Jonathan's POV 13th Sep 1724
Captain Jonathan Barnet strode up to the Town Hall. It was a beautiful September morning in 1724, but he was struck with a problem. The colony was starving. The local fauna was too small to be eaten and the sheep the British had brought with them had been killed. Sources told the Captain a local animal, called a Barnet Island Devil, was responsible for the sheep’s ' deaths.
With no option left, Jonathan had permitted the HMB New York and HMB Norwich to plague the Dutch ships that occasionally ventured south. This was only a temporary solution, though. Jonathan knew that there were natives, or Australish Indians as they were called, to the north. These Australish Indians had to live off something, and Jonathan was determined to find out what it was. Tomorrow, he would embark on a journey to the north of Barnet Island, to the were the natives lived.
“Dad!” A female voice called from behind.
Jonathan turned and saw a young, seventeen year old running towards him. It was his daughter, one of only seventeen free women on Barnet Island. All of the other women on the island were convicts. Of the three-hundred and forty seven settlers in the new land, one-hundred and sixty two were convicts, ninety-two were free settlers another ninety-two were Royal Marines and the remaining one was Jonathan himself.
“What is it Gabriella?” Jonathan asked.
“The HMB New York has returned.” Gabriella said, “It has some food which will keep us going for a little longer and the managed to construct a map. They claim it is the most accurate map of this new land. Here it is.”
Jonathan took the map from his daughter. He looked at the map. Apparently, there were three main islands; an island near New Guinea, Barnet Island and the central island of Australia. His ships told him that the Austro-Hungarians were on the far west of the mainland, the Dutch in the far north and the Spaniards to the far east. Most suprising, was the Turks in on island to the north, named York Island. It seems the Ottomans have start to infect other areas, Jonathan thought. He wasn't a big fan of the Turks. He turned his eyes back to the map, he saw the mainland had two inland seas. It reminded him of when he had seen the great lakes in the Thirteen Colonies, Britain’s most loyal colonies. It was Jonathan’s dream that Anne Town, indeed all of Barnet Island would become as loyal as America. One day he would see that dream fulfilled. But for now, he had to meet Lieutenant Brendan Holloway, commander of the Marines, in the Town Hall.