being completely armed, with one brass G-pounder,
two swivel guns, and a musquetoon, having also ten men with
small arms, under the command of Mr. Delano. Lieutenant
Wedgeborough w^ent with the King in his canoe, and twenty
Sepoys in different canoes, together with Mr. Nicholson, the
surgeon." At Ivry, they were joined by two hundred canoes,
and proceeded against the enemy, but the sight of the English
and the discharge of their fire-arms and rockets created so
much terror among the x\rtingali people that they sued for peace,
which w'as granted, and Abba Thulle, " after this expedition,
was acknowledged the superior rupack of all the Pelew Islands."
On the 27th of June, Captain McCluer sailed with his ships
"to carry into execution his orders for a surve}' of the coast of
New Guinea, but as he proposed to return, two boys were left
behind with the King, and three of the Natives embarked on
board the ' Panther.' On the 16th of July, they " sighted land
and commenced their survey, on the northern coast of New
Guinea, which they continued for the space of two months ;
during that time their intercourse with the Natives was friendly
and kind." Being in want of provisions, they proceeded to
Amboyna, where they arrived on the 28th of September, and
received great hospitality and kindness from the Dutch people
and the Governor, Mr. Van Schilling, who informed them "that
they were the only English ships that had visited that island
for a century." The 'Panther' and ' Endeavour ' sailed from
Amboyna on the 10th of October, and resumed the survey of
New Guinea on the 24th. On the 2»ith, nine canoes, full of
Natives, came off to the ' Panther,' and Mr. Nicholson, having
unadvisedly entered the canoe of a chief from the long-boat,
which was towing astern, the savages killed him, and discharged
a flight of arrows into the ship, which wounded four of the
crew. The guns and small arms now opened fire, and the
savages were dispersed with some loss, but Captain McCluer
decided with great humanity not to land and btUMi the
town whence the canoes came, as the punishment would
involve the innocent with the guilty. "On this unfriendly
and savage coast," proceeds the writer of the journal. '• they
continued until the 21st of Decu'inber, when, having coniiileted
the survey, they stood away for the coast of New Holland, and