[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 deg. 43', but from bearings 11 deg. 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 deg. 35' to 45 deg. 5' E., and that head was now seen bearing S. 451/4 deg. 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 deg. 24 2/3' south; and the longitude by time keeper, from altitudes of the star Altair, 136 deg. 281/2' east, but it is placed in 1' less, conformably to the positions fixed in the Investigator. A head land seen in latitude 11 deg. 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 deg. 21', the northern island bore N. 67 deg. to S. 48 deg. E, and the furthest part of the southern land S. 5 deg. 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 deg. 28' south, longitude 127 deg. 12' east (Atlas, Plate XVI), and I was surprised to see already the high land of Timor extending from N. 1/2 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 deg. 31/2' south and 125 deg. 15' east; the northern part of Timor was obscured by haze, the nearest land visible bore N. 75 deg. W. about eight leagues, and the southern extreme W. 5 deg. S. On the 9th [WEDNESDAY 9 NOVEMBER 1803], the round hill upon Rottee came in sight, and bore S. 78 deg. W. at noon, when our latitude was 10 deg. 321/4' south and longitude 124 deg. 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 deg. 91/4' 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 deg. 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 11/2' 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 deg. 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 deg. E., and its position was ascertained to be 10 deg. 491/2' south and 122 deg. 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 deg. 48' and longitude 103 deg. 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 deg. 2' south and 83 deg. 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 deg. to N. 51 deg. 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 deg. to S. 69 deg. W., and a steep point N. 39 deg. 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 deg. 34' south, and the extremes of the island bore N. 54 deg. E. to 61 deg. 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 21/2 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 deg. 291/2' 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 Geographe. 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 Geographe 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 Geographe; 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 (proces 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 Cafe 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 Perouse, 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 Perouse 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 deg. 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 Psyche, 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.

Prisoners in the Maison Despeaux or Garden Prison. Application to admiral Linois. Spy-glasses and swords taken. Some papers restored. Opinions upon the detention of the Cumberland. Letter of captain Baudin. An English squadron arrives off Mauritius: its consequences. Arrival of a French officer with despatches, and observations thereon. Passages in the Moniteur, with remarks. Mr. Aken liberated. Arrival of cartels from India. Application made by the marquis Wellesley. Different treatment of English and French prisoners. Prizes brought to Mauritius in sixteen months. Departure of all prisoners of war. Permission to quit the Garden Prison. Astronomical observations.

[AT MAURITIUS. GARDEN PRISON.]

APRIL 1804

We lost no time in exploring our new place of confinement, and in making acquaintance with our fellow prisoners. These were major Shippard and Mr. W. H. Robertson, who had come from India during the peace on account of their health, and been detained; the captains Mathews, Dansey, and Loane, and Mr. McCrae of the Indian army, taken in the Admiral Aplin; and Messrs. Dale and Seymour of H. M. frigate La DeDaigneuse, who having been sent with a prize to Bombay had fallen in with the corvette Le Belier, and been brought to Mauritius. The officers of merchant ships, at first confined in the Garden Prison, had a few days before been sent out to Flacq; and the four remaining officers of the army taken in the Aplin, were allowed, at the intercession of captain Bergeret, to dwell with their wives at a plantation in the quarter of Pamplemousses, about six miles from the port.

M. Bonnefoy, the interpreter, continued to visit us occasionally; and gave some useful assistance in forming our little establishment, by procuring the restitution of a part of my private property left in the Cumberland, and obtaining a permanent permission for my servant to pass the sentinel at the gate. Our lodging and table in the Cafe Marengo had been defrayed by the government; and during the first month, six dollars per day, being two for each person, had been charged; but the prefet, thinking this too much, had fixed the allowance at 116 dollars per month, for which the tavern keeper agreed to supply us nearly as before. On being removed to the Garden Prison, the interpreter informed me with some degree of shame, that a further reduction of eleven dollars per month had been ordered, to go towards paying the rent of the house; which is perhaps the first instance of men being charged for the accommodation of a prison.

Towards the middle of the month, rear-admiral Linois came into port after his unsuccessful attempt upon our China fleet, the same in which my officers and people were passengers. As I believed the want of nautical information, and especially upon the usages adopted towards voyages of discovery, had materially contributed to the extraordinary proceedings of general De Caen, it seemed probable that an examination of my conduct and papers by the rear-admiral might clear up the affair; and this hope, with the character of the admiral as an upright and humane man, induced me to write to him. I described the leading circumstances of my voyage, and situation at that time; and said, "I should willingly undergo an examination by the captains of your squadron, and my papers would either prove or disprove my assertions. If it be found that I have committed any act of hostility against the French nation or its allies, my passport will become forfeited, and I expect no favour; but if my conduct hath been altogether consistent with the passport, I hope to be set at liberty, or at least to be sent to France for the decision of the government." Admiral Linois had the politeness to return an immediate answer; but said, that not being in the port at the time of my arrival, it belonged to the captain-general to appreciate the motives of my stopping at the Isle of France, and to determine the time of my momentary detention. "Nevertheless Sir," he added, "believe, that taking an interest in your situation, I shall have the honour to speak to the captain-general concerning it; and shall be flattered in contributing to your being set at liberty." Unfortunately a difference arose between the admiral and general De Caen; and the answer given to the application was, that my case having been submitted to the French government, his request could not be complied with.

Captain Halgan of the French corvette Le Berceau, having been in England during the short peace and heard my voyage there mentioned, as well as by the officers of Le Geographe, did me the favour of a visit more than once. He testified a lively interest in my situation, and offered pecuniary assistance if wanted; and being afterwards ordered to France, applied for me to be sent on board his ship; which being refused, he obligingly took a letter to captain Melius of Le Geographe, and two others for England which were punctually sent. In May [MAY 1804] I addressed a letter to His Excellency the marquis Wellesley, governor-general of British India, giving an account of my imprisonment. The character of general De Caen permitted but little hope to be entertained from the interference of His Lordship, but it seemed proper to acquaint him with the circumstances; and it was possible that some unforeseen occurrence might put it in the power of the marquis to demand my liberty in a way not to be refused: in all these letters I continued to adhere most scrupulously to the line of perfect neutrality indicated by the passport.