The "Success" arrived at Fort Dundas on Melville Island on 25 July and set sail again four days later for Madras, and then to Penang, to report to Admiral Gage, Commander of the Eastern Station. Stirling was keen to return home to see his family and to further his case for a settlement at the Swan River. However, Gage instructed him to base the "Success" in Trincomalee Harbour, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), where he arrived on 4 January 1828. There he succumbed rapidly to the tropical climate and on 21 February three Royal Navy surgeons certified that he was so ill he should return immediately to England.