Editing Gregor MacGregor (section)

===Disappointment===
''Honduras Packet'' reached the Black River in November 1822. Bemused to find a country rather different from the ''Sketch''{{'}}s descriptions, and no sign of St Joseph, the emigrants set up camp on the shore, assuming that the Poyaisian authorities would soon contact them. They sent numerous search parties inland; one, guided by natives who recognised the name St Joseph, found some long-forgotten foundations and rubble.{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|pp=88–91}}{{#tag:ref|St Joseph had been a real place in the Black River settlement of the 18th century, but had never reached anything close to the level of development described by MacGregor's publicity material.{{sfn|Hasbrouck|1927|pp=441, 445}}|group="n"|name="stjoseph"}} Hall quickly came to the private conclusion that MacGregor must have duped them, but reasoned that announcing such concerns prematurely would only demoralise the party and cause chaos.{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|pp=102–104}} A few weeks after their arrival, the captain of the ''Honduras Packet'' abruptly and unilaterally sailed away amid a fierce storm; the emigrants found themselves alone apart from the natives and two American hermits.{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|pp=88–91}}{{refn|''Honduras Packet'' had remained anchored off the mouth of the river as the emigrants gradually unloaded their supplies. Some of the provisions and medicines were still in the hold when the ship sailed away; she did not return.{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|pp=88–91}}|group="n"|name="honduraspacketsailed"}} Comforting the settlers with vague assurances that the Poyaisian government would find them if they just stayed where they were, Hall set out for Cape Gracias a Dios, hoping to make contact with the Mosquito king or find another ship. Most of the emigrants found it impossible to believe that the Cazique had deliberately misled them, and posited that blame must lie elsewhere, or that there must have been some terrible misunderstanding.{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|pp=88-92}}

{{Quote box|align=right|width=39%
|quote=... disease seized upon them and spread rapidly. Lack of proper food and water, and failure to take the requisite sanitary precautions, brought on intermittent fever and dysentery.&nbsp;... Whole families were ill. Most of the sufferers lay on the ground without other protection from the sun and rain than a few leaves and branches thrown across some sticks. Many were so weak as to be unable to crawl to the woods for the common offices of nature. The stench arising from the filth they were in was unendurable.
|source=The Poyais emigrants' situation, as described by Alfred Hasbrouck in 1927{{sfn|Hasbrouck|1927|p=448}}|quoted = 1}}
The second set of colonists disembarked from the ''Kennersley Castle'' in late March 1823. Their optimism was quickly extinguished.{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|pp=85–88}} Hall returned in April with disheartening news: he had found no ship that could help and, far from considering them any responsibility of his, King George Frederic Augustus had not even been aware of their presence. The ''Kennersley Castle'' having sailed, MacGregor's victims could count on no assistance in the near future. The emigrants had brought ample provisions with them, including medicines, and had two doctors among them, so they were not in a totally hopeless situation, but apart from Hall none of the military officers, government officials or civil servants appointed by MacGregor made any serious attempt to organise the party.{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|pp=95–98}}

Hall returned to Cape Gracias a Dios several times to seek help, but did not explain his constant absences to the settlers—this exacerbated the general confusion and anger, particularly when he refused to pay the wages promised to those supposedly on Poyaisian government contracts. With the coming of the [[Wet season|rainy season]] insects infested the camp, diseases such as [[malaria]] and [[yellow fever]] took hold, and the emigrants sank into utter despair.{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|pp=100–102}} James Hastie, a Scottish [[Sawyer (occupation)|sawyer]] who had brought his wife and three children with him, later wrote: "It seemed to be the will of Providence that every circumstance should combine for our destruction."{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|pp=98–100}} Another settler, the would-be royal shoemaker, who had left a family in Edinburgh, shot himself.{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|p=230}}{{refn|Separately from Hall, a small group of settlers attempted to reach [[British Honduras]], about {{convert|500|nmi}} to the north-west, in canoes. The flimsy vessels they built almost immediately foundered, and one man drowned.{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|pp=230–232}}|group="n"|name="canoes"}}

The schooner ''Mexican Eagle'', from British Honduras carrying the Chief Magistrate of [[Belize City|Belize]], Marshal Bennet, to the Mosquito king's court, discovered the settlers in early May 1823. Seven men and three children had died, and many more were sick. Bennet informed them that Poyais did not exist and that he had never heard of this Cazique they spoke of. He advised them to return with him to British Honduras, as they would surely die if they stayed where they were. The majority preferred to wait for Hall to come back, hopefully with news of passage back to Britain. About half a week later Hall returned with the Mosquito king, who announced that MacGregor's land grant was revoked forthwith. He had never granted MacGregor the title of Cazique, he said, nor given him the right to sell land or raise loans against it; the emigrants were in fact in George Frederic Augustus's territory illegally and would have to leave unless they pledged allegiance to him. All the settlers left except for about 40 who were too weakened by disease to make the journey.{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|pp=232–236}}

Transported aboard the cramped ''Mexican Eagle''—the lack of space necessitated three trips—the emigrants were in miserable shape when they reached Belize, and in most cases had to be carried from the ship. The weather in British Honduras was even worse than that at the Black River, and the colony's authorities and doctors could do little to help the new arrivals. Disease spread rapidly among the settlers and most of them died. The colony's superintendent, Major-General Edward Codd, opened an official investigation to "lay open the true situation of the imaginary State of Poyais and&nbsp;... the unfortunate emigrants", and sent word to Britain of the Poyais settlers' fate.{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|pp=236–240}} By the time the warning reached London, MacGregor had five more emigrant ships on the way; the Royal Navy  intercepted them.{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|pp=236–240}} A third vessel—{{ship||Skene|1816 ship|2}}, carrying 105 more Scottish emigrants—arrived at the Black River, but on seeing the abandoned colony the master Captain John Wilson sailed on to Belize and disembarked his passengers there.{{sfn|Codd|1824|pp=160–165}} The fourth and last ship to arrive was {{ship||Albion|1800 Whitehaven ship|2}}, which arrived at Belize in November 1823, but which was carrying provisions, arms, and stores and not passengers. The cargo was sold locally at auction.{{sfn|Codd|1824|pp=139–147}} The surviving colonists variously settled in the United States, remained in British Honduras, or sailed for home aboard the ''Ocean'', a British vessel that left Belize on 1 August 1823. Some died during the journey back across the Atlantic. Of the roughly 250 who had sailed on ''Honduras Packet'' and ''Kennersley Castle'', at least 180 had perished. Fewer than 50 ever returned to Britain.{{sfn|Sinclair|2004|pp=236–240}}
{{see also|List of ships of the Poyais scheme}}