The History of Tasmania (Vol. 1&2). John West
was instantly held, and the Investigator was condemned: the hull was found rotten, both plank and timbers, and it was declared that reparation was impossible. On inspecting her condition, Flinders expressed great astonishment, and remarked that a hard gale must have sent her to the bottom.[13]
The volumes of Captain Flinders, though of vast scientific worth, are not greatly interesting to the general reader, except when he tells of his trials, which were many. His work was patronised by the admiralty, and he had the prospect of reward; but on the day of publication, fame ceased to be valuable to him,[14]—he cast that anchor which is never weighed.
A long imprisonment in the Isle of France, and the mental anxiety inseparable from a strong sense of injustice, it is said, destroyed him. His case may be told in few words: the Investigator was condemned as unfit for service, and Flinders embarked at Port Jackson on board the Porpoise, in company with the Cato and the Bridgewater. When passing through Torres Straits, at between eight and nine knots, they saw breakers a-head. Before signals could be made, the other vessels were seen hastening to the same destruction. They hauled to the wind across each other; a collision seemed inevitable: a death-like silence prevailed during the awful crisis; but happily they passed off side by side. Instantly, however, the Cato struck on the reef, and was totally lost. All hands were preserved, except three boys; of these, one spent the night on a spar, bewailing his unhappy lot: four times he had embarked in different vessels, and each time had been wrecked; this was the last, for before morning he disappeared. The Bridgewater was yet safe: she was seen at dawn; but while awaiting her help, the captain, with a selfishness happily not common—without even sending a boat to pick up a cast-away—proceeded on his voyage.[15] He reached India in safety; sailed for Europe, and was never heard of more: the people he had abandoned were all rescued.
This was effected by Flinders. A cutter was built and provisioned from the stores saved on the reef: in this, which he called the Hope, he set out for Port Jackson, 750 miles distant. There he obtained the assistance of two vessels, beside the Cumberland, a colonial schooner of 29 tons. The inhabitants, unsolicited, sent many presents to the sufferers, who soon hailed the arrival of Flinders with rapturous cheers.
Having performed this duty, he proceeded towards England in the Cumberland, with seven men and three officers; but finding that she was unable to bear the voyage, he resolved to confide in the honor of the French, and present his passport at the Mauritius. There he was detained a prisoner six years; first charged with imposture, then treated as a spy; and when these imputations were refuted, he was accused of violating his passport. The French had found in his journal a wish dotted down to examine the state of that settlement, written when a stranger to the renewal of war. Some doubt seems to have been really entertained, for the moment, respecting him; but his long detention after his release was promised, was ascribed to the ambition of Napoleon, and the dishonesty of the French Institute, who from Flinders' papers were appropriating to Baudin the honor of discoveries he never himself claimed.
Before the Investigator left England, the Geographe and Naturaliste, under Captains Baudin and Hamelin, visited this island. During a pause in the hostilities of Europe, the French government obtained from Mr. Addington, then premier, a safe conduct for this expedition. The terms granted entitled them to freedom from search; to supplies in any English colony, notwithstanding the contingency of war: it being well said by the French, that the promoters of scientific knowledge were the common benefactors of mankind. While Flinders was prosecuting his voyage he met Baudin on the coast of New Holland, at a place thence called Encounter Bay. The interview was civil, rather than cordial; both nations were competitors in science, and rivals are rarely kind. Yet the suffering of the French may be mentioned with pity: of twenty-three scientific men who accompanied the expedition, three only survived. The vessels were ill-provisioned, the water corrupt, and they encountered fearful tempests, in attempting to circumnavigate this island.
Captain Baudin had been directed by his government to examine the eastern coast of Van Diemen's Land, the discoveries of D'Entrecasteaux, and the channels and rivers of the coast. The surgeon of the Geographe, Monge, fell by an attack of the natives, and was buried on the spot which bears his name.[16] The French surveyed the eastern coast, and finally determined the position of the Frederick Henry Bay of Tasman. They examined the intricacies which had escaped the observation of earlier navigators, who erroneously numbered the islands on their charts, and thus overlooked the bays. They coasted between the main and the Schoutens, and gave the name of Fleurieu to the Oyster Bay of Cox. They then passed through a strait heretofore unnoticed, which divides the Schoutens and Freycinet's Peninsula. Their survey was minute, and sometimes three boats were employed in different directions. The French vessels parted company, and the Naturaliste, after a long search for her consort, proceeded to New South Wales.
Baudin, of the Geographe, was far more unfortunate. Having touched at his land of Napoleon, instead of returning through Bass's Strait to Port Jackson, he resolved to pass the south cape of Van Diemen's Land. Throughout the passage he experienced the most fearful storms: the darkness at night often prevented the execution of naval manoeuvres, and the vessel was drenched with water. The condition of the crew was terrible; "cries of agony made the air ring:" four only, including the officers of the watch, were able to keep the decks. After beating about Port Jackson for several days, a boat appeared which had been dispatched by the governor, who saw the French were unable to manage the vessel. By a change of diet, they speedily recovered.
When at Port Jackson, Flinders showed his discoveries to the French, who admitted the justice of his prior claim, but with little sincerity.
M. Baudin died: Captain Hamilin, of the Naturaliste, returned to the Mauritius. He eulogised the conduct of the colonists to extravagance;[17] but it is mortifying to find, that soon after, having captured a small English settlement, he burned the property he could not carry off; and invited upon deck the ladies, his prisoners, to witness the devastations of their late peaceful dwellings.
The misfortunes of the distinguished navigators, whose success has been recorded, fully equalled their fame. The fate of Cook belongs to a story which mingles with our early remembrance. A child need scarcely be told, that after a career eminently glorious to his country and profession, while attempting to restrain his men who were firing to protect him, he fell by the dagger of a savage.
His colleague, Captain Clerke, who attended him through all his expeditions, did not long survive him. Resolved to complete his instructions, he remained in the neighbourhood of Kamschatka, which hastened the crisis of a consumption. He was buried beneath a tree at the harbour of St. Peter and St. Paul, and an inscription pointed to his grave.[18] This was found by M. Perouse defaced, who restored it. On his arrival at Botany Bay, he interred the naturalist of his expedition: the memorial he set up was destroyed by the natives, and Governor Phillip repaid, by the substitution of another, the honor done to his own countryman.[19]
De L'Angle, the companion of Perouse, with eleven officers and men, lost their lives by a misunderstanding at the Navigators' Isles: the manner of his own death may be inferred from the native tradition.[20]
The end of D'Entrecasteaux and Huon, was hardly less melancholy: both commanders were buried by their crews; the admiral at Louisiade, and Huon at New Caledonia. The vessels were detained by the Dutch at Java, and many of the seamen died in captivity. There the calamities of their country became known to them: some sided with the royalists, others with the jacobins, but few regained their native land; among these, however, was Labillardière.[21]