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198 HISTORY OF tup: INDIAN NAVY. '

from thence to the island of Timor, where they were most
hospitably received." At Timor, it is recorded "they buried
an officer and one of the Pelew passengers." The ship sailed
on the24tli of March, 1792, for Bencoolen where they arrived on
the 27th of Ajjril, another of the Pelew islanders dying on the
passage. On the 17th of August they sailed for the Pelew
group, stopping en route at the Sooloo islands, where they
embarked cattle, seed, and grain ; on the 2()th of January, 1793,
they arrived at Pelew, and learned of the death of Abba Thulle.
A few days after their arrival, Captain McCluer despatched
the 'Endeavour' to China, where she joined H.MS. 'Lion,'
and the H.C.S. 'Hindostan,' which were in attendance
on Earl Macartney, then on an embassy to the court of Pekin,
and all connection between the ' Panther ' and ' Endeavour
ceased. On the 2nd of February, Captain McCluer, considering
that he had fulfilled the objecrs of his mission, addressed a letter
to Lieutenant Wedgeborough, resigning to him the command
of the ' Panther,' and expressing his intention of remaining in
the islands. Regarding his reasons for this singular step, he
says :— "It is nothing but my zeal for ray country that prompts
me to follow this resolution ; and I hope to succeed in the plan
I have formed, which may benefit my country and the world in
general, by enlightening the minds of the noble islanders.
IShould I fail in the attempt, it is only the loss of an individual,
who assisted to do good to his fellow-creatures." On the follow-
ing day Captain McCluer, " in the presence of the ship's crew,"
formally and deliberately resigned his command to Lieutenant
Wedgeborough, as their future commander. On the 14th of
February, the ' Panther' finally quitted the Pelew Islands, and
arrived at Macao on the 7th of March, and, after refitting,
sailed on the 22nd of April for Bombay, where she cast anchor
on the 17th of August, 1793, after an absence of exactly three
years, short of seven days.
Captain McCluer, after a residence of fifteen months, during
which he devoted himself to civilising the islanders and amelio-
rating their condition, embarked in a snjall six-oared boat of
the ' Panther,' which had been left behind at his request, with
five Natives, intending to go to Ternate, but when they got to
the southward of the islands, meeting with bad weather, he
determined to proceed to Macao. This resolution—displaying
wonderful hardihood, as the distance is about 1,600 miles, over
a stormy sea— he actually carried into, execution, and without
instruments or charts, and in a small open boat, he reached
Macao in safety, after encountering very heavy weather. On the
passage, he and his companions subsisted on cocoa-nuts and
w-ater, and the hardships were so great that Captain McCluer
was confined for a month with fever and ague in the house of
his friend, Mr. Van Braam, the chief of the Dutch factory. On