The decision to settle Norfolk Island was taken under the impetus of the shock Britain had just received from Empress Catherine II of Russia. Practically all the hemp and flax required by the Royal Navy for cordage and sailcloth was imported from the Russian dominions through the ports of St. Petersburg (Kronstadt) and Riga. Comptroller of the Navy Sir Charles Middleton explained to Prime Minister Pitt in a letter of 5 September 1786: "It is for Hemp only we are dependent on Russia. Masts can be procured from Nova Scotia, and Iron in plenty from the Ores of this Country; but as it is impracticable to carry on a Naval War without Hemp, it is materially necessary to promote the growth of it in this Country and Ireland".The Letters and Papers of Charles Middleton, Lord Barham, Vol.2, (Navy Records Society, Vol.37), 1907, p.223. In the summer of 1786, the Empress Catherine, in the context of tense negotiations on a renewed treaty of commerce, had emphasised her control over this vital commodity by asking the merchants who supplied it to restrict sales to English buyers: “the Empress has contrary to Custom speculated on this Commodity”, complained the author of a subsequent memorandum to the Home Secretary. "It is unnecessary", said the memorandum, "to remark the Consequences which might result from a prohibition of supply from that Quarter altogether".Memorandum to Grenville on the Trade of Canada, 4 November 1789, National Archives, Kew, CO 42/66, ff.403-7; cited in Alan Frost, Convicts and Empire, a Naval Question, Melbourne, Oxford UP, 1980, pp.137, 218. This implicit threat to the viability of the Royal Navy became apparent in mid-September (a month after the decision had been taken to settle Botany Bay) and caused the Pitt Administration to begin an urgent search for new sources of supply, including from Norfolk Island, which was then added to the plan to colonise New South Wales.
The decision to settle Norfolk Island was taken under the impetus of the shock Britain had just received from Empress Catherine II of Russia. Practically all, the hemp and flax required by the Royal Navy for cordage and sailcloth was imported from the Russian dominions throu:gh the ports of St. Petersburg (Kronstadt) and Riga. Comptroller of the Navy Sir Charles Middleton explained to Prime Minister Pitt in a letter of 5 September 1786: "It is for Hemp only we are dependent on Russia. Masts can be procured from Nova Scotia, and Iron in plenty from the Ores of this Country; but as it is impracticable to carry on a Naval War without Hemp, it is materially necessary to promote the growth of it in this Country and Ireland".The Letters and Papers of Charles Middleton, Lord Barham, Vol.2, (Navy Records. Society, Vol.37), 1907, p.223. In the summer of 1786, the Empress Catherine, in the context of tense negotiations on a renewed treaty of commerce, had emphasised her contr.ol over this vital commodity by asking the merchants who supplied it to restrict sales to English buyers: “the Empress has contrary to Custom speculated on this Commodity”, complained the author of a subsequent memorandum to the Home Secretary. "It is unnecessary", said the memorandum, "to remark the Consequences which might result from a prohibition of supply from that Quarter altogether".Memorandum to Grenville on the Trade of Canada, 4 November 1789, National Archives, Kew, CO 42/66, ff.403-7; cited in Alan Frost, Convicts and Empire, a Naval Question, Melbourne, Oxford UP, 1980, pp.137, 218. This implicit threat to the viability of the Royal Navy became apparent in mid-September (a month after the decision had been taken: to settle Botany Bay) and caused the Pitt Administration to begin an urgent search for new sources of supply, including from Norfolk Island, which was then added to the plan to colonise New South Wales.