for taking 'coals and two poles' from the dockyard, was sentenced
to 500 lashes, and to be 'drummed out with a halter round his
neck,' after, of course, being reduced to the ranks."[E]

[Footnote E: _The Story of the British Army_, by Lieutenant-Colonel C.
Cooper-King, F.G.S. (Methuen & Co., 1897.)]

Before taking leave of the marines the story of what happened when the
_Sirius_ was lost at Norfolk Island should be told. Lieutenant King, of
the _Sirius_, had been sent to colonize the island by Governor Phillip,
and was acting as governor of it, but when the _Sirius_ went ashore Major
Ross thought proper to establish martial law, [Sidenote: 1789-1790]
and so (the quotation is from King's journal)--

"at 8 a.m. on March 22nd, 1790, every person in the settlement was
assembled under the lower flagstaff, where the Union flag was
hoisted. The troops were drawn up in two lines, having the Union
at their head in the centre, with the colours of the detachment
displayed, the _Sirius's_ ship's company on the right and the
convicts on the left, the officers in the centre, when the
proclamation was read declaring the law-martial to be that by
which the island was in future to be governed until further
orders. The lieutenant-governor addressed the convicts, after
which the whole gave three cheers, and then every person,
beginning with the lieutenant-governor and Captain Hunter, passed
under the Union in token of a promise or oath to submit and be
amenable to the law-martial then declared. The convicts and the
_Sirius's_ ship's company were then sent round to Cascade Bay,
where proportions of flour and pork were received from the
_Supply_ and brought round to the settlement."