matthew flinders voyage to terra australis

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Flinders circumnavigates Australia

1801–03: Matthew Flinders circumnavigates the continent that he names ‘Australia’

Bronze statue of Matthew Flinders' cat, Trim. Flinders described Trim as, 'The sporting, affectionate and useful companion of my voyages during four years', as he circumnavigated Australia. National Museum of Australia

British explorer Matthew Flinders was the first person to circumnavigate Australia. Flinders charted much previously unknown coastline, and the maps he produced were the first to accurately depict Australia as we now know it.

Flinders proved Australia was a single continent. By using the name ‘Australia’ in his maps and writings, he helped the word enter common usage.

Flinders in Voyage to Terra Australis , 1814:

Had I permitted myself any innovation upon the original term Terra Australis, it would have been to convert it into Australia; as being more agreeable to the ear, and as an assimilation to the names of the other great portions of the earth.

Flinders’ early career

Inspired by reading Robinson Crusoe , Matthew Flinders (1774–1814) joined the Navy as a midshipman in 1789 at the age of 15. He served on William Bligh’s second (and successful) voyage to Tahiti. It was here that Flinders honed the navigation skills that mark him as one of Britain’s most accomplished explorers.

In 1795 Flinders sailed to Sydney from where he made two short expeditions with the naval surgeon George Bass. The men, both in their early twenties, explored Botany Bay and the Georges River, and later Lake Illawarra. The boats they used for each of the expeditions were no more than three metres long.

Flinders also spent time on Norfolk Island and was sent to Cape Town to bring back livestock.

Van Diemen’s Land and Bass Strait

In 1798 Governor John Hunter gave Flinders, now a lieutenant, command of the sloop Norfolk and in this he and Bass circumnavigated Van Diemen’s Land, proving it to be an island. Flinders named the strait between the mainland and Van Diemen’s Land after his friend.

After exploring part of the Queensland coast, Flinders returned to England in 1800. The following year he published the findings of his expeditions, Observations on the Coasts of Van Diemen’s Land, on Bass’s Strait and its Islands, and on Part of the Coasts of New South Wales.

Circumnavigation of Australia

Flinders’ book won him some acclaim and he was able to persuade Sir Joseph Banks to support his proposal to explore the entire Australian coast.

Banks, who had great influence with the British Admiralty, backed Flinders because he was concerned that the French had designs on Australia. Banks knew that the explorer Nicolas Baudin was embarking on an expedition to explore the continent for Napoleon Bonaparte.

The Admiralty approved and financed the Flinders expedition. Promoted to commander, Flinders was given command of HMS Investigator in February 1801 and ordered to start his expedition by charting ‘the Unknown Coast’, namely the eastern part of the Great Australian Bight.

One of the purposes of the expedition was to establish whether New Holland (western Australia) and New South Wales (eastern Australia) were parts of the same continent.

The Investigator ’s stream anchor, recovered after 170 years on the seabed in the Recherche Archipelago, Western Australia. National Museum of Australia

Investigator

The Investigator was a collier, like James Cook’s vessels. She was eight metres wide and 33 long.

Her flat bottom made her suitable for exploration work, as she could navigate shallow waters and would remain upright if she ran aground.

Flinders arranged improvements for the Investigator , ensuring that more of her hull was copper-coated and that she was provided with additional boats.

Three months before sailing for Australia, Flinders married Ann Chappell whom he had hoped to take with him.

However, permission was refused and Ann stayed in England. Though the voyage was expected to take four years, the couple were not to see one another for nine.

Flinders sailed from England on 18 July 1801 and less than six months later arrived at Point Leeuwin – Australia’s south-western tip.

He headed east and arrived in Fowler Bay in South Australia on 28 January 1802. He then explored Kangaroo Island, the Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent.

In April 1802 Flinders came across Baudin in what he named Encounter Bay where the Murray River empties into the Great Australian Bight.

Baudin was dismayed to find that Flinders had already mapped the nearby coastline. However, the meeting was cordial and Flinders told Baudin about food and water available on Kangaroo Island.

Flinders then set sail for Sydney, which he reached on 9 May 1802. Soon after, he again met Baudin, who had been forced to find refuge in the English colony because his crew were so debilitated by scurvy.

Flinders overhauled the Investigator and let his crew recuperate before heading north on 22 July 1802.

Portrait of Matthew Flinders, RN, 1774–1814 , Toussaint Antoine De Chazal De Chamerel, 1806–07, Mauritius, oil on canvas 65 x 50 cm. Gift of David Roche in memory of his father, JDK Roche, and the South Australian Government 2000, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide

Encounters with Aboriginal men

Two Aboriginal men named Bungaree and Nanbaree accompanied him. Bungaree had the delicate task of negotiating with local tribes whenever Flinders wanted to go ashore.

Though Bungaree did not speak the languages of those he encountered, he did at least know many of the required cultural protocols and would have been of great value to the expedition.

Flinders carefully mapped the southern Queensland coast then passed through the Torres Strait into the Gulf of Carpentaria.

There it became clear that the half-rotten and badly leaking Investigator would not be able to make the return journey to England.

Reluctantly, Flinders decided to return to Sydney, continuing anti-clockwise around Australia. To do this quickly and safely meant he was unable to chart much of the western coast with the same rigour.

Maps for much of the west coast had been created by the Dutch in the 17th century.

Flinders arrived in the colony on 9 June 1803, nearly a year after leaving Port Jackson. Scurvy and dysentery had plagued the crew, and several had died of these and other causes.

But the journey had been a remarkable feat of navigation. It meant that Flinders, his crew and their two Aboriginal passengers were the first people to circumnavigate the entire continent.

Under arrest in Mauritius

In August 1803, keen to complete his surveying work of the Torres Strait in particular, Flinders set sail as a passenger on HMS Porpoise .

Unfortunately, the ship struck a reef off Queensland. Before the ship sank, everyone on board found refuge on a nearby island. Flinders navigated one of the ship’s boats 1127 kilometres back to Sydney where he arranged the rescue of the 94 other survivors.

The Governor of New South Wales, Philip Gidley King, complied with Admiralty orders by helping Flinders in every possible way. However, in his haste to return to England, Flinders accepted command of the schooner Cumberland , a very small vessel that proved barely seaworthy.

This forced him to seek help at Mauritius, which was then ruled by the French. Flinders arrived there on 17 December 1803, unaware that seven months earlier England and France had once again gone to war.

The French governor, General Charles de Caen, had earlier fought against the British. He and Flinders clashed and the relationship worsened due to Flinders’ tactless handling of the governor at their first meeting.

Flinders had a French passport, but it had been issued for the Investigator . Baudin had earlier written to de Caen suggesting he extend hospitality towards the English and Flinders in particular because of their friendly meeting at Encounter Bay and the help rendered him at Sydney.

However, De Caen ignored these requests and put Flinders under arrest. He held Flinders on Mauritius for six years, disregarding orders from Paris to set him free.

This might have been motivated in part by personal animosity but de Caen was concerned that Flinders was a spy, or that he would at least reveal to the British how poorly defended Mauritius was.

But Flinders had the freedom of the island and he put the time to good use, forming close friendships and working on his journals and papers.

It was only when the British fleet blockaded the island that de Caen released Flinders, in June 1810.

Final years

In October 1810 Flinders finally returned home to England and his wife, with whom he subsequently had a daughter.

While Flinders languished on Mauritius, the account of Baudin’s voyage had been published by the expedition’s zoologist, François Péron. Baudin himself had died on Mauritius shortly before Flinders had arrived there. Baudin’s expedition was an impressive achievement and certainly more scientifically fruitful than that of Flinders.

However, Péron assigned French names to features first named by Flinders to whom he gave no credit of discovery at all.

Now promoted to post captain, Flinders spent four years setting the record straight in his magnum opus, A Voyage to Terra Australis . But his health was failing, having developed a bladder condition that was probably the result of gonorrhoea he contracted in Tahiti 20 years before.

Flinders died at the age of 40 on 18 July 1814 – the day after his book was published. A copy was placed in his hands but he was already unconscious. He died without seeing it.

General chart of Terra Australis or Australia by Matthew Flinders. This is the first map of Australia depicting it as a single continent. Flinders marked the coastline he charted himself with heavier lines. The map also shows his route. Tooley Collection, National Library of Australia T 1494

Mapping the continent

Flinders wrote to Sir Joseph Banks from Mauritius in 1804 enclosing his map of Australia. This map, and subsequent versions, were the first to present an accurate depiction of the continent.

Much of Australia’s coast had already been mapped, but Flinders came close to completing the picture. With great care and accuracy, he filled in enormous gaps, such as Bass Strait and the eastern part of the Great Australian Bight, and improved existing charts of Queensland and the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Most importantly he was able to show that Australia was a single continent.

He did this all in a ship that was barely seaworthy for much of the voyage, while enduring, along with his crew, a variety of privations and diseases over extended periods.

Naming the continent

Because the expedition proved that New South Wales in the east and New Holland in the west were the two halves of one landmass it was clear to Flinders that the continent needed a new name.

He labelled the map A chart of Terra Australis or Australia – Terra Australis meaning ‘southern land’, which was in common usage to describe the large southern landmass that was thought to ‘balance’ the great landmasses of the northern hemisphere.

The name ‘Australia’ had appeared in print before, again to describe the legendary southern landmass. The earliest printing of the name appears on a world map in a German astronomical treatise published in 1545.

The name appeared in English works 80 years later and was used occasionally after that, mostly in books. It is not clear whether Flinders knew of the word, or whether he coined it himself.

Banks did not support using ‘Australia’ and prevailed on Flinders to retain the Latin term, which he did in the title of his book. However, Flinders added the footnote quoted above, in which he indicates the term he preferred.

In 1817 Governor Macquarie received a copy of A Voyage to Terra Australis and used the term ‘Australia’ in his correspondence from then on. Britain formally named the continent Australia in 1824 and by the end of that decade it was in common usage.

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A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1

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A Voyage to Terra Australis Vol 2

Matthew flinders.

PRODUCTION NOTES: Notes referred to in the book (*) are shown in square brackets ([ ]) at the end of the paragraph in which the note is indicated. References to the charts have been retained though the charts are not reproduced in the ebook. The original punctuation and spelling and the use of italics and capital letters to highlight words and phrases have, for the most part, been retained. I think they help maintain the "feel" of the book, which was published over 200 years ago. Flinders notes in the preface that "I heard it declared that a man who published a quarto volume without an index ought to be set in the pillory, and being unwilling to incur the full rigour of this sentence, a running title has been affixed to all the pages; on one side is expressed the country or coast, and on the opposite the particular part where the ship is at anchor or which is the immediate subject of examination; this, it is hoped, will answer the main purpose of an index, without swelling the volumes." This treatment is, of course, not possible, where there are no defined pages. However, Flinders' running titles are included at appropriate places where they seem relevant. These, together with the Notes which, in the book, appear in the margin, are represented as line headings with a blank line before and after them. Colin Choat

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

[facsimile edition, 1966].

This chart was published in 1814. It did NOT appear in A Voyage to Terra Australis.

A VOYAGE TO TERRA AUSTRALIS

Table of contents..

TRANSACTIONS DURING THE CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF TERRA AUSTRALIS, FROM THE TIME OF LEAVING PORT JACKSON TO THE RETURN TO THAT PORT.

CHAPTER II.

The Keppel Isles, and coast to Cape Manifold. A new port discovered and examined. Harvey's Isles. A new passage into Shoal-water Bay. View from Mount Westall. A boat lost. The upper parts of Shoal-water Bay examined. Some account of the country and inhabitants. General remarks on the bay. Astronomical and nautical observations.

CHAPTER III.

Departure from Shoal-water Bay, and anchorage in Thirsty Sound. Magnetical observations. Boat excursion to the nearest Northumberland Islands. Remarks on Thirsty Sound. Observations at West Hill, Broad Sound. Anchorage near Upper Head. Expedition to the head of Broad Sound: another round Long Island. Remarks on Broad Sound, and the surrounding country. Advantages for a colony. Astronomical observations, and remarks on the high tides.

CHAPTER IV.

The Percy Isles: anchorage at No. 2. Boat excursions. Remarks on the Percy Isles; with nautical observations. Coral reefs: courses amongst them during eleven days search for a passage through, to sea. Description of a reef. Anchorage at an eastern Cumberland Isle. The Lady Nelson sent back to Port Jackson. Continuation of coral reefs; and courses amongst them during three other days. Cape Gloucester. An opening discovered, and the reefs quitted. General remarks on the Great Barrier; with some instruction relative to the opening.

Passage from the Barrier Reefs to Torres' Strait. Reefs named Eastern Fields. Pandora's Entrance to the Strait. Anchorage at Murray's Islands. Communication with the inhabitants. Half-way Island. Notions on the formation of coral islands in general. Prince of Wales's Islands, with remarks on them. Wallis' Isles. Entrance into the Gulph of Carpentaria. Review of the passage through Torres' Strait.

CHAPTER VI.

Examination of the coast on the east side of the Gulph of Carpentaria. Landing at Coen River. Head of the Gulph. Anchorage at Sweers' Island. Interview with Indians at Horse-shoe Island. Investigator's Road. The ship found to be in a state of decay. General remarks on the islands at the Head of the Gulph, and their inhabitants. Astronomical and nautical observations.

CHAPTER VII.

Departure from Sweers' Island. South side of C. Van Diemen examined. Anchorage at Bountiful Island: turtle and sharks there. Land of C. Van Diemen proved to be an island. Examination of the main coast to Cape Vanderlin. That cape found to be one of a group of islands. Examination of the islands; their soil, etc. Monument of the natives. Traces of former visitors to these parts. Astronomical and nautical observations.

CHAPTER VIII.

Departure from Sir Edward Pellew's Group. Coast from thence westward. Cape Maria found to be an island. Limmen's Bight. Coast northward to Cape Barrow: landing on it. Circumnavigation of Groote Eylandt. Specimens of native art at Chasm Island. Anchorage in North-west Bay, Groote Eylandt; with remarks and nautical observations. Blue-mud Bay. Skirmish with the natives. Cape Shield. Mount Grindall. Coast to Caledon Bay. Occurrences in that bay, with remarks on the country and inhabitants. Astronomical and nautical observations.

CHAPTER IX.

Departure from Caledon Bay. Cape Arnhem. Melville Bay. Cape Wilberforce, and Bromby's Isles. The English Company's Islands: meeting there with vessels from Macassar. Arnhem Bay. The Wessel's Islands. Further examination of the North Coast postponed. Arrival at Coepang Bay, in Timor. Remarks and astronomical observations.

Departure from Timor. Search made for the Trial Rocks. Anchorage in Goose-Island Bay. Interment of the boatswain, and sickly state of the ship's company. Escape from the bay, and passage through Bass' Strait. Arrival at Port Jackson. Losses in men. Survey and condemnation of the ship. Plans for continuing the survey; but preparation finally made for returning to England. State of the colony at Port Jackson.

CHAPTER XI.

Advantages of this passage over that round New Guinea.

OCCURRENCES FROM THE TIME OF QUITTING PORT JACKSON IN 1803, TO ARRIVING IN ENGLAND IN 1810.

Departure from Port Jackson in the Porpoise, accompanied by the Bridgewater and Cato. The Cato's Bank. Shipwreck of the Porpoise and Cato in the night. The crews get on a sand bank; where they are left by the Bridgewater. Provisions saved. Regulations on the bank. Measures adopted for getting back to Port Jackson. Description of Wreck-Reef Bank. Remarks on the loss of M. de La Pérouse.

Departure from Wreck-Reef Bank in a boat. Boisterous weather. The Coast of New South Wales reached, and followed. Natives at Point Look-out. Landing near Smoky Cape; and again near Port Hunter. Arrival at Port Jackson on the thirteenth day. Return to Wreck Reef with a ship and two schooners. Arrangements at the Bank. Account of the reef, with nautical and other remarks.

Passage in the Cumberland to Torres' Strait. Eastern Fields and Pandora's Entrance. New channels amongst the reefs. Anchorage at Half-way Island, and under the York Isles. Prince of Wales's Islands further examined. Booby Isle. Passage across the Gulph of Carpentaria. Anchorage at Wessel's Islands. Passage to Coepang Bay, in Timor; and to Mauritius, where the leakiness of the Cumberland makes it necessary to stop. Anchorage at the Baye du Cap, and departure for Port Louis.

Arrival at Port Louis (or North-West) in Mauritius. Interview with the French governor. Seizure of the Cumberland, with the charts and journals of the Investigator's voyage; and imprisonment of the commander and people. Letters to the governor, with his answer. Restitution of some books and charts. Friendly act of the English interpreter. Propositions made to the governor. Humane conduct of captain Bergeret. Reflections on a voyage of discovery. Removal to the Maison Despeaux or Garden Prison.

Prisoners in the Maison Despeaux or Garden Prison. Application to admiral Linois. Spy-glasses and swords taken. Some papers restored. Opinions upon the detention of the Cumberland. Letter of captain Baudin. An English squadron arrives off Mauritius: its consequences. Arrival of a French officer with despatches, and observations thereon. Passages in the Moniteur, with remarks. Mr. Aken liberated. Arrival of cartels from India. Application made by the marquis Wellesley. Different treatment of English and French prisoners. Prizes brought to Mauritius in sixteen months. Departure of all prisoners of war. Permission to quit the Garden Prison. Astronomical observations.

Parole given. Journey into the interior of Mauritius. The governor's country seat. Residence at the Refuge, in that Part of Williems Plains called Vacouas. Its situation and climate, with the mountains, rivers, cascades, and views near it. The Mare aux Vacouas and Grand Bassin. State of cultivation and produce of Vacouas; its black ebony, game, and wild fruits; and freedom from noxious insects.

Occupations at Vacouas. Hospitality of the inhabitants. Letters from England. Refusal to be sent to France repeated. Account of two hurricanes, of a subterraneous stream and circular pit. Habitation of La Pérouse. Letters to the French marine minister, National Institute, etc. Letters from Sir Edward Pellew. Caverns in the Plains of St. Piérre. Visit to Port Louis. Narrative transmitted to England. Letter to captain Bergeret on his departure for France.

Effects of repeated disappointment on the mind. Arrival of a cartel, and of letters from India. Letter of the French marine minister. Restitution of papers. Applications for liberty evasively answered. Attempted seizure of private letters. Memorial to the minister. Encroachments made at Paris on the Investigator's discoveries. Expected attack on Mauritius produces an abridgment of Liberty. Strict blockade. Arrival of another cartel from India. State of the public finances in Mauritius. French cartel sails for the Cape of Good Hope.

A prospect of liberty, which is officially confirmed. Occurrences during eleven weeks residence in the town of Port Louis and on board the Harriet cartel. Parole and certificates. Departure from Port Louis, and embarkation in the Otter. Eulogium on the inhabitants of Mauritius. Review of the conduct of general De Caen. Passage to the Cape of Good Hope, and after seven weeks stay, from thence to England. Conclusion.

Account of the observations by which the Longitudes of places on the east and north coasts of Terra Australis have been settled.

On the errors of the compass arising from attractions within the ship, and others from the magnetism of land; with precautions for obviating their effects in marine surveying.

General Remarks, geographical and systematical, on the Botany of Terra Australis. By ROBERT BROWN, F. R. S. Acad. Reg. Scient. Berolin. Corresp. NATURALIST TO THE VOYAGE.

A LIST OF THE PLATES, WITH DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER.

View of Port Bowen, from behind the Watering Gully.

View of Murray's Islands, with the natives offering to barter.

View in Sir Edward Pellew's Group--Gulph of Carpentaria.

View of Malay Road, from Pobassoo's Island.

View of Wreck-Reef Bank, taken at low water.

VII. Particular chart of Van Diemen's Land. (Detail from Plate VII.)

XVIII. Thirteen views on the east and north coasts, and one of Samow Strait. (Detail from Plate XVIII.)

Ten plates of selected plants from different parts of Terra Australis. (Detail from Plate 10.)

[Errata have been corrected in this ebook]

Departure from Port Jackson, with the Lady Nelson. Examination of various parts of the East Coast, from thence to Sandy Cape. Break-sea Spit. Anchorage in Hervey's Bay, where the Lady Nelson joins after a separation. Some account of the inhabitants. Variations of the compass. Run to Bustard Bay. Port Curtis discovered, and examined. Some account of the surrounding country. Arrival in Keppel Bay, and examination of its branches, one of which leads into Port Curtis. Some account of the natives, and of the country round Keppel Bay. Astronomical and nautical observations.

[* The latitude 24° 4' was observed on board the Endeavour, at anchor here; by whom is uncertain, but it was not by captain Cook or Mr. Green. In the Astronomical Observations of the voyage, p. 134, Mr. Wales, in deducing the position of Bustard Bay, takes no notice of this observation, and omits the latitude.]

[* A cluster of low islands, about fifteen leagues from the coast, was seen in the following year by Mr. Bunker, commander of the Albion, south whaler. He described the cluster to be of considerable extent, and as lying in latitude 23¾°, and longitude about 152½°; or nearly a degree to the eastward of the low isle above mentioned. It is probably to these islands, whose existence captain Cook suspected, that the great flights of boobies he saw in Hervey's Bay retire at night.]

[* A painting was made of this view, and is now in the Admiralty; but it has not been engraved for the voyage.]

[* What we called sea cucumbers, from their shape, appears to have been the bêche de mer , or trepang ; of which the Chinese make a soup, much esteemed in that country for its supposed invigorating qualities.]

[* "On the 5th, boats were again sent to sound the passage. Several large sailing canoes were seen; and the cutter making the signal for assistance, the pinnace was sent to her, well manned and armed. On the return of the boats in the afternoon, it appeared, that, of four canoes which used their efforts to get up to the cutter, one succeeded. . . ."]

[** "After having gone entirely round the island, and seen nothing of the object of his research, Mr. Dell returned to the first cove; where a great concourse of natives, armed with bows, arrows, clubs, and lances, were assembled at the outskirt of the wood. . . ."]

[* "Their arms were bows, arrows, and clubs, which they bartered for every kind of iron work with eagerness; but appeared to set little value on any thing else. The bows are made of split bamboo; and so strong, that no man in the ship could bend one of them. The string is a broad slip of cane, fixed to one end of the bow; and fitted with a noose, to go over the other end, when strung. The arrow is a cane of about four feet long, into which a pointed piece of the hard, heavy, casuarina wood, is firmly and neatly fitted; and some of them were barbed. Their clubs are made of the casuarina , and are powerful weapons. The hand part is indented, and has a small knob, by which the firmness of the grasp is much assisted; and the heavy end is usually carved with some device: One had the form of a parrot's head, with a ruff round the neck; and was not ill done."]

[* Mr. Wales deduces from captain Cook's observations in the Endeavour, that the error of his chart here, is 35' west ( Astron. Observations , p. 131).]

[* The apparent error of 24½' in the first longitude, is greater than should exist in the mean result of six sets of distances. There is an interval of three days in the observations of the moon at Greenwich with which these distances were compared; and it seems probable that a great part of the error might arise from that cause.]

[* In Van Diemen's Land, according to captain Cook and succeeding visitors, and on the North-west Coast, according to Dampier, the inhabitants have woolly hair; in which particular they are different from the race above mentioned. Which of them may be aborigines can be only conjectured, until the interior of the new continent shall be explored.]

[* This multiplicity of tongues in the same country presents an extraordinary contrast with the islands in the Great Ocean, where, from the Sandwich Isles near the northern tropic, to the furthest extremity of New Zeeland in 47° south, the language is almost every where the same; and with so little difference of dialect, that the several inhabitants have not much difficulty to understand each other.]

[* A question suggests itself here: Could the natives of the west side of the Gulph of Carpentaria have learned the rite of circumcision from these Malay Mahometans? From the short period that the latter had frequented the coast, and the nature of the intercourse between the two people, it seems to me very little probable.]

Pursuant to an order from His Excellency Philip Gidley King, esquire, principal commander of His Majesty's ship Buffalo. We whose names are hereunto subscribed, have been on board His Majesty's ship Investigator, and taken a strict, careful, and minute survey of her defects, the state of which we find to be as follows. One plank immediately above the wales being ripped off all round the ship, we began the examination on the larbord side forward; and out of ninety-eight timbers we find eleven to be sound, so far as the ripping off of one plank enables us to see into them, ten of which are amongst the aftermost timbers. Sixty-three of the remaining timbers are so far rotten as to make it necessary to shift them; and the remaining twenty-four entirely rotten, and these are principally in the bow and the middle of the ship. On the starbord side forward we have minutely examined eighty-nine timbers, out of which we find only five sound; fifty-six are so far decayed as to require shifting, and the remaining twenty-eight are entirely rotten. The sound timbers are in the after part of the ship, and those totally decayed lie principally in the bow. The stemson is so far decayed, principally in its outer part, as to make it absolutely necessary to be shifted. As far as we could examine under the counter, both plank and timbers are rotten, and consequently necessary to be shifted. We find generally, that the plank on both sides is so far decayed as to require shifting, even had the timbers been sound. The above being the state of the Investigator thus far, we think it altogether unnecessary to make any further examination; being unanimously of opinion that she is not worth repairing in any country, and that it is impossible in this country to put her in a state fit for going to sea. And we do further declare, that we have taken this survey with such care and circumspection, that we are ready, if required, to make oath to the veracity and impartiality of our proceedings. Given under our hands on board the said ship in Sydney Cove, this 14th June 1803. (Signed) W. Scott, Commander of H. M. armed vessel Porpoise. E. H. Palmer, Commander of the Hon. East-India-Company's extra ship Bridgewater. Thomas Moore, Master builder to the Territory of New South Wales.

Government House, Sydney, July 10, 1803. I inclose the report of the survey on the Porpoise, and am much concerned that the repairs and alterations of that ship will re quire so much time to complete her fit for the service you have to execute. This being the case, I can see no other alternatives than the following: 1. To wait the Porpoise being repaired and refitted. 2. To purchase the Rolla, and fit her. 3. To take the Lady Nelson and colonial schooner Francis. 4. Wait for the Buffalo's return from India, which will be about the next January; or 5. Return to England and solicit another ship to complete what you have so successfully begun. On the first point, you will be the best able to determine how far it would be advisable to wait so long a time for the Porpoise's repairs, nor do I think they can be completed in a less time here. The builder and your carpenter report to me, that the Rolla cannot be put into the least convenient state to receive your establishment, stores, and provisions, in less than six months. It must also be considered that she grounded on the Brake with a full cargo; from which cause, some defects may appear to render her useless in a shorter period than you can finish your voyage. Added to which, I do not consider myself justified in assuming the responsibility of giving £11,550. for little more than the hull, masts, and rigging of that ship; nor will the master, as he informs me, take less. If you think the Lady Nelson and Francis schooner equal to execute what you have to finish, they are at your service. The latter being absent getting coals and cedar, I cannot say what state she may be in; although she will require considerable repairs to make her fit for a long voyage. The Buffalo is now inspecting the islands to the eastward of Java, to ascertain whether breeding stock can be procured among them. That service performed, she proceeds to Calcutta for a cargo of cows, and may be expected about January, when she may want some repairs, and of course fitting. It is my intention, if you do not fix on her, to profit by your discovery in stocking this colony with breeding animals, by the safe and expeditious channel you have opened through Torres' Strait. If you do not consider waiting for the Porpoise's repairs advisable, it is my intention to send her to England by a summer's passage round Cape Horn; which it is thought she may perform in her present state. But should you conceive it may ultimately forward the service you are employed on, to go to England in her, leaving this port when you judge proper, and taking the route most conducive to perfectioning any part of the surveys you have commenced; I shall direct the commander of that ship to receive you and as many of your officers and people as can be accommodated, as passengers; and to follow your directions and give you every assistance in every circumstance connected with the execution of the orders you have received from my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. You will, Sir, have the goodness to consider of the above and whatever the result of your deliberation may be, I will most cheerfully give my concurrence and assistance; knowing that your zealous perseverance in wishing to complete the service you have so beneficially commenced, could only be impeded by unforeseen and distressing circumstances; but which I hope, for the benefit of science and navigation, will only be a temporary delay. I am, etc. (Signed), Philip Gidley King.

[* The most expeditious passage known to have been made through the Strait, previously to the Investigator, was that of captains Bligh and Portlock, in nineteen days; the account of which, as also, that of Messrs. Bampton and Alt in the Introduction, a commander should previously read with the chart before him; and if he do the same with the passage of the Investigator, in Chapter V. of this Book II., and that of the Cumberland in Chapter III. following, he will have a tolerably correct notion of the dangers in Torres' Strait, and of the advantage in pursuing the route above described.]

OCCURRENCES FROM THE TIME OF QUITTING PORT JACKSON, IN 1803, ARRIVING IN ENGLAND IN 1810.

[* When a merchant ship is lost, the seamen not only cease to be in pay, but lose all wages due to them after the last delivery of the cargo; and the sole interest they have to save the stores, even of their own ship, is for the preservation of themselves, or the prospect of being rewarded by the owners or insurers.]

>[* Against a British seaman filling a respectable situation, these are heavy charges; but Mr. Palmer is himself the authority. The following extracts from his account are taken from a Calcutta paper, the Orphan of Feb. 3, 1804. The Bridgewater, he says, "was just beginning to draw off, when the Porpoise was scarcely a ship's length to leeward, settling with her head towards us, and her broadside upon the reef; her foremast was gone and the sea breaking over her. At this moment we perceived the Cato within half a cable's length, standing stem on for us. I hailed to put their helm a-starboard, by which means she just cleared us, and luffed up under our stern; had she fallen on board of us the consequences must have been dreadful indeed." On the 18th, "When the day was broke, we had the mortification to perceive the Cato had shared the fate of the Porpoise; the bow and bow sprit of the latter only at intervals appearing through the surf. (The Porpoise and Cato were mistaken for each other.) The latter lay with her bottom exposed to the sea, which broke with tremendous fury over her; not a mast standing. Finding we could not weather the reef, and that it was too late had it been in our power to give any assistance ; and still fearing that we might be embayed or entangled by the supposed chain or patches; all therefore that remained for us to do was either by dint of carrying sail to weather the reef to the southward, (meaning the Cato's Bank,) or, if failing in that, to push to leeward and endeavour to find a passage through the patches of reef to the northward. At ten a.m., we found by chronometer we had got considerably to the westward; and that it would be impossible, with the wind as it was then blowing strong from the S. E. with a heavy sea, to weather the southern reef; we therefore determined, while we had the day before us, to run to the westward of the northern reef." "At two p.m. we got sight of the reef bearing N. N. E. At five p.m. we could perceive the wrecks, and ascertained the westernmost extent of the reef to lay in 155° 42' 30" east longitude." " After passing the reef we lay too for the night ; and in the morning we lost sight cc of it, having drifted to the northward." Such is the substantial part of Mr. Palmer's account, omitting his own fears and congratulations, and his "most painful reflexions on the sufferings of the shipwrecked." Nothing is said of the sand bank; but I have been favoured with a copy of the journal of Mr. Williams, third mate of the Bridgewater, and the following passages are taken from it. "At half past seven a.m. (Aug. 18.) saw the reef on our weather bow, and from the mast head we saw the two ships, and to leeward of them a sand bank . The weather abated much, we set all our sails, and every man rejoiced that they should have it in their power to assist their unfortunate companions; as there was every probability of our going within two miles of the reef. The morning threatened; but before the wind increased we had time to satisfy ourselves if there were any still in existence; we had nothing to apprehend but what could he seen before we approached so near. The ships were very distinctly to be seen from aloft, and also from the deck; but instead of rendering them any succour, the captain ordered the ship to be put on the other tack, and said it was impossible to render them any relief. What must be the sensations of each man at that instant? Instead of proceeding to the support of our unfortunate companions, to leave them to the mercy of the waves, without knowing whether they were in existence, or had perished! From the appearance of the wrecks, there was every probability of their existing; and if any survived at the time we were within sight, what must have been their sensations on seeing all their anxious expectations of relief blasted." "Until our arrival at Bombay, nothing particular occurred, except my being sent on shore at Tillicherry with the account of the loss of the Porpoise and Cato; an account that served for the moment to blind the people. In executing this service, I did, for the first time to my knowledge, neglect my duty, and gave a contrary account; but for this reason--I was convinced that the crews of those ships were on the reefs, and that this was an erroneous account made by captain Palmer to excuse his own conduct. I left it on shore for the perusal of the inhabitants, after relating the story as contrary as possible. This was the cause of many words; and at length ended with my quitting the ship, and forfeiting my wages and a part of my clothes." Such was the conduct of Mr. Palmer towards His Majesty's ship Porpoise, and towards the Cato which had given way in the moment of danger that he might be saved. But the officers and crews of the Porpoise and Cato reached England in safety; whilst captain Palmer and the Bridgewater, who left Bombay for Europe, have not been heard of, now for many years. How dreadful must have been his reflexions at the time his ship was going down! Lieutenant Tucker of the navy, who was first officer of the Bridgewater, and several others as well as Mr. Williams, had happily quitted the ship in India.]

[* La Pérouse says, in his letter to M. de Fleurieu, dated Feb. 7, 1789 from Botany Bay, "You will doubtless be glad to learn, that I have not allowed this misfortune (the massacre of captain De l'Angle and eleven others at the Navigator's Isles) to derange the plan of the remaining part of my voyage." This plan, as expressed in a preceding letter of Sept. 7, 1787, at Avatscha, was to "employ six months in visiting the Friendly Islands to procure refreshments, the south-west coast of New Caledonia , the island of Santa Cruz of Mendana, the southern coast of the land of the Arsacides, with that of Louisiade as far as New Guinea." Voyage of La Pérouse , Translation, London, 1799, VOL. II. p. 494-5, 502-3. As La Pe/rouse did not reach the Friendly Isles, it is probable that be began with New Caledonia; and that upon the south-west coast, or in the way to it, disaster befel him.]

Sydney, New South Wales., Sept. 17, 1803. Sir, In acknowledging the receipt of yours with its inclosure of the 9th instant, whilst I lament the misfortune that has befallen the Porpoise and Cato, I am thankful that no more lives have been lost than the three you mention. I have every reason to be assured that no precaution was omitted by lieutenant Fowler and yourself to avoid the accident, and I am equally satisfied with your account of the exertions of the officers and men after the loss of the ships, both for the preservation of the stores and maintaining order in their present situation; nor can I sufficiently commend your voluntary services and those who came with you, in undertaking a voyage of 700 miles in an open boat, to procure relief for our friends now on the bank; and I hope for the honour of humanity, that if the Bridgewater be safe, the commander may be able to give some possible reason for his not ascertaining whether any had survived the shipwreck, as there appears too much reason to believe he has persuaded himself all perished. No time has been lost in prevailing upon the master of the Rolla, bound to China, to take on board the officers and seamen now on the reef, belonging to the Porpoise and Investigator, and carrying them to Canton whither he is bound; on the conditions expressed in the agreement entered into with him by me, and which you have witnessed. For that purpose I have caused a proportion of all species of provisions to be put on board at full allowance, for seventy men for ten weeks from the reef; I shall also give to lieutenant Fowler the instructions for his conduct which I have communicated to you, and direct him to consult with you on the measures to be adopted by him for executing those instructions, as far as situation and events may render them practicable. And as you agree with me that the Cumberland, colonial schooner of twenty-nine tons, built here, is capable of performing the voyage to England by way of Torres' Strait, and it being essential to the furthering His Majesty's service that you should reach England by the most prompt conveyance with your charts and journals, I have directed the commissary to make that vessel over to you, with her present furniture, sails, etc; and to complete her from the stores of the Investigator with such other articles as you may require, together with a proportion of provisions for six months, for ten officers and men. And on your arrival at Wreck Reef you will select such officers and men as you may judge necessary, lieutenant Fowler having my orders on that head. After having given every assistance to get the people and as many stores as can be taken on board the Rolla, and given the commander of the Francis schooner such orders as circumstances may require, for bringing those who may choose to be discharged from the service and as many stores as she can bring, you will then proceed to England by the route you may judge most advisable and beneficial for His Majesty's service. On your arrival in London you will deliver my letters to the Admiralty and the principal secretary of state for the colonies. In case any unforeseen circumstances should prevent the accomplishment of the voyage in the Cumberland, you will take such measures as may appear most conducive to the interest of His Majesty's service, either by selling the vessel, or letting her for freight at the Cape or elsewhere, if any merchants choose to send proper officers and men to conduct her back; and in the event of your being obliged to dispose of her, you will account with His Majesty's principal secretary of state for the colonies for the proceeds. I am, etc., (Signed) Philip Gidley King.

[* The want of my journal has prevented me from stating any particulars of this passage very correctly; but I have lately obtained a sight of Mr. Inman's observations, and it appears from them that his time keeper (Kendal's No. 45) erred 31' to the east on Oct. 1, and that on the 2nd a.m. our corrected longitude was 153° 52'. We ran westward till that evening, and must therefore have gone to about 153° 25', or 1° 54' west of Wreck-Reef Bank; and as no dangers were seen, this shows how completely the Reef is separated from the great Barrier of the coast; a point which it is of some importance to have ascertained.]

[* Le coeur est comme ces sortes d'arbres, qui ne donnent leur baume pour les blessures des hommes que lorsque le fer les a blessés eux-mêmes. Chateaubriant's Génie de Christianisme, Episode d' Attala .]

[* The following is a copy of the order, as given to me by the interpreter and certified by colonel Monistrol (In French, not included here. Ebook editor.)]

[* The rate from December 19 to 25, was 36.9" losing, or only 0.16" more than that previously found at Coepang in Timor; but the longitude deduced from the first observation with the Coepang rate, was 57° 40' 40.5", or 10' 43.5" greater than afterwards obtained from twenty-seven sets of lunar distances. In laying down the track from Timor, this error has been equally distributed throughout the thirty five days between November 14 and December 19, 1803.]

Sir, The term of my imprisonment being lengthened out much beyond my expectation, puts me under the necessity of making another application to Your Excellency for more books and charts, that I may still proceed in completing the account of my observations and discoveries. If the whole were put into my possession it would be of much service to my labour, and save Your Excellency from being troubled with any further application on this head; but if this will not be complied with, I beg to make a small selection from them, which will principally consist of a roll of charts. I am not however to deceive Your Excellency--this roll contains the greater part of my original fair charts, and I am desirous to have them principally for the purpose of making an abridgment of my discoveries upon a single sheet. With all due consideration, I am Your Excellency's prisoner, Matthew Flinders.

[* It being afterward suspected, and not without reason, that some of the gentlemen had forced the door, we were officially informed that the sentinels had received orders to shoot any one who might be seen on the roof; this produced greater circumspection, but the pleasure of the walk and having a view of the sea was such, that it did not wholly remedy the evil.]

On board Le Geographe, New Holland, Port Jackson, the 3rd December, 1802. After having traversed the sea in different directions for nine months after leaving Timor, I came to Port Jackson to pass the winter. The scurvy had then made such rapid progress, that I had no more than twelve men fit for duty when I arrived in this colony. The succours which were lavishly bestowed, the affectionate and obliging cares of governor King, his unremitting conduct and proceedings beyond example, every thing in fine, has concurred to make the effects of this disorder less fatal than the first (a dysentery contracted at Timor), although the cause was not less serious. I cannot pass in silence an act of humanity to which our situation gave rise. These are the facts. On our arrival at Port Jackson, to the number of a hundred and seventy persons, the resources in corn were far from abundant; a great inundation and the overflowing of the River Hawkesbury, having in part destroyed the harvest which was upon the eve of being got in, and the following one being distant and uncertain, was not a fortunate circumstance for us. Nevertheless we were made perfectly welcome, and so soon as our present and future wants were known, the ration given daily to the inhabitants and the garrison was reduced one-half. The governor and the civil and military officers set the example of this generosity, which was immediately followed by the others. We were not only strangers, but still at war, for the news of the peace was not yet known.

[* This paper was read before the Society, and published in the Transactions of 1805, Part II.]

[* The doctor had said in his certificate, "J'estime qu'il faut prévenir 'augmentation de ses maux; et en le secourant apropos, c'est assurer la conservation d'un homme dont les travaux doivent servir aux progrès des sciences, et a 1'utilité de ses semblables."]

MONITEUR, No. 292. Wednesday 22 Messidor, year 12; or July 11, 1804. In a letter from Dunkirk, addressed to the editor of the Moniteur, and inserted in the paper of the 18th of this month, No. 288, we read an account of the voyage of Mr. Flinders, an English navigator, who arrived at the Isle of France the 24 Frimaire last, in the schooner Cumberland. The author of the letter in the Moniteur says, that Mr. Flinders, "not knowing of the war, stopped at the Isle of France which was in his route, to obtain water and refreshments: that some secret articles in his instructions gave rise to suspicions upon which the captain-general at first thought it his duty to detain him prisoner; but that, nevertheless, the passports he had obtained from the French government and all other nations, the nature even of his expedition which interested all civilized people, were not long in procuring his release." The fact is, that Mr. Flinders not knowing of, but suspecting the war, ventured to come to the Isle of France; where having learned its declaration, he doubted whether the passport granted him by the French government in the year 9, would serve him. In reality, the passport was exclusively for the sloop Investigator, of which it contained the description ; and it is not in the Investigator that he has been arrested, but in the Cumberland. The same passport did not permit Mr. Flinders to stop at French colonies but on condition that he should not deviate from his route to go there; and Mr. Flinders acknowledges in his journal that he deviated voluntarily, (for the Isle of France was not in his passage, as the author of the above cited letter says). In fine, the passport granted to Mr. Flinders did not admit of any equivocation upon the objects of the expedition for which it was given: but we read in one part of his journal, that he suspected the war ; and in another, that he had resolved to touch at the Isle of France, as well in the hope of selling his vessel advantageously, as from the desire of knowing the present state of that colony, and the utility of which it and its dependencies in Madagascar could be to Port Jackson. As the passport given by the French government to Mr. Flinders, an English navigator, was far from admitting an examination of that nature in a French colony; it is not at all surprising that the captain-general of that colony has arrested him; and nothing announces as yet, that he has thought it necessary to release him.

[* It gives me pleasure to say, that almost the whole of the American commanders were ready to accommodate the English prisoners who, from time to time, obtained leave to depart, and the greater number without any other expense than that of laying in provisions for themselves; some were received on board as officers for wages, and others had a table found for them without any specified duty being required. In most cases these were beneficent actions, for, as will readily be imagined, the greater part of the prisoners had no means of obtaining money in Mauritius; the military officers, however, and those who had money at their disposal, were required to pay for their passages, and in some cases, dear enough.]

EXTRACT.--I avail myself of this opportunity to request your Excelleney's particular attention to the truly severe case of captain Flinders; and I earnestly request Your Excellency to release captain Flinders immediately, and to allow him either to take his passage to India in the Thetis, or to return to India in the first neutral ship.

Parole given. Journey into the interior of Mauritius. The governor's country seat. Residence at the Refuge, in that Part of Wilhems Plains called Vacouas. Its situation and climate, with the mountains, rivers, cascades, and views near it. The Mare aux Vacouas and Grand Bassin. State of cultivation and produce of Vacouas; its black ebony, game, and wild fruits; and freedom from noxious insects.

[* This paper appeared in the Society's Transactions of 1806, Part II.]

[* The papaye, papaya, or papaw, is a tree well known in the East and West Indies, and is common in Mauritius; the acrid milk of the green fruit, when softened with an equal quantity of honey, is considered to be the best remedy against worms, with which the negroes and young children, who live mostly on vegetable diet, are much troubled.]

[* The original concessions of land in Mauritius were usually of 156½ arpents , of 40,000 French square feet each, making about 160½ acres English; this is called un terrein d'habitation , and in abridgment a habitation , although no house should be built, nor a tree cut down; by corruption however, the word is also used for any farm or plantation, though of much smaller extent.]

[* Mauritius is not singular in being free of serpents whilst they exist on lands within sight, or not far off; but a late account says that one of great size has been killed on that island near the Reduit, supposed to have escaped out of a ship from India, wrecked on the coast a few years before.]

I need not at this time call to your recollection what my situation is in this place. I have been so long pressed under the hand of injustice, and my confidence in the French government is so much exhausted, that I am reduced to asking as a favour what ought to be demanded as a right. On your arrival in France then, my dear Sir, forget not that I am here--that my prayer is, to be examined, to be tried, to be condemned, if I have in action, intention, or thought, done any thing whilst employed in my voyage of discovery, against the French nation or its allies--if in any way I have infringed upon the line of conduct prescribed by the passport of the first consul of France. To have the best years of my life, the essence of my existence thus drained away without any examination into the affair; to have the fruits of my labours and risks thus ravished from me--my hopes of advancement and of reputation thus cruelly blasted, is almost beyond what I am able to support. Use then, I conjure you, Sir, your best endeavours with those men in France who have it in their power to forward my wish; with those men for whom a voyage of discovery, the preservation of national faith, and the exercise of humanity have still attractions. With such men, in spite of the neglect which my extraordinary situation here has undergone, now near three years, I will not believe but that the French empire abounds; a Fleurieu, a Bougainville, a Lalande, a Delambre, and numberless others--can such men be strangers to national honour and humanity? Has a man reduced to misfortune by his ardent zeal to advance geography and its kindred sciences, no claims upon men like these? It cannot be. However unworthy an instrument I am in the hands of our literary British worthies, my employment, if not my misfortunes, give me a claim upon their assistance in obtaining, at least, an examination into my crimes or my innocence; and this claim I now make. See these celebrated men, Sir, explain to them the circumstances of my situation, tell them the plain tale, and that it is towards them, though so distant, that my looks are directed; your own name will give you an introduction, and the cause you undertake will not disgrace it. Adieu, worthy Sir, may the winds be propitious, and may you never be reduced to the bitterness of sighing after justice in vain.

[* COPY. The accompanying letter is understood to contain a direction from the French government for the release of captain Flinders. It has already been transmitted to the Isle of France in triplicate; but as it may be hoped that the vessels have been all captured, you had better take an opportunity of sending this copy by a flag of truce, provided you have not heard in the mean time of Flinders being at liberty. Admiralty, 30th Dec. 1806. (Signed) William Marsden.]

[* The document, in French, is not included in this ebook.]

I have the honour to inclose a receipt for the books and papers received yesterday. The rats have made great havock amongst them, and many papers are wholly destroyed; but so far as I have yet examined, those which are of the most importance seem to have wholly, or in part escaped their ravages. I shall return immediately within the limits of my parole, according to the directions of His Excellency the captain-general; to wait the time when he shall be pleased to execute the orders which his Imperial and Royal Majesty thought proper to give on March 11, 1806, for my liberation; and I have the honour to be, etc. Received from colonel Monistrol, chef de l'état-major-général in the Isle of France, one trunk containing the remainder of the books, papers, etc. taken from me in Port North-West on Dec. 17, 1803, and Dec. 21 of the same year; which books and papers, with those received at two different times in 1804, make up the whole that were so taken, with the following exceptions. 1. Various letters and papers either wholly or in part destroyed by the rats, the remains of which are in the trunk. 2. The third volume of my rough log book, containing the journal of transactions and observations on board the Investigator, Porpoise, the Hope cutter, and Cumberland schooner, from sometime in June to Dec. 17, 1803, of which I have no duplicate. 3. Two boxes of despatches. The one from His Excellency governor King of New South Wales, addressed to His Majesty's principal secretary of state for the colonies; the other from colonel Paterson, lieutenant-governor of Port Jackson, the address of which I cannot remember. In truth of which I hereunto sign my name, at Port Napoleon,* Isle of France., this 24th day of August 1807. Matthew Flinders. Late commander of H. M. sloop Investigator, employed on discoveries to the South Seas with a French passport.

[* Port Louis, after having been changed to Port de la Montagne, Port North-West, and I believe borne one or two other names, was now called Port Napoleon; Port Bourbon and Isle Bourbon underwent similar changes: such was the inflexibility of French republicanism.]

Sir, You will do me a favour in transmitting the log book which was detained for the purpose of making extracts from it, as they have doubtless been made long since. At the same time, Sir, you would relieve me from much inquietude, if you could inform me of the time at which it is the intention of His Excellency the captain-general to grant me the liberty which His Imperial and Royal Majesty was pleased to accord in March 1806. BY your letter of July 27 last, I was led to hope from the expression, "vous jouirez pleinement de la faveur," etc., that this long desired period would soon arrive. What the circumstances are to which you allude in that letter, it is impossible for me to know; nor is it within my imagination to conceive the circumstances which permit vessels to sail for India or America, but which cannot allow of my departure. The desire expressed by His Excellency to captain Bergeret and M. Beckmann, to receive orders relating to me, and to the latter that he was sensible of the hardship of my situation, led me to hope that he would have taken into consideration the length of time that my detention had continued, the misfortune which preceded it, and the time elapsed since the date of the marine minister's letter; and I still intreat him to take them into his consideration. I have suffered much, Sir, in the Isle of France, and the uncertainty in which I have ever been kept has been one of the bitterest ingredients in the cup; I thought it exhausted when you favoured me with the copy of the letter from His Excellency the minister; but the dregs remained, and it seems as if I must swallow them to the last drop. If the means of my return to England cause any part of the delay, I beg to inform you of my readiness to embrace any means, or any route, in the Cumberland even, if it will save time, or in any other vessel of any nation. A passage on board the finest ship one month hence, would not indemnify me for one month longer of suffering, such as the last forty-six have been. I am fully persuaded that no representation of mine can change the arrangements of the captain-general; if therefore the time and manner of my return be absolutely fixed, I have only to request that he will have so much charity as to impart them; or even the time only, when I may expect to see myself out of this fatal island; for the manner, when compared to the time, becomes almost indifferent. To know at what period this waste of the best years of my life was to end, would soften the anguish of my mind; and if you would favour me with the return of my log book, I should have an occupation which would still further tend to diminish it. I request you to accept the assurances of consideration with which I have the honour to be, etc.

Sir, Yesterday at noon I had the honour of receiving your letter of the 1st. inst. It is true that I have sometimes profited by the permission contained in the parole which I had given (que j'avais donnée) on Aug 23, 1805, by which I was allowed to go as far as two leagues from the plantation of Madame D'Arifat; but since His Excellency the captain-general has thought good to make other regulations, I shall endeavour to conduct myself with so much prudence respecting the orders now given, that His Excellency will not have any just cause of complaint against me. I have the honour to be, etc.

[* According to information from various sources, the prizes brought to Mauritius were disposed of in this manner. The proceeds went first into the hands of the government, which took ten per cent. as a duty upon the sales, and afterwards one-third of the remainder as its proper right. Sixty per cent. remained for the captors, but the necessities of the state being generally urgent, it took thirty more, giving bills for the amount on the treasury of France; and for the remaining portion, it was parted with so reluctantly that the inferior officers and seamen were seldom able to obtain a dollar; but they were offered other bills, and these they were glad to sell for almost any thing to the inhabitants. This was the distribution to the frigates; the prizes brought in by privateers were not so profitable to the government, its claims being limited, I believe, to the ten per cent. duty and one-third of the remainder.]

His Excellency the captain-general charges me to have the honour of informing you, that he authorises you to return to your country in the cartel Harriet, on condition of not serving in a hostile manner against France or its allies during the course of the present war. Receive, I pray you, Sir, the assurance of the pleasure I have in making you this communication, and of the sentiments of perfect consideration with which I have the honour to be, etc. P. S. The cartel is to sail on Saturday next (31st.)

APPENDICES.

Appendix i., appendix ii., appendix iii., end of volume ii.

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The limits of empathy: Matthew Flinders’ encounters with Indigenous Australians

Adjunct associate, Flinders University

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Gillian Dooley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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The Investigator arrived off Cape Leeuwin, on the southwest tip of Western Australia, on 6 December 1801, captained by the 26-year-old Matthew Flinders . Feeling as though I know Flinders well through working on his personal writings over the past few years, I’ve become intrigued by his accounts of his dealings with the Indigenous people of Australia as the ship circumnavigated Australia. How might his habit of fair-mindedness have affected his behaviour?

Flinders left two accounts of his Investigator voyage. One was the official Voyage to Terra Australis (1814), written on his return to England seven years after the end of the voyage, during which time he was shipwrecked and then detained by the French on Mauritius. The other is a fair copy of his captain’s log, which has recently been published as Australia Circumnavigated .

Flinders and his crew first met some Noongar people on 14 December 1801. Before that, as Flinders reported in his Voyage to Terra Australis, they had not seen any of the “natives”, although “marks of the country being inhabited were found every where”. The people they met were “shy but not afraid”, Flinders wrote. Nine days later a group set off inland, and were met by a Noongar man:

He was very anxious that we should not go further; and acted with a good deal of resolution in first stopping one and then another of those who were foremost. He was not able to prevail; but we accommodated him so far as to make a circuit round the wood, where it seemed probable his family and female friends were placed. The old man followed us, hallooing frequently to give information of our movements; … at length, growing tired of people who persevered in keeping a bad road in opposition to his recommendation of a better, which, indeed, had nothing objectionable in it but that it led directly contrary to where our object lay, he fell behind and left us.

Encounters like this, where no shots were fired, were often characterised as “friendly”, but, as academic Tiffany Shellam has pointed out, there were undercurrents of fear and insecurity, and Flinders, despite his rather sardonic tone here, actually had no idea what was happening.

If there were undercurrents of violence and fear even in this “friendly” encounter, they surfaced with tragic results a year later when the Investigator reached Blue Mud Bay, the land of the Djalkiripuyngu people, part of the Yolngu-speaking territory in the Northern Territory.

The Master’s Mate of the Investigator was speared while collecting wood with some of his crew mates, and in retaliation at least one Djalkiripuyngu man was killed.

Flinders was not in the landing party, and was angry with the Master for initiating a revenge attack, “forgetting the orders I had given him”. Though he didn’t understand the motives behind the spearing, Flinders knew the danger posed by his men’s aggressive behaviour.

However, he recorded no punishments for those involved, and, to add insult to injury, sent a boat ashore the next day to collect the dead body for his scientists to examine. He doesn’t mention returning the body later. Such disrespect seems like a flagrant breach of the behaviour Flinders expected of himself and those under his command. Did he think that the claims of science overrode respect for the dead?

The evidence of Flinders’ feelings of empathy with the Aboriginal people he encountered is, I concede, slight. In Australia Circumnavigated, he expressed mild though not insurmountable regret at the death of the man at Morgan’s Island.

He refers to Woga, a young man held hostage on the ship for a day in February 1803 as “the poor Indian”. So far this is more sympathy than empathy. The most direct expression of empathy is in Voyage to Terra Australis :

What … would be the conduct of any people, ourselves for instance, were we living in a state of nature, frequently at war with our neighbours, and ignorant of the existence of any other nation?

This, written ten years after the voyage, after many trials and disappointments, and after much time for contemplation during his detention by the French, might be a unique instance of Flinders’ imaginative identification with the Aboriginal people.

As for the way any feelings of empathy might have been expressed in his actions during the Investigator voyage, I just don’t think they entered the equation. As a matter of pure humanity he would prefer not to cause pain to other human beings, but in all his actions as captain of the Investigator his duty was to explore and map the Australian coast, to keep his ship’s company safe, and to smooth the way for future explorations.

In most cases, he deemed that humane treatment and forbearance was the best way to do this, but if a show of force, even firing with intent to wound, was needed “to convince them that we were not to be insulted”, he would not shrink from doing his duty as he saw it.

The limits of empathy are defined by duty – and Flinders’ duty was in the final analysis dictated by policy rather than feelings or morality.

Gillian Dooley will present a paper based on this research at the InASA Conference in Fremantle this week. With Danielle Clode, she is co-editing a book titled The First Wave: Exploring Early Coastal Contact History in Australia.

• Australian history
• Colonialism
• Indigenous Australia

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The Ages of Exploration

Matthew flinders.

Quick Facts:

He was a leading maritime explorer of Australia. He named the continent and produced the most accurate early atlas of the geography

Name : Matthew Flinders [flĭn-dərz]

Birth/Death : March 16, 1774 - July 19, 1814

Nationality : British

Birthplace : England

First person to circumnavigate Australia Australian Museum

Introduction Matthew Flinders, the first person to circumnavigate (sail around) Australia, also gave the country its name.  There are monuments to him throughout several Australian cities, as well as to his cat, Trim – the first feline to circumnavigate the continent . 1

Biography Early Life The oldest of seven children, Matthew Flinders was born March 16, 1774 at Donington, Lincolnshire, England. He received a good education because it was thought he would become a surgeon like his father and grandfather. However, after reading the book Robinson Crusoe , Flinders developed a passion for seafaring. 2  H is first opportunity for adventure came in 1791 when he joined the crew of HMS Providence on a voyage to modern day Tahiti where they stayed for three months. While aboard the ship, he gained knowledge of navigation, tracking star patterns, using tools like the compass, and he took lessons from Bligh on chart construction. 3

It was his journey on the Reliance , however, that would give Flinders a chance to make history. In 1794, under the sail of Captain Henry Waterhouse, the Reliance embarked to Terra Australis Incognita,  Latin for “the unknown southern land” – the earliest name for what we now call Australia. At one time, this land was referred to as New Holland, first applied by Dutch seafarer Abel Tasman. 4 And while there were small territories under British control, much of the region was still unexplored. After arriving on the continent, expeditions were taken to survey coastal areas in search of harbors, rivers, and safe anchorages for ships. They also went into inland regions along rivers and across the mountains. They explored areas like the New South Wales coast, Port Jackson, and Botany Bay, and went inland on the George’s River on the small boat Tom Thumb . 5

Voyages Principal Voyage Flinders mapped much of the geography during these trips between October 1798 and January 1799. With his friend George Bass, they successfully became the first sailors to sail all the way around Van Diem’s Land (modern day Tasmania) in 1798 aboard the Norfolk . They proved that Van Diem’s Land was not part of the mainland, but was its own island. In March 1800, Flinders and the Reliance set sail to return to England. They arrived back in Plymouth on August 27, 1800. Flinders had been away from home for five and a half years, but his journey to Terra Australis Incognita was just beginning.

After only being home eleven days, Flinders gained information on a plan to further explore Terra Australis. He wrote a letter requesting support for a voyage to perform a circumnavigation of Australia. 6 He was chosen as commander, and began his journey in January 1801 aboard his ship, the Investigator . He reached Terra Australis in December and started surveying and charting the continent. During his journey, he explored several places including Spencer’s Gulf, Kangaroo Island, Timor, Java, and Port Jackson – present day Sydney. He arrived back in Sydney in 1803, becoming the first man to circle the entire Australian continent.

Subsequent Voyages Unfortunately, the Investigator’ s wood began to rot beyond repair, so Flinders decided to return back to England only two years into his expedition. His new ship Porpoise ran aground on a reef off the coast of Queensland. He got a new ship called the Cumberland . When his ship began to leak, he was forced to dock in Ile de France [Mauritius]. By this time, war had broken out between France and England, and Flinders, being thought a spy, was detained for 6 years. During his imprisonment, he worked on his papers and charts. He was released in 1810, and allowed to return to England.

Later Years and Death Matthew Flinders returned to England on October 23, 1810. He was received with honors and a promotion to post-captain. Sadly, his health had began to fail due to his time in captivity. He spent the next four years writing down his findings, and ultimately completed his great work A Voyage to Terra Australis . He died on July 19, 1814, the day after his book was published. In his popular book Flinders was the first to use the name ‘Australia’ consistently, and as a result the name was gradually adopted.

Legacy Leader of the first circumnavigation of Australia, Matthew Flinders mapped an entire continent and gave it its name. His passion for the sea lead him to a life dedicated to discovery. His journals, maps, atlas and countless drawings were essential documents that contributed to the development of Australia. He is honored throughout Australian states with statues praising his accomplishment of, literally, putting Australia on the map.

• Tim Flannery, Introduction to Terra Australis: Text Classics, Matthew Flinders’ Great Adventures in the Circumnavigation of Australia , by Matthew Flinders (Melbourne: Text Publishing,  2000), vii.
• Kenneth Morgan, Matthew Flinders, Maritime Explorer of Australia (New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016), 5.
• Morgan, Matthew Flinders , 11.
• Ab Hoving and Cor Emke, The Ships of Abel Tasman (The Netherlands: Uitgeverij Verloren, 2000), 23.
• Morgan, Matthew Flinders , 23.
• Morgan, Matthew Flinders , 46 – 47.

Bibliography

Flannery, Tim.  Introduction to Terra Australis: Text Classics, Matthew Flinders’ Great Adventures in the Circumnavigation of Australia , by Matthew Flinders, vii. Melbourne: Text Publishing,  2000.

Hoving, Ab  and Cor Emke. The Ships of Abel Tasman . The Netherlands: Uitgeverij Verloren, 2000.

Morgan, Kenneth   Matthew Flinders, Maritime Explorer of Australia . New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016.

• Original "EXPLORATION through the AGES" site
• The Mariners' Educational Programs

Michael Treloar Antiquarian Booksellers

A Voyage to Terra Australis, undertaken for the Purpose of completing the Discovery of that Vast Country ... in the Years 1801, 1802, and 1803

Adelaide, Government Printer, 1989 (facsimile edition)/ 1814.

Large quarto, two volumes of text plus the elephant folio atlas (containing 18 charts and 10 plates).

Half leather and cloth (very lightly marked on the atlas); essentially a fine set in the custom-made base of the dark red felt-covered wooden storage box and fitted perspex lid.

A superb production, limited to only 500 numbered sets (this is number 98). The storage box was designed with a matching two-door lid opening at the centre, and attached to the base with piano hinges. About a third of the edition was issued in these boxes as advertised. Apparently the successful tender was paid in full soon after the job began, and the box-maker was last seen heading for the hills (overseas) with the money and a big smile! The problem was 'solved' by securing clear perspex lids which fitted snugly over the custom-made bases.

Item #130202

Price (AUD): $1,250.00 other currencies

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A Voyage To Terra Australis Hardcover – September 19, 2015

• Print length 516 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Palala Press
• Publication date September 19, 2015
• Dimensions 6.14 x 1.13 x 9.21 inches
• ISBN-10 1343198860
• ISBN-13 978-1343198869
• See all details

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Palala Press (September 19, 2015)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 516 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1343198860
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1343198869
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.97 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.14 x 1.13 x 9.21 inches

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Matthew flinders.

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Hordern House Rare Books

A Voyage to Terra Australis… A Voyage to Terra Australis; undertaken for the purpose of completing the discovery of that vast country, and prosecuted in the years 1801, 1802, and 1803, in His Majesty's Ship the Investigator…

London: G. and W. Nicol, 1814 (atlas issued circa 1830).

Two volumes quarto, and atlas folio; the text volumes on large paper and the atlas in the preferred elephant folio size with the botanical plates unfolded; nine plates in the text; the atlas with 16 charts (nine folding), two plates (on four double-page sheets) of coastal views, and ten large botanical plates; text in handsome contemporary half crimson morocco bindings with brown moiré cloth sides, atlas in contemporary quarter red morocco and marbled sides, spine lettered in gilt.

From the library at Petworth House, text on Large Paper and atlas updated to 1836

A superb set, evidently acquired by George Wyndham (later Lord Egremont) in 1836, with the splendid and large atlas volume containing updated maps appropriate to that date. Showing details of coastal exploration carried out by P.P. King and others in the two decades since original publication, this represents the detailed knowledge of the Australian coastline current at about the time that Wyndham acquired the set. Its binding is very similar to other books from Wyndham's library that we have handled in recent years. It is typical of books from his library that the text volumes should be examples of the scarce issue on Large Paper, while the atlas, which shows the latest available information, is in the preferred largest format with the fine botanical plates therefore unfolded.

The three-volume official account of Flinders's great circumnavigation of Australia in the Investigator offers a complete record of the expedition with an authoritative introductory history of maritime exploration in Australian waters from the earliest times. The text contains a day by day account of the Investigator voyage and Flinders's later voyages on the Porpoise and the Cumberland . Robert Brown's 'General Remarks, geographical and systematical, on the Botany of Terra Australis', which is illustrated by Ferdinand Bauer's botanical plates in the atlas, is printed in an appendix in the second volume. The text is illustrated by William Westall's nine engraved plates in the text and two double-page plates of coastal views in the atlas. These are in many cases the very earliest views of the places visited and discovered on the voyage.

Flinders's charts in the atlas were of such accuracy that they continued to be issued by the Admiralty for decades and form the basis of all modern charts of Australia. The atlas here contains late issues of some of the maps, and thus represents the detailed knowledge of the Australian coastline current around 1836 when Wyndham acquired this fine set. A number of revised issues of the Flinders atlas were to appear in the twenty years after publication. In this copy, the general map of Australia contains revisions to 1829, while chart X has revisions "to 1826 by Phillip P. King", and charts XI and XII have been completely replaced by sheets 1 and 3 of Phillip Parker King's "Chart of part of the N.E. Coast of Australia", published in 1824. Charts VI, XIV and XV are of the Admiralty issue with rhumb-lines added and the Hydrographical Office stamp. The remaining nine charts are of the first issue. The charts continued to be issued by the Admiralty for decades.

Provenance: From the library of George Wyndham at Petworth House, with his signature on the title-page dated 1836 and his bookplate as Lord Egremont.

Ferguson, 576; Hill, 614; Ingleton, 6487; Kroepelien, 438; Nissen BBI, 637; Stafleu & Cowan, I, 1806; Tooley, pp. 77-9; Wantrup, 67a.

Condition Report: In very attractive condition, the text volumes with much less offsetting from the plates than usual; atlas in fine state.

US$56,510.73   Other currencies

Condition Report

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