A settlement in the Pacific Ocean for growing flax
On 21 June 1785 Sir George Young and John Call submitted a memorial to the Court of Directors of the East India Company on behalf of themselves and several others.
The memorial related to their plans to establish a settlement on one of the smaller islands in the Pacific Ocean for the cultivation of the flax plant and its manufacture into cordage, as well as the supply of masts for shipping. Their preferred island for this settlement was Norfolk Island situated in the southern Pacific Ocean between Australia and New Zealand.
Settlement at Norfolk Island, c.1839, watercolour by Thomas Seller - image courtesy of National Library of Australia
Part of the reasoning behind this proposal was the growing difficulty in acquiring flax. At that time most of the hemp and flax used by the Royal Navy for their cordage came from Russia, whose ruler Catherine II had begun restricting its sale. It was already known that New Zealand flax grew on Norfolk Island, making the island a perfect candidate for such a proposal.
Letter 213: 'The Memorial of Sir George Young Knight, and John Call Esq. in behalf of themselves and others' to the Court of Directors of the East India Company, 21 January 1785. IOR/E/1/76, ff. 518-519
There was however a wider political context to the proposal, which related to prison overcrowding and penal transportation in Britain. The American Revolutionary War of 1775 had meant that penal transportation to the thirteen American colonies had to be stopped, which had in turn led to problems of overcrowding in British prisons.
John Call had put forward a plan for New South Wales in Australia to be used as a penal colony, including the use of Norfolk Island as an auxiliary settlement, and in December 1785 the Government adopted these plans. The reasoning behind the inclusion of Norfolk Island as part of these plans was that the growing of flax, its manufacture into cordage, and the production of shipping masts all required manpower. Having convicts sent to the island would provide a steady stream of labour for this work to be undertaken.
Norfolk Island was settled as a penal colony on 6 March 1788 and, except for an 11-year gap from 15 February 1814 to 6 June 1825, served as a penal colony until 5 May 1855.
The island’s usefulness as a place to supply cordage and masts to shipping was shorter-lived as its location was not on any main shipping routes and vessels had to go out of their way to reach it.
Karen Stapley
Curator, India Office Records
Further reading:
IOR/E/1/76, ff. 518-519 Letter 213