They Had No Chart Or Compass, Merely
Enough Food And Water To Last For A Day, And Were Abandoned On An
Uninhabited Coast, In An Open Boat, In Bitterly Cold, Squally Weather,
With The Rain Falling In Sheets At Frequent Intervals.
Here again,
British kindness saved the Frenchmen.
Before having the good fortune to
perceive the sails of Le Naturaliste, the starved, drenched, and
miserable men had attracted the attention of a sealing brig, the
Snow-Harrington, from Sydney. Her skipper, Campbell, took them on board,
supplied them with warm food, and offered to convey them to Port Jackson
forthwith. They remained on the Snow-Harrington for the night, but on the
following morning sighted Le Naturaliste, and, after profusely thanking
Captain Campbell for his generosity, soon picked her up.
Hamelin, having no instructions as to where he should go, resolved to
devote himself to work in Bass Strait. Eight days were spent in
Westernport, the limit of Bass's discoveries in January 1798; and the
name French Island preserves the memory of their researches there. They
found the soil fertile, the vegetation abundant, the timber plentiful;
the port was, they considered, "one of the most beautiful that it would
be possible to find, and it unites all the advantages which will make it
some day a precious possession."
But the supplies on board Le Naturaliste were becoming exhausted, and,
being still without news of his chief, Hamelin decided to sail for Port
Jackson. He arrived there on April 24. As far as he knew, however, the
war between England and France still raged.
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