The ships carried from Kupang sufficient for ninety-five days.
Apart from the necessities of the crew, some had to be spared for the
plants and animals - kangaroos, emus, etc.
- Which were being carried to
Europe. Thirty-four days had been dawdled away without achieving any
substantial results. For the ultimate return to Mauritius sufficient
water to last forty days must be conserved. Consequently Baudin argued
that he could not by any possibility afford to remain in these waters
longer than three more weeks; and as in that time not much could be done,
he determined to return home at once. His decision gave pleasure to his
unhappy people; but surely it was that of a man whose heart was not in
his work. No attempt was made to send parties ashore to search for fresh
water. When Flinders ran short, and did not come across a convenient
spring or stream, he dug and found water, as at Port Lincoln; and a very
experienced traveller has observed that "in nearly all parts of Australia
it is usually found a few feet beneath the surface of the ground."* (*
Ward, Rambles of an Australian Naturalist page 109.)
But there were other reasons which conduced to create in Baudin that
depression which is inimical to the protracted pursuit of an allotted
task. Sickness once more laid its hand upon the crews. The commander
himself was in bad health. The demands upon the resources of the doctors
were so numerous that their medicines became exhausted, and they were
unable to attend satisfactorily to the necessities of a constantly
increasing number of ailing men. Bernier, the astronomer, died before the
order to return was given. He was a young man of great promise - "savant
et laborieux," as Peron wrote of him - whose original work before he
reached full manhood had attracted the notice of Lalande. Selected by the
Institute to fill a scientific post with the expedition, he did excellent
work, and his death cut short a career that gave indications of being
brilliant and useful. Cape Bernier, on the east coast of
Tasmania - opposite the southern end of Maria Island - preserves his name.
On July 7 the order was given to turn, and sail for Mauritius. Le
Geographe put into Port Louis on August 7, and the Casuarina, after a
very rough voyage, reached the harbour five days later.
Baudin, whose illness had continued throughout the voyage, died while his
ships lay at Mauritius, on September 16. His death had been expected for
some time before it occurred, and if there was little surprise at the
event, it is pathetic to observe that there was as little regret. Not a
word of sympathy appeared in the studiously frigid terms in which the
decease of the commander was chronicled in the official history of the
voyage. Not a syllable was used expressing appreciation of any qualities
which he may have possessed, either as an officer or a man. After curtly
mentioning his illness, Peron recorded the death and burial in two
sentences sterile of emotion. He showed more regret when he had to throw
away the skin of the alligator which he shot at Timor, than when
mentioning the death of one who had been his chief for three years.
"Finally the last moment arrived; and on September 16, 1803, at about
mid-day, M. Baudin ceased to exist. On the 17th he was buried with the
honours due to the rank he had occupied in the navy; all the officers and
savants of the expedition assisted at the funeral, which was also
attended by the principal authorities of the colony." That is all. Had it
been Peron's manner to record the deaths of the companions of his voyage
with such barren brevity, there would be nothing in the passage to excite
comment. But when a sailor fell overboard we were told what an excellent
and laborious man he was, and how much he was regretted; the death of
Bernier called forth an appropriate sentence of eulogy; when Depuch, the
mineralogist died, we were properly informed that he was as much esteemed
for his modesty and the goodness of his heart as for the extent and
variety of his knowledge. The contrast between these instances and the
summary plainness of the statement when Baudin's end was mentioned,
cannot escape notice; any more than we can mistake the meaning of the
consistent suppression of his name throughout the text of the volumes.
Attention has to be directed to this display of animosity because, in
bare justice to Baudin, we have to remember that the only story of the
expedition which we have is that written by Peron and Freycinet, who were
plainly at enmity with him. If the facts were as related by them, Baudin
was not only an absurdly obstinate and ungenial captain, but we are left
with grave doubts as to his competency as a navigator on service of this
description. Yet even facts, when detailed by those who hate a man, take
a different colouring from the same facts set down by the man himself,
with his reasons for what he did. We have no material for forming an
opinion from Baudin's point of view. If his manuscript journals are
capable of throwing fresh light on the events concerned, their
publication, if they remain in existence, would be welcome. All that at
present we can set against the hard, unsympathetic view of the man as we
see him in the pages written by Peron and revised by Freycinet, is his
conduct and correspondence in relation to Governor King at Port Jackson;
and there he appears as a gentleman of agreeable manners, graceful
expression, and ready tact. We do not form a lower opinion of him in
consequence of the letter which he wrote in reply to the one delivered by
Acting-Lieutenant Robbins. because there he expressed views imbibed as
almost a part of the atmosphere of the Revolution amidst which he had
been reared.
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