In 1810 Admirals
Pellew And Bertie Were In Command Of Strong British Forces, And Lord
Minto, The Governor-General Of India, Was Determined To Root The French
Out Of The Isle Of France, And Clear India Of Danger From That Source.
They Succeeded, And Mauritius Has Been British Ever Since.
We must now leave the sphere of conflict in which the destinies of the
world were being shaped, and enter upon another phase of this history.
The reader will:
"Slip across the summer of the world,
Then, after a long tumble about the Cape
And frequent interchange of foul and fair,"
- will accompany for a while an illustrious British explorer in his task
of filling up the map of the globe.
CHAPTER 1. FLINDERS AND THE INVESTIGATOR.
The Investigator at Kangaroo Island.
Thoroughness of Flinders' work.
His aims and methods.
His explorations; the theory of a Strait through Australia.
Completion of the map of the continents.
A direct succession of great navigators: Cook, Bligh, Flinders, and
Franklin.
What Flinders learnt in the school of Cook: comparison between the
healthy condition of his crew and the scurvy-stricken company on the
French vessels.
On April 7, 1802, His Majesty's ship Investigator, 334 tons, Commander
Matthew Flinders, was beating off the eastern extremity of Kangaroo
Island, endeavouring to make the mainland of Terra Australis, to follow
the course of discovery and survey for which she had been commissioned.
The winds were very baffling for pursuing his task according to the
carefully scientific method which Flinders had prescribed for himself.
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