Our north-west course was resumed at five in the morning, and continued

without interruption, or sight of any danger, to the 19th [WEDNESDAY 19

OCTOBER 1803] at noon, when the latitude was 10° 53' south, and longitude

by time keeper 147° 6' east; the current had set above ¾ of a mile an

hour to the N. 60° W., and we had every day seen boobies, noddies, tropic

birds, and some gulls. At four in the afternoon the course was altered

one point more west, in order to make the Eastern Fields (Atlas, Plate

XIII), whose extent to the southward, not having been seen in the

Investigator, I wished now to ascertain. The breakers came in sight at

eight next morning [THURSDAY 20 OCTOBER 1803], and we hauled up to pass

round their south end; but the wind being scant for going to windward of

all, and the small gap before seen in the middle appearing to be passable

for the Cumberland, we bore up for it. The depth at less than a quarter

of a mile off was 40 fathoms, then 6, 7, 4 in the centre of the opening,

8, and no ground with the hand line; this front reef seeming to be a mere

ledge of coral, which extended N. N. E. and S. S. W.; and that part of

the opening in it where the sea did not break, is about one mile wide.

Immediately on getting through, altitudes were taken for the time keeper;

and the longitude, reduced to the north-east extremity of the Eastern

Fields, was 145° 44½' east, or about 1' less than what had been found in

the Investigator from Broad Sound. In steering W. N. W., two small

patches of reef were left to the south and one to the north, about five

miles from the opening; other reefs then came in sight ahead and on each

bow; and after sounding in 34 fathoms coral sand, and observing the

latitude 10° 2 1/3', we passed through a narrow channel between them,

having no ground at 7 fathoms. At one o'clock, the western extremity of

these reefs bore S. 16° E. two miles, and others were seen in the horizon

extending from N. W. to W. S. W.; we passed close round the north end of

these; but the single breaker laid down the year before, and which should

lie about five miles to the N. N. E., was not perceived. At three

o'clock, in steering westward, the last reefs were out of sight astern;

and nothing more had been seen at seven, when we hauled to the wind for

the night. An amplitude observed at sunset, with the schooner's head W.

by S., gave 6° 2' east variation.

FRIDAY 21 OCTOBER 1803

We tacked every two or three hours, until daylight; and then bore away W.

S. W. by compass, to make the south side of the Pandora's Entrance, which

I had not seen in the Investigator. Soon after eight o'clock, breakers

came in sight; and we stood off and on till noon, to fix their latitude

and longitude, and ascertain our position with respect to Murray's

Islands before entering the Strait. The sun was vertical and therefore

difficult to be observed; but in taking Mr. Aken's observation on one

side and mine on the other, which differed only 3½', the mean latitude

10° 0½', could not be far wrong. The reef in sight was shown by this

observation to be on the south side of the Pandora's Entrance, as I

wished; and its north end will lie in 10° 59' south, and longitude by the

time keeper 144° 40' east. We bore away so soon as the observation was

obtained, and in passing close round the north end, got soundings at two

casts, in 7 and 5 fathoms.

This reef lies N. N. E. and S. S. W., and is about seven miles long with

a breadth from one to three miles; its form is nearly that of a boot, and

the outer edges are probably dry at low tide; but there was a

considerable space within, where the water looked blue, as if very deep.

The origin of that class of islands which abound in the Great Ocean,

under the names of Bow, Lagoon, etc., may here be traced. The exterior

bank of coral will, in the course of years, become land, as in them;

whilst the interior water will preserve its depth to a longer period, and

form a lagoon, with no other outlet than perhaps one or two little

openings for canoes or boats. In Mr. Dalrymple's chart of the Pandora's

track, there is a dry bank marked on the north-west part of the reef; but

this commencement of the metamorphosis was not visible to us, probably

from its being covered by the tide, for it was then near high water. In

some future age, when Boot Island shall be visited, this little remark,

it it live so long, may be of some interest to the geographer.

[NORTH COAST. TORRES' STRAIT.]

I hauled up under the lee side of the reef, intending to anchor and go in

a boat to sound the deep water within; but not finding any ground with 70

fathoms at a mile off, we bore away at two o'clock to make Murray's

Islands. At three, breakers were seen four or five miles to the

southward, and others, perhaps on the same reef, about three miles W. S.

W. from them; in half an hour the largest of Murray's Islands came in

sight to the W. by N.; and our course being continued to six o'clock, the

centre then bore N. 78° W. nearly four leagues, but the front reefs,

which could not be more than half that distance in the same direction,

were not visible. We then hauled to the wind, and stood off and on till

daylight [SATURDAY 22 OCTOBER 1803], when the largest island bore W. by

S.

Murray's Islands may be considered as the key to the best passage yet

known through Torres' Strait, and my route to them in the Investigator

being circuitous, I wished to ascertain whether a more direct track might

not be found; we therefore steered to make the north-eastern reefs, and

on coming in with the breakers, ran along their south side at the

distance of one or two miles. At half past seven, the termination of

these reefs bore N. N. W.; but another reef, which extended far to the

south, had for some time been in sight, and a dry sand on its north end

now bore S. W. by W. one mile. In the opening between them was a small

patch of coral, and several green spots in the water round it; but there

appearing to be room for the Cumberland to pass on the north side, I

ventured through, sounding in 20 and 23 fathoms without finding bottom.

This opening is a mile wide, and lies five or six miles, nearly E. N. E.,

from the largest of Murray's Islands; it would consequently be more

direct to pass through it than to follow the Investigator's track round

the north-eastern reefs; but from the narrowness of the opening and the

many green spots where the depth is unknown to me, I dare not recommend

it to a ship, though very practicable for small vessels in fine weather.

The dry bank on the south side of the opening will probably be covered at

three-quarters flood.

After clearing the passage, I steered W. N. W. to avoid going near

Murray's Islands, lest the small size of the Cumberland should tempt the

Indians to make an attack; this they were likely to do if the opportunity

offered, and many were standing on the shore with their canoes seemingly

in readiness. At 8h 50' the large island bore S. 6° E. to 13° W., three

or four miles; and our position in longitude being very nearly the same

with that of my former anchorage, altitudes were taken for the time

keeper. The result, when corrected, was 144° 2' 0" east, and in the

Investigator it had been 144° 2' 58", being a difference scarcely worth

notice. When it is considered that Wreck Reef, whence the Cumberland's

departure was taken, and Coepang in Timor, by which the longitude is

corrected, are laid down from observations wholly distinct from those at

Upper Head and Sweers' Island, which regulated the Investigator's

longitude, this near coincidence will be thought remarkable; and it must

also be allowed to show, that an equally accelerated rate and

supplemental correction are improvements on the ordinary management of

time keepers.

At this time, the large reef to the north of Murray's Islands was distant

one or two miles, and we steered westward along it, to get into my former

track; but the man at the mast head saying that the water was

discoloured, and that he did not think there was any passage in the

direction we steered, I thought myself deceived in the distance of the

island; and the schooner was hauled up two points to the southward, where

the appearance was better. It became evident, however, that the

discoloured water was in the same ripplings of tide through which the

Investigator had passed without finding bottom at 30 fathoms; and no

doubt it was from these ripplings that the discolouring arose.

At ten o'clock, the top of the largest island bore S. 74° E. five or six

miles, we had reefs at the distance of half a mile to a mile on each

beam, and I then found that we were to the south of the Investigator's

track; but the channel being clear ahead, and taking a direction nearly

straight for Cape York, I steered onward, being rather pleased than sorry

at having thus got by accident into a new route. Darnley's Island was

seen from the mast head before eleven; and when the top of Murray's

Island bore E. 1° S. it was set at N. N. W., the depth being then 52

fathoms on a bottom of small stones, coral, and shells. The great line of

reefs which had been kept on the larbord beam of the Investigator, was

now on the starbord beam of the schooner; but we had also a great mass of

reefs on the other side, forming between them a kind of channel from two

to four miles broad, leading south-westward. We ran on at the rate of

five knots until noon, when the depth was 25 fathoms, soft sand, and our

situation as under,

Latitude observed to the south, 9° 58½'

Longitude brought on, 143 45

Murray's I., top of the largest, N. 78 E.

Murray's I., south-westernmost, N. 82 E.

The channel was now five or six miles wide, and no interruption yet

appeared; but breakers were seen a-head before two o'clock, and seemed to

connect the reefs to leeward with those on the weather side; and there

being a small opening on the starbord beam, we bore away north-west

through it, towards the Investigator's track. Other reefs, however,

obstructed the way, upon one of which was a dry bank; and seeing a sort

of middle channel within them, we hauled up W. by S. into it, and

afterwards S. W. The sea did not break upon these reefs, and the sun

being on the starbord bow, prevented us from knowing how they lay to

leeward. At four, the coral bottom was seen under the schooner, and the

depth was no more than 2 fathoms; we tacked immediately, and in ten

minutes were able to weather the end of the reef at the outlet of the

middle channel, where no obstruction appeared; but a bank, probably not

of coral, was found to run across, and in passing over it we had 3, 1½,

2, 3, 8 fathoms, and in five minutes 22 on a soft bottom. A swell was

then perceived coming from E. S. E., which showed that the weather reefs

also there terminated; it even implied that the waves had no obstruction

for many miles, probably as far as the great outer reef seen by the

Pandora.

Half-way Island came in sight as soon as the middle channel was cleared,

and we steered west, carrying all sail to reach it before dark. In

passing round the north end of its reef at sunset, we had 18 fathoms, and

presently anchored in 20, with the centre of the island bearing S. by E.

½ E. one mile, and the reef from E. ½ S. to S. W. by S. Next morning at

daylight [SUNDAY 23 OCTOBER 1803], Mr. Aken went on shore to bring off

some shells of the large cockle (_chama gigas_), which the Indians place

under the pandanus trees to catch water, and on his return at eight

o'clock, we resumed our course to the south-westward, passing between

some dry sands before seen in the Investigator. I then kept up more

southward to fetch the York Isles, and this took us between two other

sands surrounded with small reefs. There were many birds, and a pole was

standing up on the northern bank; and the wind becoming very light, an

anchor was dropped in 14 fathoms under the west side, and I went on

shore.

This bank or key was very little above high water; but a young pandanus

had been planted on the top and surrounded with a circle of stones,

apparently to protect it from the turtle, whose tracks were fresh on the

sand. It appeared from thence, that the Indians come here at times; and

this tree had been planted with a view, most probably, to obtain fresh

water by the same means as at Half-way Island. The latitude of the bank,

according to Mr. Aken's meridian observation, is 10° 18' south, longitude

by the time keeper 143° 6' east, and there is a similar bank lying two or

three miles to the southward.

On my return the south-east trade had freshened up, and we steered S. W.

by compass, in soundings from 13 to 11 fathoms, soft ground. Some of the

small woody isles before laid down, were seen to the north-westward, but

nothing else till four o'clock; the high flat-topped York Isle then came

in sight, and at six the following bearings were set.

Mount Adolphus, the flat top, S. 33° W.

Two rocks on its south side, S. 17 W.

Western York Isle, the north end, S. 69 W.

A low distant isle (from the mast head), S ½ E.

I purposed anchoring between the flat-topped island and the western isle;

but several rocks being seen there, and the night coming on, we bore away

to leeward of the rocks and came to in 13 fathoms, soon after seven

o'clock. The tide was setting to the westward, and so continued till

half past nine, when it turned to the east, and ran till half past

three in the morning [MONDAY 24 OCTOBER 1803]; if the rise by the

shore corresponded with the stream, it was high water _three hours

and a half after_ the moon's passage; which would be five hours later

than at Murray's Islands, and one hour earlier than it had appeared to be

at those of the Prince of Wales (see Ch. V, 1 November). A fresh breeze

from south-east raised a swell here, but the anchor held all night; and

before getting under way next morning, I set the following bearings of

the land.

Flat-topped I., distant three miles S. 42° to 2° E.

Flat-topped I., centre of Mount Adolphus, S. 32 E.

C. York, outer of three islets near the E. extreme, S. 2 E.

Western York I., distant 1½ miles S. 18 to 88 W.

Northern double I., imperfectly from aloft, N. W. by W.½ W.

On passing the north end of the western isle at seven o'clock, I took

altitudes for the time keeper, and from thence deduced the longitude of

Mount Adolphus to be 142° 40' east; we then hauled up for Cape York, with

soundings between 14 and 10 fathoms, leaving on the starbord hand a rock

which lies S. 78° W. five miles from the north end of the western isle.

At half past eight, two rocks close to the northern extremity of the Cape

were distant four or five miles, the Prince of Wales's Islands were

coming in sight, and the following bearings were taken.

Western York Isle, north end, N. 70° E.

C. York, north extreme, S. 58 E.

C. York, hill at the north-west extreme, S. 11 W.

Possession Isle, apparently, of capt. Cook, S. 26° to 33 W.

Northern double Isle, centre, North.

On the largest of the Prince of Wales' Islands was a hill forming

something like two horns at the top; we steered a direct course for this

hill, and perceived a bight or opening two miles to the south of it, by

which the sea may probably have a communication with the water before

observed within the great island. From abreast of Horned Hill we followed

the line of the shore northward, in soundings from 4 to 7 fathoms at one

or two miles off; and soon after ten o'clock hauled west into the opening

between this land and Wednesday Island, to pass through the middle of the

group. Our soundings were variable between 5 and 3 fathoms, until

approaching Hammond's Island; when there not appearing to be depth enough

on its south side, I steered out northward, leaving a rock on the

starbord hand within which there was only 2 fathoms.

This rock seems to be the small, dark-coloured island described by Mr.

Hamilton as being near the centre of Sandwich Sound (see Introduction);

and if so, Wolf's Bay, in which he says there is from 5 to 7 fathoms and

commodious anchorage for shipping, should be that inclosed piece of water

seen from the top of Good's Island; but to me at this time, there did not

appear to be any ship passage into it from the northward. An island lies

at the entrance, and on its west side the depth may probably be more

considerable.

On getting out from between Wednesday and Hammond's Islands, we steered

along the south side of the great north-western reef; and at noon our

observation and bearings were as under.

Latitude observed to the north, 10° 31'

Hammond's I., the north rock dist. 2 miles, N. 73 E.

Good's I., former station on the S. W. hill, S. 23 W.

Hawkesbury I., the highest part, N. 14 W.

Booby Isle was in sight from the mast head at one o'clock, bearing nearly

W. S. W.; and soon after three we anchored one mile to leeward of it, in

7 fathoms, soft sand. A boat was sent on shore, which presently came back

loaded with boobies; and fresh turtle tracks having been perceived, the

crew returned to watch, and at midnight we received five turtle. These

appeared to be of the species called hawkes-bill; the shells and skins,

as also their fat, were of a red tinge, and they had longer necks than

the turtle procured at Wellesley's Islands, to which they were much

inferior, both in size and quality.

When entering the Gulph of Carpentaria in the Investigator, I had

remarked what appeared to be a considerable error in the relative

positions of Booby Isle and the flat-topped York Island, as they are laid

down by captain Cook; and to obtain more certainty, the longitude of the

flat top had been observed this morning from the time keeper, and I

anchored here this afternoon to do the same by Booby Isle. The result

showed the difference of longitude between them to be 43½', differing

less than 1' from what had been deduced in the Investigator, whereas, by

captain Cook, they are placed 63' asunder. The high respect to which the

labours of that great man are entitled, had caused me to entertain some

doubt of the reality of this error until the present verification. It is

to be wholly ascribed to the circumstance of his not having had a time

keeper in his _first_ voyage; and a more eminent proof of the utility of

this valuable instrument cannot be given, than that so able a navigator

could not always avoid making errors so considerable as this, when

deprived of its assistance.

A meridian altitude of the moon placed Booby Isle in latitude 10° 36'

south; and the longitude from a medium of the Investigator's and

Cumberland's time keepers, was 141° 56½' east. A morning's amplitude

taken after quitting the isle when the schooner's head was W. by S., gave

the uncorrected variation 5° 38' east.

TUESDAY 25 OCTOBER 1803

At daybreak next morning, having a fresh trade wind, we steered W. by S.

by compass, the soundings increasing gradually from 7 fathoms to 13 at

noon, when our latitude was 10° 38' and longitude 141° 17'. No reefs or

other dangers had been seen to the west of Booby Isle; nor were any met

with in steering across the Gulph of Carpentaria towards Cape Wilberforce

(Atlas, Plate XIV), though many birds, principally boobies, were seen

every day. We ran in the night, with the precaution of heaving to every

four hours, to sound; the depth was from 30 to 36 fathoms on a muddy

bottom, nearly all across the Gulph.

FRIDAY 28 OCTOBER 1803

(Atlas, Plate XV.)

On 28th at two in the morning, Cape Wilberforce being seen directly

ahead, we hove to in 18 fathoms till daylight; the south-east extreme of

the cape then bore S. 54° W, and the largest of Bromby's Isles was two

miles distant to the northward. After making some short tacks, we passed

through between the two outer isles, with soundings from 6 to 11 fathoms;

and at ten o'clock, when clear of the passage, the bearings of the

nearest lands were as under:

Bromby's I., the largest, cliffy S. E. end, S. 34° W.

Bromby's I., outermost, highest part, dist. 1¼ m., S. 50 E.

Truant Isle, centre, N. 37 E.

Two islets, dist. 5 miles, centres, N. 24° and 32 W.

Wigram's Island, extremes, N. 55 to S. 87 W.

The longitude of our situation according to the positions laid down in

the Investigator, would be 136° 41' 10", and the time keeper now gave

136° 42' 12". It was principally for the sake of comparing the two

longitudes, that I made the land near Cape Wilberforce.

[NORTH COAST. WESSEL'S ISLANDS.]

We steered northward for the two islets, and at noon, when the latitude

from an observation to the south was 11° 43', but from bearings 11° 42',

they were distant three quarters of a mile to the W. by S.; these islets

had been set from the south-east head of Cotton's Island at N. 42° 35' to

45° 5' E., and that head was now seen bearing S. 45¼° W. At one o'clock

the Wessel's Islands came in sight, and I hauled more up, wishing to

ascertain their extent to the northward; but the wind being at E. N. E,

we could not pass to windward before dark, and therefore steered for an

opening between the two outer islands. There were strong ripplings and

whirlpools of tide at the entrance of the opening, with very variable

soundings between 5 and 16 fathoms; and finding we could not get through

in time, the sun being then near the horizon, an anchor was dropped near

a small beach on the north side, in 4 fathoms, out of the set of the

tides.

SATURDAY 29 OCTOBER 1803

Next morning I landed on the northern island, to take bearings and search

for water, and the boat's crew had axes to cut some fire wood. Four or

five Indians made their appearance, but as we advanced they retired; and

I therefore left them to themselves, having usually found that to bring

on an interview with the Australians, it was best to seem careless about

it. A Malay prow had been thrown on the beach, and whilst the boat's crew

was busied in cutting up the wreck for fuel, the Indians approached

gradually, and a friendly intercourse took place; but as no water could

be found, and time was more precious than the company of these people,

they were presented with our axes after the work was done, and we got

under way soon after ten o'clock.

This island appears to be the outermost of the chain called Wessel's

Islands, which extend thirteen leagues in a north-east direction from the

main land near Point Dale. It seemed to be eight or nine miles in length,

by about five in breadth; the southern part is sandy and sterile, but

some trees are produced; and I saw kangaroos of a small kind, too lean to

be worth the pursuit their shyness required. The natives are of the same

colour and appearance as in other parts of Terra Australis, and go

equally naked; their presence here showed the south end of the island to

be not wholly destitute of fresh water; but in the limited search we had

time to make, none could be found, though traces of torrents denoted the

falling of heavy rains in some part of the year. The island to the

south-west, which is of somewhat greater extent, though less in

elevation, had much the same appearance.

A distance of two miles between the islands seems to present a fair

opening; but there is a reef of low rocks on the west side, and the

ripplings and whirlpools caused by the meeting of the tides take away the

command of a vessel in light winds; so that, although I went through

safely in the Cumberland, the passage can be recommended to a _ship_ only

in a case of necessity. The latitude of our anchorage under the northern

island, from a supplement of the moon's meridian altitude, was 11° 24

2/3' south; and the longitude by time keeper, from altitudes of the star

_Altair_, 136° 28½' east, but it is placed in 1' less, conformably to the

positions fixed in the Investigator. A head land seen in latitude 11°

18', was probably the northern extremity of this island, and of the whole

chain; at least nothing beyond it could be perceived.

[NORTH COAST. TOWARDS TIMOR.]

In steering out of the channel we were carried near the western rocks by

the tide; but the water was deep, and a breeze soon took the schooner out

of its influence. At noon our observed latitude was 11° 21', the northern

island bore N. 67° to S. 48° E, and the furthest part of the southern

land S. 5° W.; the wind was light at north-east, and until midnight we

steered north-west to get off the coast; our course was then more

westward towards Timor, where I proposed to stop for a supply of water

and provisions. (Atlas, Plate I.)

NOVEMBER 1803

A moderate trade wind, coming generally from S. E. in the first part, and

E. N. E. in the latter part of the day, carried us to the longitude of

the northern Cape Van Diemen; beyond that, the winds were light and

variable, and frequently at south-west, which alarmed me lest the

unfavourable monsoon should set in before we could get far enough to be

out of its influence. Nov. 6 at noon [SUNDAY 6 NOVEMBER 1803], our

latitude was 9° 28' south, longitude 127° 12' east (Atlas, Plate XVI),

and I was surprised to see already the high land of Timor extending from

N. ½ W. to W. N. W.; the first was probably the north-east extremity of

the island, and distant about twenty-three leagues, but the high land in

the latter bearing could scarcely be nearer than thirty-five leagues.

This distance, with ten feet elevation of the eye on the schooner's deck,

would give the height to be more than 9000 feet, had it been seen in the

horizon, but it was perceptibly above, and this land is therefore

probably not much inferior to the peak of Teneriffe. I did not measure

its altitude above the horizon with a sextant, or the elevation might

have been more nearly ascertained.

The westward current had hitherto not exceeded half a mile an hour; but

the next day it was one mile, and on the day following [TUESDAY 8

NOVEMBER 1803] one and a quarter to the W. S. W. We had then regained the

trade wind, and our situation at noon was 10° 3½' south and 125° 15'

east; the northern part of Timor was obscured by haze, the nearest land

visible bore N. 75° W. about eight leagues, and the southern extreme W.

5° S. On the 9th [WEDNESDAY 9 NOVEMBER 1803], the round hill upon Rottee

came in sight, and bore S. 78° W. at noon, when our latitude was 10° 32¼'

south and longitude 124° 0' east. We carried all sail to gain Samow

Strait before dark; but it was eight o'clock when we hauled round the low

south-west point of Timor, in soundings from 6 to 14 fathoms, within a

quarter of a mile of the reef. There were lights on both shores, which

were useful in directing our course up the strait; but having

unfavourable winds, the northern outlet was not quite reached at noon

next day [THURSDAY 10 NOVEMBER 1803]; and it was near five in the evening

before we anchored abreast of Fort Concordia. This was the thirtieth day

of our departure from Wreck Reef, and two days might be deducted from

them for the deviations and stoppages made for surveying; the indifferent

sailing of the schooner was also against making a quick passage, for with

all the sail we could set, so much as six knots was not marked on the log

board; yet notwithstanding these hindrances, and the much greater of my

six-weeks voyage in the boat to Port Jackson and twelve days stay at

Wreck Reef, the Bridgewater had arrived at Batavia only four days before

we anchored in Coepang Bay. Had not the unfortunate accident happened to

the Porpoise, I have little doubt that we could, with the superior

sailing of that ship, have reached the longitude of Java Head on the

fortieth, perhaps on the thirty-fifth day of our departure from Port

Jackson.

[AT TIMOR. COEPANG BAY.]

Mynheer Geisler, the former governor of Coepang, died a month before our

arrival, and Mr. Viertzen at this time commanded. He supplied us with

almost every thing our situation required, and endeavoured to make my

time pass as pleasantly as was in his power, furnishing me with a house

near the fort to which I took the time keeper and instruments to

ascertain a new rate and error; but my anxious desire to reach England,

and the apprehension of being met by the north-west monsoon before

passing Java, induced me to leave him as soon as we could be ready to

sail, which was on the fourth day. The schooner had continued to be very

leaky whenever the wind caused her to lie over on the side, and one of

the pumps had nearly become useless; I should have risked staying two or

three days longer, had Coepang furnished the means of fresh boring and

fitting the pumps, or if pitch could have been procured to pay the seams

in the upper works after they were caulked; but no assistance in this way

could be obtained; we however got a leak stopped in the bow, and the

vessel was afterwards tight so long as she remained at anchor.

Mr. Viertzen informed me that captain Baudin had arrived at Coepang near

a month after I had left it in the Investigator, and had sailed early in

June for the Gulph of Carpentaria; and I afterwards learned, that being

delayed by calms and opposed by south-east winds, he had not reached Cape

Arnhem when his people and himself began to be sickly; and fearing that

the north-west monsoon might return before his examination was finished,

and keep him in the Gulph beyond the extent of his provisions, he

abandoned the voyage and steered for Mauritius in his way to Europe.

The situation of Fort Concordia is considered to be 10° 9¼' south and

123' 35' 46" east, according to the observations made in the Investigator

(see Ch. IX). I took altitudes with a sextant and artificial horizon on

the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th, for the rate of the time keeper, which,

with its error from mean Greenwich time at noon there on the last day of

observation, was found to be as under:

Earnshaw's No. 520, slow 0h 32' 59.91" and losing 36.74" per day.

From the first observation on the 11th p.m., the longitude given with

the rate from Wreck Reef, was 123° 48' 34", or 12' 48" too far east; but

on using a rate equally accelerated from that found at Wreck Reef to this

at Coepang, the time keeper will differ only 0' 40" to the east, which is

the presumable amount of its irregularities between Oct. 6 at noon and

Nov. 11 p.m., or in 36.2 days. The longitudes of my track from Wreck Reef

to Timor have been corrected agreeably to the accelerated rate, with the

further allowance of a part of the supplemental error 0' 40",

proportionate to the time of each observation; but in Torres' Strait, the

situations are fixed from a medium of the longitudes so obtained and of

those of the Investigator with the corrections specified in Ch. VI.,

preceding; the difference between them no where exceeding 1½' of

longitude.

[FROM TIMOR. TOWARDS MAURITIUS.]

MONDAY 14 NOVEMBER 1803

On the evening of the 14th we sailed from Coepang, and having passed

round the north end of Pulo Samow, steered south-westward with a fair

breeze; but the wind being light, and afterwards veering to S. S. W., our

progress was slow. At sunset on the 16th [WEDNESDAY 16 NOVEMBER 1803],

the island Savu was seen to the N. W. by N., and next morning [THURSDAY

17 NOVEMBER 1803] at six o'clock, the following bearings were taken.

Savu., the highest part, N. 39° E.

Benjoar, a round hill on it, N. 22 E.

A rocky islet, distant 3 leagues, N. 48 W.

At noon, the rocky islet bore N. 63° E., and its position was ascertained

to be 10° 49½' south and 122° 49' east. A small low island is laid down

by admiral D'Entrecasteaux, about three leagues to the north-west of this

position, and had been previously seen by captain Cook in 1770; it seems

possible that these may be one and the same island, for the situation in

D'Entrecasteaux's chart is marked _doubtful_; but they are both laid down

in Plate XVI., and such additions made to what little could be

distinguished of Savu and Benjoar, as D'Entrecasteaux, Cook, Bligh. and

Dalrymple could furnish.

It was my intention on quitting Timor, if the leaky condition of the

schooner and the north-west monsoon did not oppose it, to pass southward

of all the Sunda Islands and direct for the Cape of Good Hope; but if

impeded, to run through some one of the eastern straits, get into the

north-east monsoon, and make for Batavia, or any port where the vessel

could be repaired. The veering of the wind to the westward of south,

accompanied by a swell and the occasional appearance of lightning in the

north-western quarter, made me apprehensive of being forced to this

latter plan; and we prepared a boarding netting to defend us against the

Malay pirates, with which the straits between Java and Timor were said to

be infested; the wind however came back to the eastward, although the

south-west swell continued, and we had frequent rain with sometimes

thunder and lightning.

FRIDAY 25 NOVEMBER 1803

On the 25th, our latitude was 12° 48' and longitude 103° 6', which was

past the meridian of Java Head, and beyond the ordinary limits of the

north-west monsoon. The schooner was leaky, more so than before, and the

pumps were getting worse; but hoping to reach the Cape of Good Hope, I

had wholly given up the idea of Batavia as lying too far out of the

track; Mauritius besides was in the way, should the vessel become

incapable of doubling the Cape without repairs.

Our course by compass was W. by S. for three days, and afterwards W. S.

W., with fresh south-eastern breezes and cloudy weather; but in the upper

regions of the atmosphere the wind was unsettled, showers of rain were

frequent, and it appeared that we were only just in time to save our

passage. On the 4th of December, in 19° 2' south and 83° 50' east, we had

a good deal of following sea from the eastward, whilst the ground swell

came from the south-west; and the jumble caused by these different

movements in the water made the vessel labour exceedingly. I varied the

course a point on either side, to keep the wind in the easiest direction;

but during this and the following day the leaks augmented so much, that

the starbord pump, which was alone effective, was obliged to be worked

almost continually, day and night; and had the wind been on the starbord

side, it is doubtful whether the schooner could have been kept above

water.

This state of things made it necessary to take into serious consideration

the propriety of attempting the passage round the Cape of Good Hope,

without first having the vessel caulked and the pumps fresh bored and

fitted. Should a western wind meet the current setting round the Cape,

and it was to be expected, there would be much more sea running than we

had yet encountered; and with a fresh wind on the starbord side, which

might probably occur, the remaining pump would not touch the water until

the hold was half full; there was moreover cause to fear, that it also

would soon become ineffective from constant use. After turning these

circumstances over in my mind for a day or two, and considering what else

might be urged both for and against the measure, I determined to put in

at Mauritius; and on the 6th in the evening [TUESDAY 6 DECEMBER 1803],

altered the course half a point for that island, to the satisfaction of

the people.

[AT MAURITIUS. BAYE DU CAP.]

In the orders from governor King, the ports to be touched at on the way

to England were left to my own choice; but when Mauritius had been

mentioned amongst others in conversation, the governor had objected to

it, both on account of the hurricanes in that neighbourhood, and from not

wishing to encourage a communication between a French colony and a

settlement composed as is that of Port Jackson. It was these

considerations which had made me hesitate to take the step, though the

necessity for it was pressing; and as, in the case of accident happening

to the schooner, I might be called to answer before a court martial for

going in opposition to the wish of a superior officer, it seemed proper

to state in my journal all the reasons which had any influence on my

decision. This journal is not in my possession; but notes of the

statement were made whilst the recollection of it was strong, and the

following was the substance and not far from the words.

1. The necessity of caulking the schooner and refitting the pumps before

attempting to double the Cape, were stated nearly as above; to which was

added a hope of obtaining a passage in a ship where my defaced charts and

journals, which remained untouched from the time of the shipwreck, might

be put into a state to be laid before the Admiralty on arriving in

England. In the case of meeting with such a passage, I intended to let

the Cumberland for freight back to Port Jackson, or to sell her,

agreeably to the authority given me in governor King's orders.

2. Considering the proximity of Mauritius to the western coasts of Terra

Australis, which remained to be examined, I was desirous to see in what

state it had been left by the revolution, and to gain a practical

knowledge of the port and periodical winds; with a view to its being used

in the future part of my voyage as a place of refitting and refreshment,

for which Port Jackson was at an inconvenient distance. It was also

desirable to know how far Mauritius, and its dependencies in Madagascar

which I knew to abound in cattle, could be useful to Port Jackson in

supplying it with breeding stock; an object concerning which the governor

had expressed anxiety for information from any place on the east side of

the Cape of Good Hope.

3. The two letters from governor King to general Magallon, governor of

Mauritius, instead of being forwarded from the Cape might be delivered in

person.

4. I was a stranger to what had passed in Europe for nearly twelve

months, and there was consequently a possibility that war might again

have broken out; my passport from the French government would be good at

Mauritius, but in going to the Cape, it was uncertain what attention the

Dutch governor might pay to the orders of the first consul of France; and

as promoters and encouragers of science, the character of the nation was

not so high as to give me great expectation on that head. Mauritius was

therefore much more certain than the Cape, since the necessary succour

would be there obtained even in case of war; whereas at the Cape there

might be a risk of losing my charts and journals and of being made a

prisoner.

These reasons for stopping at Mauritius as we passed by it, in addition

to the necessity arising from the state of the schooner, were written in

my rough journal for reference, without any idea of their being

criticised, or even seen by any other than myself; and I have been

particular in detailing them, on account of the unexpected occurrences

with which they became connected.

FRIDAY 9 DECEMBER 1803

On the evening of the 9th, a ship was seen to the northward, and we

sought to speak her for information; but night coming on the sight of her

was lost, and we resumed our western course. I had no chart of Mauritius,

nor other description than what is contained in the third edition of the

Encyclopedia Britannica; this informed me that Port Louis was on the

north-west side of the island, but not of the route usually taken to

reach it; and the prevailing wind being south-east, it seemed to be a

matter of indifference; I therefore steered to make the middle of the

island, intending to go by the north or south sides as the wind might

happen to favour most. On the 15th [THURSDAY 15 DECEMBER 1803] before

daylight, the land was seen, and the wind being E. by S. we hauled to the

northward. When the day broke the island was seven or eight miles off,

and bore from S. 42° to N. 51° W.; but there was a distant round lump,

whether connected with it did not appear, which bore N. by W.; and

finding the schooner could not clear it, from the sea running high and

current setting to leeward, we veered round and steered southward along

the edge of a reef which extends four or five miles from this part of the

island. Soon after eight o'clock we passed three flat rocks within the

reef, lying, as I now suppose, at the entrance of Port Bourbon; the

extremes of the island then bore N. 1° to S. 69° W., and a steep point N.

39° W. five or six miles.

In steering westward along the shore, looking out for boats or vessels to

gain information, a flag was seen upon one of the hills; our colours were

then hoisted, and afterwards a French jack at the fore-top-mast head, as

a signal for a pilot. At noon, the observed latitude was 20° 34' south,

and the extremes of the island bore N. 54° E. to 61° W. There was a small

town bearing N. by E. two or three miles, from whence a schooner had come

out, and being ahead we made sail to speak her; but she hauled in towards

the shore until we had passed, and then stood after us. On our heaving

to, the schooner again steered for a place where some vessels were seen

at anchor, and I began to take her movements as an intimation that we

should go in there for a pilot; accordingly we followed her through a

narrow pass in the reefs, and anchored in 2½ fathoms, in a small reef

harbour which I afterwards understood was called the _Baye du Cap_.

If the schooner's actions were strange before, those of the people were

now more so; for no sooner was their anchor dropped, than without furling

the sails they went hastily on shore in a canoe, and made the best of

their way up a steep hill, one of them with a trunk on his shoulder. They

were met by a person who, from the plume in his hat, appeared to be an

officer, and presently we saw several men with muskets on the top of the

hill; this gave another view of the schooner's movements, and caused me

to apprehend that England and France were either at war or very near it.

To induce some person to come on board, I held up the letters for general

Magallon, the governor; but this being to no purpose, Mr. Aken went on

shore in our little boat, taking with him the letters and French

passport; in a short time he returned with the officer and two others,

and I learned to my great regret that war was actually declared.

The officer, whose name was _Dunienville_, spoke a little English; he

asked if I were the captain Flinders mentioned in the passport, whether

we had been shipwrecked, and to see my commission. Having perused it, he

politely offered his services, inquired what were our immediate wants,

and invited me to go on shore and dine with him, it being then near three

o'clock. I explained my wish to have a pilot for Port North-West (the

name at that time for Port Louis), since it appeared no reparations could

be done in the little bay, and requested to have a cask or two of water.

The pilot was promised for the next day, and Mons. Dunienville sent a

canoe for our empty casks and the master of the French schooner to moor

the Cumberland in a secure place.

My passport was in French, and being a stranger to the language, I had

had its general purport explained on first receiving it from the

Admiralty; but from that time, and more especially after the

preliminaries of peace had reached Port Jackson, the passport had

scarcely been looked at, and my knowledge of its contents was very

imperfect. When the officer was gone, I set myself to consider it

attentively; and so far as I could make out, it seemed to be solely for

the Investigator, and without provision for any other vessel in which the

loss of the ship, or her incapacity to pursue the voyage might oblige me

to embark. The intention, no doubt, was to protect the voyage generally,

and not the Investigator in particular; but it appeared that if the

governor of Mauritius should adhere to the letter of the passport and

disregard the intention, he might seize the Cumberland as a prize; and

the idea of being detained even a week more than necessary was

intolerable. I inquired of the pilot whether the Cape of Good Hope

belonged to the Dutch or English; almost determining, should it not have

been given up before the war commenced, to attempt the passage at all

risks, rather than incur the hazard of being stopped; but the Cape was in

the hands of the Dutch.

An hour after M. Dunienville had been gone, we saw him returning with

another officer who proved to be his superior in rank; and they had with

them a gentleman who spoke English intelligibly. My passport and

commission were demanded in a rough manner, and after the officer had

examined them with the assistance of his interpreter, he observed that

the passport was not for the Cumberland, and required an explanation;

having received it, he said it was necessary that both commission and

passport should be sent to the governor, and that I should remain with

the vessel till an answer was returned. To this arrangement I objected,

alleging that since war was declared, these papers were my sole

protection and could not be given up; but if copies would do they might

be taken. It was at length settled, that I should go over land to Port

Louis with the passport and commission, and that Mr. Aken should be

furnished with a pilot and bring the schooner round after me.

I was conducted to the house of M. Dunienville, about a mile distant, to

be ready to set off on horseback early next morning. The gentleman who

interpreted informed me on the way, that general Magallon was at Bourbon,

having been lately superseded by general De Caen, an officer of the

French revolution. M. Dunienville had been a lieutenant of the navy and

knight of St. Louis under the old government, and was then major of the

district of _La Savanne_; but the other officer, M. Etienne Bolger, had

lately been appointed commandant over his head, by the new governor.

My reception at the major's house was polite and hospitable; and at dawn

of day [FRIDAY 16 DECEMBER 1803] I rose to set off with my host for Port

Louis, according to the plan settled over night. It appeared, however,

that he first expected some orders from the commandant; and at ten

o'clock becoming impatient of the delay, I requested to know whether it

were, or were not intended to go overland? Major Dunienville seemed to be

hurt that the agreement had not been kept; but the direction was taken

out of his hands, and not having received final orders he could do

nothing. I then returned to the Cumberland, with the intention of sailing

either with or without a pilot; but a wind favourable for quitting the

bay being not expected before four o'clock it induced me to accept the

major's pressing invitation to dine at his house, where four or five

strangers were assembled. Before dinner was over, an order came to him

from the commandant _to permit the departure of the schooner he had

stopped_; and at five o'clock the pilot being on board, we stood out from

the reefs in one of those squalls which come off the land at that hour in

the summer season.

This little Baye du Cap lies about four miles east from Cape Brabant, a

headland at the south-west extremity of the island. The shelter is formed

by coral reefs, through which a small river falling into the bay has kept

open a passage of about a cable's length wide, with a depth of 3 fathoms

close to the eastern breakers; within side there appeared to be anchorage

for six or eight small vessels, in from 2 to 3 fathoms; but on account of

the flurries of wind which come down the gullies and off the precipices,

it is necessary to moor head and stern. Mr. Aken found the latitude from

an indifferent observation to be 20° 29½' south.

At seven in the evening we passed round Cape Brabant, and the pilot then

kept north-eastward, close along the reefs under the high land; although

by so doing we were frequently becalmed, and sometimes had strong

flurries which made it necessary to take in all sail; but it appeared

that he was afraid of being driven off the island. At eight in the

morning [SATURDAY 17 DECEMBER 1803], the mast heads of the vessels in

Port Louis were in sight, and there was a large ship lying without side

which I hoped might be _Le Géographe_. Major Dunienville had informed me

that this ship had been some time at Mauritius, and so far as he knew,

was still at the port, though upon the eve of sailing for Europe. Captain

Baudin died soon after his arrival, and Mons. Melius, who had been first

lieutenant of Le Naturaliste when at Port Jackson, then commanded.

During this passage to Port Louis, my mind was occupied in turning over

all the circumstances of my situation, and the mode of proceeding likely

to be adopted by the new governor. The breaking out of the war, the

neglect of providing in the passport for any such case as that in which I

stood, and the ungracious conduct of the commandant at the Baye du Cap,

gave me some apprehensions; but on the other hand, the intention of the

passport to protect the persons employed in the expedition, with their

charts and journals, must be evident; and the conduct of a governor

appointed by the first consul Bonaparte, who was a professed patron of

science, would hardly be less liberal than that of two preceding French

governments to captain Cook in the American, and captain Vancouver in the

last war; for both of whom protection and assistance had been ordered,

though neither carried passports or had suffered shipwreck. These

circumstances, with the testimony which the commanders of the Géographe

and Naturaliste had doubtless given of their treatment at Port Jackson,

seemed to insure for me the kindest reception; and I determined to rest

confident in this assurance, and to banish all apprehension as derogatory

to the governor of Mauritius and to the character of the French nation.

CHAPTER IV.

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.

[AT MAURITIUS. PORT LOUIS.]

SATURDAY 17 DECEMBER 1803

At four in the afternoon of Dec. 17, we got to an anchor at the entrance

of Port Louis, near the ship which I had hoped might be Le Géographe; but

captain Melius had sailed for France on the preceding day, and this

proved to be L'Atalante frigate.

The peculiarity of my situation, arising from the renewal of war and

neglect in the passport to provide for any accident happening to the

Investigator, rendered great precaution necessary in my proceedings; and

to remove as much possible, any doubts or misconceptions, I determined to

go immediately with my passport and commission to the French governor,

and request his leave to get the necessary reparations made to the

schooner; but learning from the pilot that it was a regulation of the

port for no person to land before the vessel had been visited by the

officer of health, it was complied with. At five the boat came

along-side; and having answered some general questions proposed in good

English, I went into the boat in my frock uniform, and was conducted to

the government house by an officer of the port and an interpreter. These

gentlemen, after speaking with an aide-de-camp, told me that the

captain-general was at dinner, and we must return in an hour or two; and

they took me to a shady place which seemed to be the common lounge for

the officers connected with the port. There were some who spoke English,

and by way of passing the time, they asked if I had really come from

Botany Bay in that little vessel; whether a corvette, sent out the night

before to observe my motions, had been seen; and if I had not sent a boat

on shore in the night? Others asked questions of monsieur Baudin's

conduct at Port Jackson, and of the English colony there; and also

concerning the voyage of monsieur Flinedare, of which, to their surprise,

I knew nothing, but afterwards found it to be my own name which they so

pronounced.

In two hours we again went to the government house, and the officers

entered to render their account, leaving me at the door for half an hour

longer. At length the interpreter desired me to follow him, and I was

shown into a room where two officers were standing at a table; the one a

shortish thick man in a laced round jacket, the other a genteel-looking

man whose blood seemed to circulate more tranquilly. The first, which was

the captain-general De Caen, fixed his eyes sternly upon me, and without

salutation or preface demanded my passport, my commission! Having glanced

over them, he asked in an impetuous manner, the reason for coming to the

Isle of France in a small-schooner with a passport for the Investigator?

I answered in a few words, that the Investigator having become rotten,

the governor of New South Wales had given me the schooner to return to

England; and that I had stopped at the island to repair my vessel and

procure water and refreshments. He then demanded the order for embarking

in the schooner and coming to the Isle of France; to which my answer was,

that for coming to the island I had no order, necessity had obliged me to

stop in passing--my order for embarking in the Cumberland was on board.

At this answer, the general lost the small share of patience of which he

seemed to be possessed, and said with much gesture and an elevated

voice--"You are imposing on me, sir! (_Vous m'en imposez, monsieur!_)

It is not probable that the governor of New South Wales should send away

the commander of an expedition on discovery in so small a vessel!--" He

then gave back my passport and commission, and I made a motion to follow

the interpreter out, but was desired to stop a little. In a few minutes

the interpreter returned with a military officer, to whom some orders not

explained to me were given, and I was desired to follow them; when going

out the captain-general said in a softer tone something about my being

well treated, which I could not comprehend.

In the way to the wharf, I inquired of the interpreter where they were

taking me? He said, on board the schooner, and that they had orders to

bring my books and papers on shore; in effect, they took all the charts,

papers, and journals relating to my voyage, as also the Port-Jackson

letters and packets, both public and private; and having put them into a

trunk which was sealed by me at their desire, they made out a report

(_procès verbal_) of their proceedings, and requested me to sign it with

them. The preamble of this report set forth something upon the suspicions

excited by my appearance at the Isle of France, with the

captain-general's opinion thereon; I therefore refused to sign it, but

certified at the bottom, that all the charts, journals, and papers of the

voyage, together with all the letters on board the schooner had been

taken.

The conduct of these gentlemen being polite, I expressed to them my

sentiments of general De Caen's manner of receiving me, and the injustice

of taking away the papers of a voyage protected by a passport from the

French government; and added, that the captain-general's conduct must

alter very much before I should pay him a second visit, or even set my

foot on shore again. The interpreter hoped I would go on shore with them,

for the general had ordered a lodging to be provided for me; and that, in

fact, they had orders to take me there. I looked at him and at the

officer, who was one of the aides-de-camp--What! I exclaimed in the first

transports of surprise and indignation--I am then a prisoner! They

acknowledged it to be true; but said they hoped it would last only a few

days, until my papers were examined; and that in the mean time,

directions had been given that I should want for nothing.

Mr. Aken was also to go on shore; and whilst we put a few clothes

together in a trunk, several black men, under the direction of another

pilot, were warping the schooner up into the port. At one in the morning

[SUNDAY 18 DECEMBER 1803] the officers took us into their boat, leaving

the Cumberland, with Mr. Charrington and the crew, under a guard of

soldiers.

We were conducted to a large house in the middle of the town, and through

a long dark entry, up a dirty stair case, into the room destined for us;

the aide-de-camp and interpreter then wished us a good night, and we

afterwards heard nothing save the measured steps of a sentinel, walking

in the gallery before our door. The chamber contained two truckle beds, a

small table and two rush-bottomed chairs; and from the dirty appearance

of the room I judged the lodging provided for us by the general to be one

of the better apartments of a common prison; there were, however, no iron

bars behind the lattice windows, and the frame of a looking-glass in the

room had formerly been gilt. It seemed to me a wiser plan to leave the

circumstances to develop themselves, rather than to fatigue ourselves

with uncertain conjectures; therefore, telling Mr. Aken we should

probably know the truth soon enough, I stripped and got into bed; but

between the musketoes above and bugs below, and the novelty of our

situation, it was near daybreak before either of us dropped asleep.

At six o'clock, I was awakened by two armed grenadiers entering the room.

The one said some words to the other, pointing to us at the same time,

and then went out; and he that remained began walking backward and

forward between our beds, as a sentinel on his post, without seeming to

pay great attention to us. Had there been curtains, I should have tried

to regain my slumber; but not being able to sleep in such company, I rose

and awoke my companion, who seeing the grenadier and not at first

recollecting our situation, answered in a manner that would have diverted

me at any other time. The sentinel did not prevent us speaking together;

and on looking out at the window, we found that it was in reality a

tavern where they had placed us, though a very dirty one; it bore the

name of _Café Marengo_. A breakfast was brought at eight, and dinner at

twelve, and we eat heartily; good bread, fresh meat, fruit, and

vegetables being great rarities.

At one o'clock, the aide-de-camp, whom I learned to be lieut. colonel

Monistrol, came to the tavern and desired me to accompany him to the

general; and being shown into an office, a German secretary, who spoke

some English, put various questions to me from a paper, in substance

nearly as follows. How it was that I appeared at the Isle of France in so

small a vessel, when my passport was for the Investigator? What was

become of the officers and men of science who made part of the

expedition? Whether I had any knowledge of the war before arriving? Why

cartel colours had been hoisted, and a vessel chased in sight of the

island? What were my objects for putting into Port North-West, and by

what authority? The orders from governor King, relating to the

Cumberland, were also demanded, and carried to the captain-general with

my answers to the above questions; and soon afterward to my surprise, an

invitation was brought me to go to the general's table, his dinner being

then served up. This invitation was so contrary to all that had hitherto

passed, and being unaccompanied with any explanation, that I at first

thought it could not be serious, and answered that I had already dined;

but on being pressed to go at least to the table, my reply was, that

"under my present situation and treatment it was impossible; when they

should be changed, when I should be set at liberty, if His Excellency

thought proper to invite me, I should be flattered by it, and accept his

invitation with pleasure." It had indeed the air of an experiment, to

ascertain whether I were really a commander in the British navy; and had

the invitation been accepted without explanation or a change of

treatment, an inference might have been drawn that the charge of

imposture was well founded; but in any case, having been grossly insulted

both in my public and private character, I could not debase the situation

I had the honour to hold by a tacit submission. When the aide-de-camp

returned from carrying the above reply, he said that the general would

invite me when set at liberty; but nothing was offered in the way of

explanation.

A paper containing the questions of the German secretary with my answers,

was required to be signed, but this being in French, I objected as not

understanding it; a translation was therefore to be made, and the letter

of governor King respecting the Cumberland was to be put into French for

the captain-general. Extracts from my journal, showing the necessity of

quitting the Investigator, were moreover desired, and also my reasons at

full length for stopping at the Isle of France, instead of going to the

Cape of Good Hope; it being necessary, they said, for the general to

transmit these to the French government, to justify himself for granting

that assistance to the Cumberland which had been ordered for the

Investigator. It was already night, and the excessive heat, with being

kept six hours answering questions, was very fatiguing; I therefore took

the third volume of my rough log book, which contained the whole of what

they desired to know, and pointing out the parts in question to the

secretary, told him to make such extracts as should be thought requisite.

I then requested to be shown back to the tavern, also that the sentinel

might be taken out of our room, and Mr. Aken be permitted to return on

board the schooner to keep order; to which the aide-de-camp brought for

answer, that it was then too late to make new arrangements, but His

Excellency would see me in the morning. All the books and papers, the

third volume of my rough log book excepted, were then returned into the

trunk and sealed as before; and I was reconducted to my confinement

between eight and nine o'clock.

MONDAY 19 DECEMBER 1803

Next morning, the sentinel in our chamber was ordered to take his station

without side; and in the afternoon M. Bonnefoy, the interpreter, came to

say that business prevented the captain-general from seeing me before the

following day. Mr. Aken had permission to go on board the schooner under

the conduct of an officer; but not being allowed to remain, he brought

away the time keeper, with my sextant and artificial horizon; and we

commenced a series of observations for a new error and rate, ready

against the day of our departure.

TUESDAY 20 DECEMBER 1803

Mr. Charrington came from the schooner on the 20th to inform me, that the

seamen were committing many irregularities, taking spirits out of my

cabin and going on shore as they pleased; the French guard seeming to

take little or no cognisance of their actions. At one o'clock the

interpreter and a military officer took me to the government house, and I

expected to have an interview with the general and a termination put to

our confinement. They showed me into the secretary's office, and

requested a copy of my passport and commission; and having made out one

myself and signed them both, the interpreter then said the general was

busy and could not see me that day; and I was taken back without learning

when he would be at liberty, or what was intended to be done.

As yet I was unable to comprehend any thing of the captain-general's

conduct; but however great my indignation at seeing my liberty and time

thus trifled with, it was to be feared that in writing to him for an

explanation, before seeing what turn the affair would take, might be

productive of more harm than good. The disorders on board the schooner,

however, requiring immediate correction, I wrote a note to inform him of

them; requesting at the same time, that Mr. Aken might remain in the

Cumberland, and that the caulking of the vessel's upper works and fresh

boring of the pumps might be commenced, these being the principal objects

for which I had stopped at the island. In the evening the interpreter

called to say, that the corporal of the guard on board the schooner had

been punished for neglecting his orders; that one of the sailors, a

Prussian, being found on shore had been put into the guard house, and

that an answer would be given to my note in the morning [WEDNESDAY 21

DECEMBER 1803]. In effect, the interpreter then came with

lieutenant-colonel Monistrol, and explained to me a paper to the

following purport.

That the captain-general being convinced from the examination of my

journal, that I had absolutely changed the nature of the mission for

which the First Consul had granted a passport, wherein I was certainly

not authorised to stop at the Isle of France to make myself acquainted

with the _periodical winds, the port, present state Of the colony, etc._

That such conduct being a violation of neutrality, he ordered colonel

Monistrol to go on board the Cumberland, and in my presence to collect

into one or more trunks all other papers which might add to the proofs

already acquired; and after sealing the trunks, I was to be taken back to

the house where my suspicious conduct had made it necessary to confine me

from the instant of arriving in the port. It was further ordered, that

the crew of the schooner should be kept on board the prison ship; and

that an inventory should be taken of every thing in the Cumberland, and

the stores put under seal and guarded conformably to the regulations.*

[* 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.)]

Such was the answer given to my request for the repairs of the schooner

to be commenced. In compliance with their order the officers took me on

board, and the remaining books and papers, whether relating in any way to

the Investigator's voyage or not, even to letters received from my family

and friends during several years, were all taken away, locked up in a

trunk, and sealed. Mr. Aken and myself were allowed to take our clothes,

but the officers dared not venture to let me have any printed books; I

must however do colonel Monistrol and M. Bonnefoy the justice to say,

that they acted throughout with much politeness, apologizing for what

they were obliged by their orders to execute; and the colonel said he

would make a representation to the captain-general, who doubtless lay

under some mistake.

This turn to my affairs surprised, and at first stunned me. The single

circumstance about which I had entertained the least apprehension, was

the neglect in my passport of providing for any other vessel than the

Investigator; but from this order of the captain-general, I found myself

considered in the light of a spy; my desire to know how far Mauritius

could be useful as a place of refitment in the future part of my

voyage--a desire formed and expressed in the belief of its being a time

of peace, was made a plea for depriving me of liberty and the result of

more than two years of risk and labour. The sensations raised by this

violation of justice, of humanity, and of the faith of his own

government, need not be described; they will be readily felt by every

Englishman who has been subjected, were it only for a day, to French

revolutionary power. On returning to my place of confinement, I

immediately wrote and sent the following letter, addressed to His

Excellency the captain-general De Caen, governor in chief, etc. etc. etc.

Isle of France.

Sir,

From your order, which was explained to me this morning, I find that the

plea for detaining me is not now that I do not appear with the

Investigator, according to _the letter_ of my passport from the first

consul of France; but that I have violated the neutrality therein

required by having given in my journal, as an additional reason for

putting into this port, that "it would enable me to acquire a knowledge

of the periodical winds, and of the present state of the French colony;

how far it or its dependencies in Madagascar might be useful to Port

Jackson, and how far it would be a convenient place for me to touch at in

my future expected voyage:" I quote from memory only, my journal being in

your possession. How this remark, made upon the supposition of our two

nations being at peace, can be a breach of neutrality, I acknowledge

myself unable to discover. Nothing can, in my opinion, add to the

propriety of the intentions with which I put into this port, but I shall

justify it by the example of your own nation; and to do so, it is only

necessary for me to refer to the instructions which preface the published

voyage of the unfortunate La Pérouse, by the judicious Fleurieu. Your

Excellency will there see, that the much lamented navigator was ordered

to make particular observations upon the trade, manufactures, strength,

situation, etc. of every port where he might touch; so that, if the

example of your own nation be taken as a standard of propriety, the plea

for making me a prisoner is altogether untenable. Upon the supposition

even of its being war, and that I knew it and still intended to make the

observations expressed in my journal; upon this incorrect and worst

supposition I have, I think, an example of similar conduct in your own

nation; unless you can assure me that the captains Baudin and Hamelin

made no such remarks upon Port Jackson, for it was a declared war at the

time they lay in that port. But were they forbidden to make such remarks

and notes upon the state of that English colony? Upon its progress, its

strength, the possibility of its being attacked with advantage, and the

utility it might afford to the French nation? I tell you, general De

Caen, No. The governor in chief at Port Jackson knew too well the dignity

of his own nation, either to lay any prohibition upon these commanders,

or to demand to see what their journals might contain.

I shall next appeal to you as being the representative in this place of a

great nation, which has hitherto shown itself forward to protect and

encourage those sciences by which the knowledge of mankind is extended or

their condition ameliorated. Understand then, Sir, that I was chosen by

that patron of science sir Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society

of London, and one well known by all the literati throughout the world,

to retrace part of the track of the immortal captain Cook--to complete

what in New Holland and its neighbourhood he had left unfinished--and to

perfect the discovery of that extensive country. This employment, Sir, as

it was congenial to my own inclinations, so I pursued it with avidity;

upon it, as from a convex lens, all the rays of knowledge and science

which my opportunities have enabled me to collect, were thrown. I was

unfortunate in that my ship decayed before the voyage was completed; but

the captain-general at Port Jackson, who is also the senior naval officer

there, was so sensible of the importance of the voyage and of the zeal

with which I had pursued it (for the truth of which I appeal to his

letters now in your possession), that he gave me a colonial ship of war

to transport me with my officers, charts, etc. to England, that I might

obtain another ship in which the voyage might be completed. In this

second ship I was a passenger; and in her, shipwreck and the loss of

charts which had cost me much labour and many risks to make perfect, were

added to my first misfortune; but my zeal suffered no abatement. I

returned to Port Jackson (734 miles) in an open boat, and got a merchant

ship which was bound to China, hired to carry my officers and people to

England by that circuitous route; but desirous of losing no time, I took

a small schooner of twenty-nine tons, a mere boat, in order to reach

England by a nearer passage, and thus gain two or three mouths of time in

the outfit of my future expected ship; making my own case and safety to

stand in no competition with the great object of forwarding my voyage.

Necessity, and not inclination, obliged me to put in at the Isle of

France in my route.

Now, Sir, I would beg to ask you whether it becomes the French nation,

independently of all passport, to stop the progress of such a voyage, and

of which the whole maritime world are to receive the benefit? How

contrary to this was her conduct some years since towards captain Cook!

But the world highly applauded her conduct then; and possibly we may

sometime see what the general sentiment will be in the present case.

I sought protection and assistance in your port, and I have found a

prison! Judge for me as a man, Sir--judge, for me as a British officer

employed in a neutral occupation--judge for me as a zealous

philanthropist, what I must feel at being thus treated.

At present I quit the subject with the following requests: that I may be

permitted to have my printed books on shore; and that my servant may be

allowed to attend me in my apartment.

With all the respect due from my situation to the captain-general,

I am

From my confinement,

Your Excellency's obedient servant,

Dec. 21, 1803.

Matthew Flinders.

The lapse of several years has enabled me to consider the transactions of

this period under different views, to regard them with almost the

coolness of an uninterested observer; and I see the possibility that a

dispassionate reader may accuse me of taking too high a position, and

using too warm a style--in rather giving way to the dictates of feeling

than dwelling upon the proofs of my innocence; perhaps also, he may

accuse me of vanity, in seeking to enhance my own zeal and claims.

Without attempting to controvert these censures, I beg him to consider

all the circumstances of my situation: my voyage, shipwreck, and anxiety

to pursue the steps of our celebrated navigators. Let him suppose himself

to have executed so much of the same task, escaped the same dangers; and

under the influence of powerful motives to reach England with expedition,

to be arrested on the way, his misfortunes either not heeded or converted

into proofs of delinquency, and himself treated as a spy; and this is

done by the representative of a government which had promised assistance

and protection, and moreover owed him a return for the kind treatment

recently experienced by Frenchmen in the port from whence he came. Let

him suppose himself writing to his oppressor with these various

recollections crowding on his imagination; and the allowances he would

then desire for himself, I request of him to make for me.

THURSDAY 22 DECEMBER 1803

On the day following the transmission of the letter, my servant was

brought on shore from the prison ship, where he left Mr. Charrington and

the seamen closely confined; but no answer was returned either on the

22nd or 23rd, nor did we hear any thing that could give an insight into

what further was intended to be done. We suffered much from the heat of

the weather and want of fresh air; for the town of Port Louis is wholly

exposed to the rays of the sun, whilst the mountains which form a

semicircle round it to the east and south, not only prevent the trade

wind from reaching it, but reflect the heat in such a manner, that from

November to April it is almost insupportable. During this season, the

inhabitants whose affairs do not oblige them to remain, fly to the higher

and windward parts of the island; and the others take the air and their

exercise very early in the morning and late in the evening. We who were

shut up in the middle of the town, and from having been three months

confined to a vessel of twenty-nine tons were much in need of exercise,

could not but feel the personal inconveniences of such a situation in

their full rigour; and the perturbation of mind, excited by such unworthy

treatment, did not tend to alleviate their effects on our health. But the

heat and want of fresh air were not the worst evils. Our undefended

pallet beds were besieged by swarms of bugs and musketoes, and the bites

of these noxious insects upon bodies ready to break out with scurvy,

produced effects more than usually painful and disagreeable. Being almost

covered with inflamed spots, some of which had become ulcers on my legs

and feet, I wrote to the captain-general, requesting the assistance of a

surgeon; and also to know under what limitations he would allow me to

write to the Admiralty of Great Britain, and to my family and friends;

but the main subject was left untouched, in expectation of an answer to

the former letter.

In the afternoon, one of the aides-de-camp said that His Excellency did

not prevent me from writing to whom I pleased; but that my letters must

be sent open to the town major, who would forward them to their address.

The same evening a surgeon, who did not speak English, came to our room;

next morning [SATURDAY 24 DECEMBER 1803] he returned with the

interpreter, and finding the ulcers to be scorbutic, ordered me, in

addition to his dressings, to drink plentifully of lemonade and live upon

fruit and vegetables. Their visit was repeated on the following day

[SUNDAY 25 DECEMBER 1803]; but nothing transpired relative to the

general's intentions, nor to any answer proposed to be given to my letter

of the 21st; and I therefore wrote another in the following terms.

Sir,

From whatever cause it may be that I have received no answer to my letter

of the 21st last, I shall yet continue to do my duty to my government and

the cause of discovery, by pointing out every circumstance that may have

a probability of inducing you to liberate my people, my vessel, and

myself.

A former letter showed, that upon the principles adopted in voyages of

discovery by your own nation, the plea for detaining me a prisoner was

untenable; and also that independently of any passport, it ill became the

French nation to stop the prosecution of a voyage of discovery,

especially one carried on with the zeal that mine has hitherto been. In

this letter I shall endeavour to point out another circumstance, at least

as important as the former, so far as regards the injustice of my

detainer. In this point of view then, Sir, I shall admit, that to make

any remarks upon a port which might enable either myself or others to

come into it again with more facility, or which might give information

concerning the refreshments and articles of commerce to be procured at

it, is, although made in time of peace, a crime; and consequently, that

if La Pérouse executed his instructions, he was no better than a spy at

the different ports where he put in. Let this, Sir, for the moment be

admitted; and I ask what proofs you have that I have made such remarks?

You will probably say, I _intended_ to make them. True, but intention is

not action. I might have altered my intentions on coming into the port,

and finding our two nations to be at war: you cannot know what alteration

a knowledge of the war might have made in my sentiments. We do indeed

judge much of the merit or demerit of an action by the intention with

which it is performed; but in all cases there must be an action performed

to constitute any certain merit or demerit amongst men. Now in my case

there appears to have been intention only; and even this intention I have

before shown to be consistent with the practice of your own nation, and I

believe of all nations.

As it appears that Your Excellency had formed a determination to stop the

Cumberland, previously even to seeing me, if a specious pretext were

wanting for it, it would have been more like wisdom to have let me alone

until the eve of sailing, and then to have seized my journal; where it is

possible something better than _intention_ might have been fixed upon as

a cause for making me a prisoner. This would have been a mean action, and

altogether unworthy of you or your nation; but it might have answered

your purpose better than the step now taken. I say there appears to have

been a previous determination to stop the Cumberland, and from this

cause; that on the first evening of my arrival, and before any

examination was made into my papers (my commission and passport

excepted), you told me impetuously that I was _imposing upon you_. Now I

cannot think that an officer of your rank and judgment could act either

so ungentlemanlike, or so unguardedly, as to make such a declaration

without proof; unless his reason had been blinded by passion, or a

previous determination that it should be so, _nolens volens_. In your

order of the 21st last it is indeed said, that the captain-general has

acquired conviction that I am the person I pretend to be, and the same

for whom a passport was obtained by the English government from the First

Consul; it follows then, as I am willing to explain it, that I _am not_

and _was not_ an impostor. This plea was given up when a more plausible

one was thought to be found; but I cannot compliment Your Excellency upon

this alteration in your position, for the first, although false, is the

most tenable post of the two.

Trusting that upon a due consideration of all the circumstances, you will

be pleased to fulfil the intention for which the passport was given, I

have the honour to be,

From my confinement,

Your Excellency's obedient servant,

Dec. 25, 1803.

Matthew Flinders.

In the evening, a letter was brought me by a soldier from general De

Caen, and the haste with which it had been sent inspired favourable

hopes; I did not expect the visit of the interpreter until the following

day, and therefore attempted to decipher the letter by the help of a

French dictionary, with a degree of anxiety which its contents were but

little calculated to satisfy: it was as follows.

I did not answer your letter of the 21st December, Sir, because it was

useless to commence a debate here between you and me, upon the motives

well or ill founded from which I took upon myself to stop the Cumberland

until further orders. On the other hand, I should have had too much

advantage in refuting your assertions, notwithstanding the reasonings and

quotations with which you have adorned them.

I was still willing to attribute the unreserved tone you had used in that

letter, to the ill humour produced by your present situation. I was far

from thinking that after having seriously reflected upon the causes and

circumstances, you should take occasion from a silence so delicate to go

still further; but your last letter no longer leaves me an alternative.

Your undertaking, as extraordinary as it was inconsiderate, to depart

from Port Jackson in the Cumberland, more to give proof of an officious

zeal, more for the private interests of Great Britain than for what had

induced the French government to give you a passport, which I shall

unfold at a proper opportunity, had already given me an idea of your

character; but this letter overstepping all the bounds of civility,

obliges me to tell you, until _the general opinion judges of your faults

or of mine_, to cease all correspondence tending to demonstrate the

justice of your cause; since you know so little how to preserve the rules

of decorum.*

[The text of the letter, in French, was set out in the book, but is not

set out in this ebook.]

The accusation of not preserving the rules of decorum, seemed not a

little extraordinary from one who had kept me above two hours in the

street when I had gone to wait upon him, and who had qualified me with

the title of impostor without examination; but it seemed that any act of

aggression on the part of the general was to meet only with submission

and respect. Embarrassment sheltering itself under despotic power, was

evident in this letter; but it gave no further insight into the reasons

for making me a prisoner, and consequently no opportunity of vindicating

my innocence. It therefore seemed wisest, seeing the kind of man with

whom I had to deal, to follow his directions and leave the main subject

to the operation of time; but to take off my mind from dwelling too

intensely upon the circumstance of being arrested at such a conjuncture,

I determined to employ it in forwarding my voyage, if an application for

the necessary papers should be attended with success.

MONDAY 26 DECEMBER 1803

Having obtained a translation of the general's letter from the

interpreter, who came next morning in company with the surgeon, I wrote

to request,

1st. My printed books from the schooner.

2nd. My private letters and papers out of the secretary's office.

3rd. To have two or three charts and three or four manuscript books, for

the purpose of finishing the chart of the Gulph of Carpentaria; adding in

explanation, that the parts wanting were mostly lost in the shipwreck,

and I wished to replace them from my memory and remaining materials

before it were too late. For these a receipt was offered, and my word

that nothing in the books should be erased or destroyed; but I wished to

make additions to one or two of the books as well as to the charts, and

would afterwards be ready to give up the whole.

4th. I represented a complaint from my seamen, of being shut up at night

in a place where not a breath of air could come to them; which, in a

climate like this, must be not only uncomfortable in the last degree, but

very destructive to European constitutions. Also, that the people with

whom they were placed were affected with that disagreeable and contagious

disorder the itch; and that their provisions were too scanty, except in

the article of bread, the proportion of which was large, but of a bad

quality.

An answer was given on the same day by one of the general's

aides-de-camp, who said that orders had been given for the delivery of

the books and papers; that the place where the seamen were kept was very

wholesome; and as to the provisions, that orders had been given on my

arrival for the people of the Cumberland to be treated as French seamen

in actual service; that he would inquire whether any thing contrary had

been done, which he did not think, but in that case it should be set

right.

TUESDAY 27 DECEMBER 1803

At noon next day colonel Monistrol and M. Bonnefoy called, and a trunk

was brought from on board the schooner, containing a part of my printed

books. The colonel seemed to be sorry that my letters to the general had

been couched in a style so far from humble, and to think that they might

rather tend to protract than terminate my confinement; on which I

observed, believing him to be in the general's confidence, that as my

demand was to obtain common justice, an adulatory style did not seem

proper, more especially when addressed to a republican who must despise

it: my rights had been invaded, and I used the language natural to a man

so circumstanced. Had favours been wanted, or there had been any thing to

conceal, my language would probably have been different; but of all

things I desired that the strictest scrutiny should be made into my

papers, and that it should be confronted with any examination they might

choose to make of myself or people. The colonel and interpreter, either

from politeness or conviction, did not disagree with these sentiments,

but repeated that a different mode of writing might have answered better;

it appeared indeed, from their conversation, that French republicanism

involved any thing rather than liberty, justice, and equality, of which

it had so much boasted.

So soon as the two gentlemen were gone, I took out my naval signal book

from the trunk and tore it to pieces; the private signals had been lost

in the shipwreck, so that my mind was now freed from apprehensions which

had given much inquietude.

WEDNESDAY 28 DECEMBER 1803

On the 28th, M. Chapotin, the surgeon, called as usual with the

interpreter. He said that air and exercise were necessary to the

re-establishment of my health, and that so soon as I should be able to

walk out, it would be proper to apply to the general for a permission;

and on my objecting to ask any thing like a personal favour, he promised

with some degree of feeling to take the application on himself.

No mention was made this day of the books and papers, to be delivered

from the sealed trunks; but next morning [THURSDAY 29 DECEMBER 1803] I

was conducted to the government house, and took out all my private

letters and papers, the journals of bearings and astronomical

observations, two log books, and such charts as were necessary to

completing the Gulph of Carpentaria; for which a receipt was required,

without any obligation to return them. The third log book, containing

transactions and remarks in different vessels during the preceding six

months, was important to me on many accounts, and especially for the

observations it contained upon Torres' Strait and the Gulph; but it was

said to be in the hands of the general, who could not be disturbed, and

two boxes of despatches from governor King and colonel Paterson had been

taken away. All the other books and papers, including my passport,

commission, etc., with some accounts from the commissary of New South

Wales and many private letters from individuals in that colony, were

locked up in a trunk and sealed as before.

SATURDAY 31 DECEMBER 1803

On the 31st. I sent to the town major's office an open letter addressed

to the secretary of the Admiralty, giving a short account of my

embarkation and shipwreck in the Porpoise, voyage in the Cumberland, and

situation in Mauritius; with two private letters, and a request that they

might be forwarded by the first opportunity. Next day [SUNDAY 1 JANUARY

1804] the receipt of them was acknowledged, and a promise given to inform

me of the means by which they should be sent, and it was done

accordingly; but not one of the letters, or of their duplicates, was ever

received.

Having calculated with Mr. Aken the observations previously taken for the

rate of the time keeper,* I now worked earnestly upon the chart of the

Gulph of Carpentaria; and this employment served to divert my chagrin,

and the indignation which, however useless it might be, I could not but

feel at the author of our imprisonment. The want of my log book, however,

was a great obstacle to laying down the parts seen in the Cumberland; and

nothing more having been said of it, a short letter was written to

general De Caen on the 5th, reminding him that the log was necessary to

the construction of my charts, and that only a small part of the printed

books had yet been delivered. A verbal answer was brought by the

interpreter, and two days afterward the books came from the schooner; but

respecting the log no answer was made.

[* 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.]

The sentinel placed at the door of our chambers (for we had a few days

before obtained a second, with musketo curtains to our beds), became

unusually strict at this time, scarcely allowing the master of the

tavern, or even the interpreter or surgeon to see us; and one day,

hearing me inquire the name of some dish in French from the slave who

waited at dinner, the sentinel burst into the room and drove away the

poor affrighted black, saying that we were not to speak to any person.

Previously to this, a Dutch, a Swiss, a Norwegian, and two American

gentlemen had called; but except the Swiss, who found means to bid us

good day occasionally without being noticed, not one came a second time,

for fear of being held in a suspicious light by the government; and now,

the surgeon and interpreter were not admitted without a written order.

Two applications had been made by the surgeon in my behalf, to walk in

the fields near the town; the last was personally to the captain-general,

but although he might have caused a sentinel to follow, or a whole guard

if thought necessary, an unqualified refusal was given to M. Chapotin's

humane request.

We were lodged and supplied with meals in the tavern at the public

expense; but having lost part of our clothes in the shipwreck, and

distributed some to those of our companions who had saved nothing, both

Mr. Aken and myself were much in want of linen and other necessaries; and

after the few dollars I chanced to have about me were gone, we knew not

how to pay for our washing. All strangers being refused admittance took

away the chance of negotiating bills, for the surgeon spoke no English

and the interpreter always avoided the subject; one morning however,

having previously ascertained that it would not give umbrage, the

interpreter offered to attempt the negotiation of a bill drawn upon the

commissioners of the navy; but the sentinel, seeing him take a paper,

gave information, and M. Bonnefoy was scarcely out of the room when a

file of soldiers made him prisoner; nor, although a public officer, was

he liberated until it was ascertained that he acted with permission, and

had received no other paper than the bill. In the evening he brought the

full sum, at a time when bills upon England could obtain cash with

difficulty at a discount of thirty per cent. It was the chevalier

Pelgrom, who filled the offices of Danish and Imperial consul, that had

acted thus liberally; and he caused me to be informed, that the fear of

incurring the general's displeasure had alone prevented him from offering

his assistance sooner.

Although Mr. Aken and myself were strictly confined and closely watched,

my servant was left at liberty to go upon my commissions; and once a week

I sent him on board the prison ship, to take Mr. Charrington and the

seamen a basket of fruit and vegetables from the market. They had always

been permitted to walk upon deck in the day time, and latterly been

sometimes allowed to go into the town, accompanied by a soldier; and

since from all we could learn, the final decision of the captain-general

was yet in suspense, I augured favourably of the result from this

relaxation towards the men. My hopes became strengthened on the 14th, by

learning from M. Bonnefoy that it was believed we should be permitted to

walk out, and perhaps depart altogether, so soon as three Dutch ships

commanded by rear-admiral Dekker should have sailed. These ships were

loaded with pepper from Batavia, and bound to Europe; and it seemed

possible that one reason of our detention might be to prevent English

ships gaining intelligence of them by our means; but this could be no

excuse for close imprisonment and taking away my charts and journals,

whatever it might be made for delaying our departure.

Finding it impossible to obtain the third volume of my log book, the

charts of Torres' Strait and the Gulph of Carpentaria were finished

without it; fortunately the journal kept by Mr. Aken in the Cumberland

had not been taken away, and it proved of great assistance. Our time

passed on in this manner, hoping that the Dutch ships would sail, and

that general De Caen would then suffer us to depart, either in the

Cumberland or some other way; the surgeon came almost daily, on account

of my scorbutic sores, and the interpreter called frequently. I was

careful not to send out my servant often, for it appeared that he was

dogged by spies, and that people were afraid of speaking to him; the

surgeon and interpreter were almost equally cautious with me, so that

although in the midst of a town where news arrived continually from some

part of the world, every thing to us was wrapped in mystery; and M.

Bonnefoy afterwards acknowledged, in answer to a direct question put to

him, that an order had been given to prevent us receiving any

intelligence.

On the 29th, admiral Dekker sailed with his three ships; and whilst

anxiously expecting some communication, the interpreter called to inform

me that an order had been given for the schooner to be moved up the

harbour, and the stores to be taken out; and he wished to know if Mr.

Aken should be present at making the inventory. I asked what was to be

done with us--with my books and papers? To which he answered by a shrug

of the shoulders: he had come only for the purpose of executing his

order. On each of the two following days Mr. Aken was taken down to the

schooner; for he accepted the proposition to accompany the officers for

the sake of the walk, and in the hope of obtaining some intelligence. He

found the poor Cumberland covered with blue mold within side, and many of

the stores in a decaying state, no precautions having been taken to

preserve her from the heat or the rains; the French inventory was

afterwards brought to him to be signed, but he refused it with my

approbation.

FEBRUARY 1804

This new proceeding seemed to bespeak the captain-general to have finally

taken his resolution to keep us prisoners; and my disappointment at

seeing it, instead of receiving back my books and papers and permission

to depart, was extreme. In the hope to obtain some information I wrote a

note on the 3rd, to solicit of His Excellency the honour of an audience;

and five days having elapsed without an answer, the interpreter was

requested to deliver a message to the same effect. He presently returned

with the concise answer, _No_; but afterwards told me in conversation

that the general had said, "captain Flinders might have known that I did

not wish to see him, by not giving an answer to his note. It is needless

for me to see him, for the conversation will probably be such as to

oblige me to send him to the tower."

My intention in requesting the audience was to have offered certain

proposals to the general's consideration, and if possible to obtain some

explanation of the reasons for a detention so extraordinary, and now

protracted beyond six weeks; and being disappointed in this, a letter was

written on the 12th, containing the following propositions.

1st. If your Excellency will permit me to depart with my vessel, papers,

etc., I will pledge my honour not to give any information of the Isle of

France or any thing belonging to it, for a limited time, if it be thought

that I can have gained any information; or if judged necessary, any other

restrictions can be laid upon me. If this will not be complied with, I

request,

2nd, to be sent to France.

3rd. But if it be indispensable to detain me here, I request that my

officer and people may be permitted to depart in the schooner; as well

for the purpose of informing the British Admiralty where I am, as to

relieve our families and friends from the report which will be spread of

the total loss of the Porpoise and Cato, with all on board. Mr. Aken can

be laid under what restrictions may be deemed requisite; and my honour

shall be a security that nothing shall be transmitted by me, but what

passes under the inspection of the officer who may be appointed for that

purpose.

In case of refusing to adopt any of these modes, by which my voyage might

proceed without possibility of injury to the Isle of France, I then

reminded His Excellency that since the shipwreck of the Porpoise, six

months before, my people as well as myself had been mostly confined

either upon a small sand bank in the open sea, or in a boat, or otherwise

on board the Cumberland where there was no room to walk, or been kept

prisoners as at that time; and that I had not previously recovered from a

scorbutic and very debilitated state, arising from eleven months exposure

to great fatigue, bad climate, and salt provisions. After noticing my

scorbutic sores, and his refusal of the surgeon's application for me to

walk out, it was added--The captain-general best knows whether my conduct

has deserved, or the exigencies of his government require, that I should

continue to be closely confined in this sickly town and cut off from

society; but of no part of this letter was any notice taken.

Two days before, I had been favoured with a visit from captain Bergeret

of the French navy, who had commanded _La Virginie_ frigate when taken by

Sir Edward Pellew, and of whose honourable conduct in the affair of Sir

W. Sydney Smith's imprisonment, public mention had been made in England.

This gentleman sat some time conversing upon my situation, which he

seemed desirous to ameliorate; he said that "the general did not consider

me to be a prisoner of war, and that my confinement did not arise from

any thing I had done." From what then did it arise? At this question he

was silent. He regretted not to have been in town on my arrival,

believing it would have been in his power to have turned the tide of

consequences; and obligingly offered to supply me with money, if in want.

During a fortnight from this time, no incident occurred worth notice. My

scorbutic sores being much better, the surgeon came but seldom; and the

visits of the interpreter being less frequent than before, our solitude

was rarely interrupted. The Gulph of Carpentaria and Torres' Strait being

finished, my time had since been employed in writing an explanatory

memoir upon the latter chart; Mr. Aken was occupied in copying the

journal of bearings for the Admiralty, and my servant in transcribing the

two first volumes of the log, which had been torn and defaced in the

shipwreck; so that our time did not pass wholly in vain. It was the

completion of the charts, however, that I had most at heart; and although

the success of an application for more materials were very doubtful, an

essay to obtain them was made on the 27th, in the following letter to the

captain-general.

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.

This letter was no more fortunate than the last, and it seemed that

general De Caen had determined upon giving me no answer to any thing.

The Admiral Aplin, an extra-indiaman outward bound, on board of which

were several officers of the army and four ladies, had been brought in as

a prize; the ladies with their husbands were suffered to remain at a

tavern in the town, at the instance of captain Bergeret, by whose

privateer, La Psyché, they had been taken; the others were sent to a

house at a little distance in the country, where all the English officers

had been a short time confined. I ventured to send my servant to the

tavern, to inquire after my countrymen and women; and they obligingly

furnished me with magazines, newspapers, and a Steele's list of the navy,

up to August 1803, which in such a place, and after so long an ignorance

of what was passing in England, were highly acceptable.

MARCH 1804

On March 1, the interpreter made a personal application to general De

Caen concerning the books and charts mentioned in my last letter; to

which he received for answer, that so soon as the governor was a little

freed from business he would attend to this request. I asked M. Bonnefoy

to give me his opinion of what was likely to be done with us? He replied

that we should probably be kept prisoners so long as the war lasted, but

might perhaps have permission to live in some interior part of the

island, and liberty to take exercise within certain limits. This opinion

surprised me; but I considered it to be that of a man unacquainted with

the nature of a voyage of discovery, and the interest it excites in every

nation of the civilised world, and not the least in France. To be

liberated in an honourable manner by an order of the French government,

so soon as it should be informed of my detention, appeared to be certain;

for whatever colour general De Caen might give to his proceedings, it

could not be disguised that he had arrested the commander of a voyage

bearing a French passport, and had taken from him his charts, journals,

and vessel; but as yet I could not be persuaded that the general would

risk the displeasure of his government, and particularly of the first

consul Bonaparte, by whose order my passport had been given, and who had

professed himself to be a patron of science. A voyage of discovery

undertaken upon liberal principles, and carried on with zeal, tempered

with humanity towards the inhabitants of the countries visited, seemed to

me an object to interest every person, of whatever nation or profession.

The philosopher, or man of general science would see his knowledge of the

globe, and of man, its principal inhabitant, so much the object of such a

voyage, that he might consider it as undertaken for his gratification;

and he who professed a particular branch, whether of natural philosophy

or natural history, would expect so many new observations and discoveries

in his favourite pursuit, that the voyagers could not fail to have his

best wishes for their success. A professor of the fine arts might expect

new and striking subjects to be brought to light, upon which to exercise

his genius and display his powers; the merchant and manufacturer would

anticipate fresh aids to their industry, and new markets for its produce;

and the seaman, from such a voyage, would expect the discovery of new

passages and harbours, to which he might have recourse either for

convenience or safety; and he would also see in it the adoption of the

best means for advancing his art to perfection. The philanthropist and

zealous Christian would have delight in observing the blessings of

civilization thus continually extending themselves, and in seeing new

fields opened in which to sow the seeds of righteousness; and even the

man without profession, science, or zeal, the perfectly idle, could not

be without interest in a voyage of discovery, since the gratification of

curiosity is an object of at least as much concern with them as with any

other class of men. Considering, thus, a voyage for the investigation of

new countries as of extensive interest and importance, it was with

difficulty I could be convinced that there were people who thought it of

none; or of so little, that the putting a stop to it, imprisoning the

commander and seizing his charts and papers, required no more

consideration than if it were a common voyage. To be kept a prisoner so

long as the war should last, did not therefore enter into my conception

as within the bounds of probability, but it is the failing of men of all

professions to over-rate the importance of that which they have

themselves adopted, and into this error it will probably be thought I had

fallen with respect to voyages of discovery.

We had a second visit on the 6th from captain Bergeret, to whom the

passengers of the Aplin, and particularly the married gentlemen, were

indebted for much attention and indulgence. He seemed to think that

nothing could at this time be able to procure our release, but that we

might perhaps be permitted to live in the country; and he promised to

interest himself in it, so soon as a proper time and opportunity could be

found for speaking to the captain-general.

The season was arrived in which, should we be set at liberty, it would be

too late to attempt a passage round the Cape of Good Hope in the

schooner, and before the return of another year, the stores, and perhaps

the vessel itself might be rotten; and having no hope to obtain an answer

to a letter, I requested M. Bonnefoy to make an application to the

general for permission to sell the Cumberland. Ten days afterward the

interpreter informed me, that general De Caen had spoken to him of my

wish to live in the country, which had been made known to him by captain

Bergeret; and he desired him to tell me, "to have a little patience, he

should soon come to some determination upon my affair;" being spoken to

upon the sale of the Cumberland, his reply was, "a little patience, it is

time enough yet;" and when the charts and books for which I had applied

on Feb. 27 were mentioned, he still gave the same answer.

My people were brought on shore on the 23rd, with other British subjects

from the prison ship, in order to be sent to a district called Flacq, on

the east side of the island; and this circumstance confirmed my suspicion

that it was not intended to liberate us until orders were received from

France. Mr. Charrington, the boatswain, was permitted to speak to me in

the presence of an officer before their departure; and after learning the

condition of the poor prisoners, I recommended him to keep our people as

clean in their persons and regular in their conduct as circumstances

would permit; and not to attempt any escape, since we must be liberated

in six or eight months by order of the French government. One of them,

the Prussian who had behaved so ill, had gone away in the Spanish frigate

Fama, by permission of the French; the others had been kept strictly on

board the prison ship after the departure of the three Dutch men of war.

Although several prizes had been brought in, the number of English

prisoners was inconsiderable; owing to some of the vessels being manned

with lascars who were not confined and in part to the sailors having been

induced to enter on board the French privateers, for the sake of

obtaining more provisions and to avoid being kept in irons.

I had hitherto forborne to write any letters to England, whether public

or private, but what passed open through the office of the town major,

that no plea, even what arbitrary power could construe into such, might

be taken for continuing our imprisonment; but the arrival of letters thus

sent being exceedingly problematical, and my hope of liberation from

general De Caen having disappeared, the motive for this forbearance had

ceased to exist. An account was therefore written to the secretary of the

Admiralty of my arrival, reception, and treatment in Mauritius, inclosing

copies of all the letters written or received; that my Lords

Commissioners might be enabled to take proper measures for obtaining our

liberty and the restitution of my charts and journals; especial care was

taken at the same time, to avoid the mention of any thing which could be

thought to infringe on the passport, as much as if it had remained

inviolate on the part of general De Caen. This letter was inclosed to a

friend in London, and sent by the way of America; and I afterwards

learned from the public papers that it was received in the August

following.

The end of March had arrived, and nothing more was said of our permission

to reside in the country; and being most heartily weary of close

confinement, I requested to be removed to the same place with the British

officers, prisoners of war; the house where they were kept being

described to be large, and surrounded with a wall inclosing about two

acres of ground, within which the prisoners were allowed to take

exercise. On the 30th colonel Monistrol came to confer on the subject,

and next day conducted me to the house for the purpose of choosing two

rooms. He said on the way that the house was originally built by a

surgeon named Despeaux, and now hired by the government at twenty-five

dollars per month to accommodate the English gentlemen; that it was very

spacious, and had formerly lodged the ambassadors sent by Tippoo Sultaun

to this island; I found it to be situate about a mile north-east from our

tavern in the middle of the town, and enjoying a fresh air which, in

comparison with our place of confinement, made me think it a paradise.

After the unpleasant task of selecting two rooms, which colonel

Monistrol, ordered to be vacated by the officers who were in possession,

he returned with me to the town; and promised at parting to speak again

to the captain-general concerning my charts and books.

This little walk of a mile showed how debilitating is the want of

exercise and fresh air, for it was not without the assistance of colonel

Monistrol's arm, that I was able to get through it. Conveyances were sent

in the evening for our trunks, and we took possession of our new prison

with a considerable degree of pleasure; this change of situation and

surrounding objects producing an exhilaration of spirits to which we had

long been strangers.

CHAPTER V.