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The following report comes from the Sydney Gazette, 5th of May 1821:
“On Tuesday night three men left Sydney Cove with provisions for a cedar party at Illawarra (the Five Islands). They started in a tight and well-equipped boat, about ten at night. Two boats have since returned to Sydney, and the arrival of the other has also been anxiously looked for; but, unhappily to relate, an account has reached town, upon the verity of which we can rely, that puts her return, or that of the crew, beyond the possibility of ever being most distantly hoped for. A rudder and mast have been picked up on the shore in the vicinity of the Five Islands, which, by the description, the owner pronounces to have belonged to the boat; and as no tidings have been gained of the men, it may be calculated upon, as a certainty, that the boat has been overturned at sea, and that the three men are consequently drowned; the names of whom are as follow : - Thomas Whitaker, overseer of the party; Henry Thorn; and James Block. Many lives have been lost, within these last few months, in this perilous undertaking; and should not such melancholy events conspire to make men more cautious of their lives, particularly when return is rendered so uncertain and precarious, from the extreme danger attending such daring enterprizes [sic] ?”
Sydney Gazette, 26th of May 1821:
“In our paper of the 5th instant, it was reported that three men had left Sydney Cove for the Five Islands [Illawarra] to procure cedar, about 12 days before; and that from the circumstances of their long absence, and the finding of an oar in the contiguity of the Five Islands, or Illawarra, there could not be the smallest doubt of their total loss. It may be remembered the names of the men were, Thomas Whittaker [sic], Henry Thorn, and Jas. Block. That statement, in consequence of the return of Whittaker, we are now called upon to contradict; and shall proceed to relate a few particulars that cannot fail of being received as interesting. Whittaker, from whom we obtain the present account, states, that he left Sydney (in company with Block and Thorn) about midnight as already reported, and had a fine north-easterly breeze, before which they scudded as fast as could be wished; and when they came off the place of their destination, it was discovered they had too great an offing, and, owing to the wind freshening the boat was prevented from bearing up; they were therefore compelled, having overshot their port, to run to the southward, which they continued to do till they reached Batman’s Bay [Batemans Bay], between 80 and 100 miles from Illawarra. In this bay they encountered a heavy squall, and after intense difficulty made for a small island, on which they landed, kindled a fire, and after refreshing themselves, anchored off the shore. The next morning (Easter Sunday) at daylight, they were suddenly attacked by about twelve natives, with a discharge of 50 to 60 spears, followed up by a continued volley of stones. James Block was thrice speared; one entered a thigh, another slightly grazed his breast, and the third perforated the chest; which produced instantaneous death. Whittaker was wounded by a spear in the right thigh; and the other (Thorn) providentially escaped uninjured.
“The natives then left the island, at which they had, it was supposed, landed in the night, and made towards the boat in their canoes. The unfortunate men were now in a truly pitiable and forlorn condition; Block was lying in the boat a corpse; Whittaker was sorely wounded; and Thorn beheld nothing but a horrid and cruel death, at the hands of the savages, ready to meet him, or else the dread expectancy of being entombed in the ocean’s vast abyss. Whittaker, however, fortunately fired a loaded pistol at the approaching canoes, which had the effect of making them hastily sheer off. Block was then committed to the deep, and the two survivors exerted all their remaining strength to effect their escape into the main ocean, in which act they lost an oar. When clear of the bay, the wind still blowing from the north-east, they were reluctantly compelled to advance more southerly, till they came off Cape Dromedary [between Narooma and Wallaga Lake]. where, just as they were in the act of lowering the killock [small anchor], seven or eight natives presented themselves to view. Without a moment’s deliberation they continued to bear away along the coast, until they came within a very few miles of Cape Howe [on the New South Wales and Victoria border]; when, the wind changing from the north-east to the southward, they gladly shaped their course homewards. Owing to the wind nearly blowing a gale, the boat came back with astonishing velocity, and the sufferers soon came within sight of Illawarra, their desired haven; but, it so happened, that they still had too great an offing, being thirty miles off the coast, and were compelled to run into Botany [Bay], after encountering so much fatigue, being thirteen days and thirteen nights in an open boat, exposed to the inclemency of the weather, and to the dangers of the boisterous deep. In a day or two afterwards, notwithstanding all these mishaps, they proceeded to the Five Islands [Illawarra], procured a load of cedar, and have returned to Port Jackson, with the loss of their companion, poor Block ! - Whittaker has recovered of his wound; he says that he extracted the spear himself, and applied some of the pitch off the boat, which has nearly healed the orifice. We can only say, that two men never had such an excursion after cedar before.....”
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