At the end of this period he
was obliged, by the sickness of his crew, to sail for Timor, which he
reached on the 31st of March, 1803.
As the Investigator was no longer fit for service, she was condemned.
Captain Flinders resolved, as he could not finish the survey, to return to
England, in order to lay his journals and charts before the Admiralty: he
accordingly embarked on board the Porpoise store ship, which, in company
with the Cato and Bridgwater, bound to Batavia, sailed in August, 1803. The
Porpoise and Cato were wrecked on a reef of rocks nearly 800 miles from
Botany Bay: most of the charts, logs, and astronomical observations were
saved; but the rare plants, as well as the dried specimens, were lost or
destroyed. On the 26th of August, Captain Flinders left the reef in the
cutter, and after a passage of considerable danger, reached Port Jackson on
the 8th of September. As he was extremely anxious to lodge his papers as
soon as possible with the Lords of the Admiralty, he embarked from Port
Jackson in a vessel, something less than a Gravesend passage boat, being
only 29 tons burden. Even in such a vessel, Captain Flinders did not lose
sight of the objects nearest his heart: he passed through Torres' Straits,
examined Pandora's entrance, explored new channels among the coral reefs,
examined Prince of Wales Island, crossed the Gulf of Carpentaria, and after
anchoring at some islands on the western side of the gulf, directed his
route to Timor: here he refitted his vessel, and then sailed for the Isle
of France, where it was absolutely necessary he should touch, in order that
she might undergo a repair, as she was very leaky. Though he possessed
passports from the French government, he was detained at the Isle of
France, under the absurd pretence that he was a spy. All his books, charts,
and papers were seized; and he himself was kept a prisoner in a miserable
room for nearly four months. He was afterwards removed to the garden
prison, a situation not so uncomfortable and prejudicial to his health as
that from which he was taken; at length, in consequence of an application
from the Royal Society to the National Institute, the French government
sent an order for his liberation; but it was not received, or, at least, it
was not acted upon till the year 1810; for it was not till that year that
Captain Flinders was permitted to leave the Isle of France: he arrived in
England on the 24th of October of that year.
There are few voyages from which more important accessions to geographical
knowledge have been derived, than from this voyage of Captain Flinders,
especially when we reflect on the great probability that New Holland will
soon rank high in population and wealth. Before his voyage, it was
doubtful, whether New Holland was not divided into two great islands, by a
strait passing between Bass' Straits and the Gulf of Carpentaria. Captain
Flinders has put an end to all doubts on this point: he examined the coast
in the closest and most accurate manner: he found indeed two great
openings; these he sailed up to their termination; and, consequently, as
there were no other openings, and these were mere inlets, New Holland can
no longer be supposed to be divided into two great islands, but must be
regarded as forming one very large one; or, rather, from its immense size,
a species of continent. He made another important and singular discovery,
viz. that there are either no rivers of any magnitude in New Holland, or
that if there be such, they do not find their way to the sea coast. This
country seems also very deficient in good and safe ports: in his survey of
the south coast, he found only one. He completed the survey of the whole
eastern coast; of Bass's Straits and Van Dieman's Land, observing very
carefully every thing relative to the rocks, shoals, tides, winds,
currents, &c. Coral reefs, which are so common in most parts of the
Pacific, and which, owing their origin entirely to worms of the minutest
size, gradually become extensive islands, stretch along the eastern coast
of New Holland. These were examined with great care by Captain Flinders: he
found that they had nearly blocked up the passage through Torres' Straits,
so that it required great care and caution to pass it with safety. But one
of the most important results of this voyage respects the survey of the
Gulf of Carpentaria; previously the extent and bearings of this gulf were
not known; but from Captain Flinders's geography we have received an
accurate and full survey of it. Its extent was ascertained to be 5 1/2
degrees of longitude, and 7 degrees of latitude; and its circuit nearly 400
leagues. On the coast of this gulf he found a singular trade carried on.
Sixty proas, each about the burden of 25 tons, and carrying as many men,
were fitted out by the Rajah of Boni, and sent to catch a small animal
which lives at the bottom of the sea, called the sea slug, or _biche de
mer_. When caught, they are split, boiled, and dried in the sun, and
then carried to Timorlaot, when the Chinese purchase them: 100,000 of these
animals is the usual cargo of each proa, and they bring from 2000 to 4000
Spanish dollars.
Notwithstanding the English had had settlements in New Holland for upwards
of 26 years, little progress had been made in exploring the interior of the
country even in the immediate vicinity of Botany Bay. It was supposed that
a passage across the Blue Mountains, which are within sight of that
settlement, opposed insurmountable obstacles. At length, about the end of
the year 1813, the Blue Mountains were crossed for the first time, by Mr.
Evans, the deputy surveyor of the colony. He found a fertile and pleasant
district, and the streams which took their rise in the Blue Mountains,
running to the westward; to one of the most considerable of these he gave
the name of Macquarrie river; the course of this river he pursued for ten
days.
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