A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume II Part 39

One of the persons who asked permission to see me, was M. Augustin Baudin, brother of the deceased commander of Le Geographe; he testified the grateful sense his brother had always entertained of the generous reception and great a.s.sistance received from governor King at Port Jackson, and expressed his own regret at not being able to do any thing for my release. On learning from him that a letter still existed, written by captain Baudin to a member of the tribunal of appeal in Mauritius, I succeeded in obtaining an extract, of which the following is an exact translation.

On board Le Geographe, New Holland, Port Jackson, the 3rd December, 1802.

After having traversed the sea in different directions for nine months after leaving Timor, I came to Port Jackson to pa.s.s the winter. The scurvy had then made such rapid progress, that I had no more than twelve men fit for duty when I arrived in this colony. The succours which were lavishly bestowed, the affectionate and obliging cares of governor King, his unremitting conduct and proceedings beyond example, every thing in fine, has concurred to make the effects of this disorder less fatal than the first (a dysentery contracted at Timor), although the cause was not less serious. I cannot pa.s.s in silence an act of humanity to which our situation gave rise. These are the facts.

On our arrival at Port Jackson, to the number of a hundred and seventy persons, the resources in corn were far from abundant; a great inundation and the overflowing of the River Hawkesbury, having in part destroyed the harvest which was upon the eve of being got in, and the following one being distant and uncertain, was not a fortunate circ.u.mstance for us.

Nevertheless we were made perfectly welcome, and so soon as our present and future wants were known, the ration given daily to the inhabitants and the garrison was reduced one-half. The governor and the civil and military officers set the example of this generosity, which was immediately followed by the others. We were not only strangers, but still at war, for the news of the peace was not yet known.

The original extract in my possession, is certified to be true by the gentleman to whom the letter was addressed. Its contents afford a contrast to the proceedings of the governor of Mauritius, too striking to require any comment.

Amongst the acquaintances formed whilst in the Garden Prison, the most agreeable, most useful, and at the same time durable, was that of a young French merchant; a man well informed, a friend to letters, to science, and the arts; who spoke and wrote English, and had read many of our best authors. To him I am princ.i.p.ally indebted for having pa.s.sed some agreeable days in prison, and his name therefore merits a place in this history of the misfortune which his friendship contributed to alleviate; nor am I the sole English prisoner who will mention the name of _Thomas Pitot_ with eulogium.

On the 27th, an English squadron consisting of two ships of the line and two frigates, under the command of captain John Osborn, arrived to cruise off the island.

SEPTEMBER 1804

Some days afterward, my boatswain and six of the merchant officers, prisoners at Flacq, made their escape to one of the ships. The captain-general, in a paroxysm of rage, ordered the officer commanding at Flacq to be dismissed, and every Englishman in the island, without distinction, to be closely confined; neither paroles of honour, nor sureties, nor permissions previously given to depart, being respected.

Six were brought to the Garden Prison, of whom the captains Moffat and Henry from Pamplemousses were two, and their wives followed them. The seamen and remaining officers from Flacq pa.s.sed our gate under a strong guard, and were marched to an old hospital about one mile on the south-west side of the town; where the seamen were shut up in the lower, and the officers in the upper apartment, there being only two rooms.

The arrival of the squadron gave the prisoners a hope of being released, either from a general exchange, or for such Frenchmen as our ships might take whilst cruising off the island; even Mr. Aken and myself, since our swords had been taken away, conceived some hopes, for we were then prisoners according to the definition of M. Neufville. There was, however, no intercourse with the squadron until the 19th, on which, and the two following days, a frigate was lying off the port with a flag of truce hoisted, and boats pa.s.sed and repa.s.sed between her and the sh.o.r.e.

Our anxiety to know the result was not a little; and we soon learned that captain c.o.c.kburne of the Phaeton had come in for the purpose of seeing general De Caen; but on entering the port he had been met, blindfolded, and taken on board the prison ship, which was also the guard ship; that finding he could not see the general, and that no officer was sent to treat with him, he left a packet from captain Osborn and returned in disgust. His mission, we were told, was to negotiate an exchange of prisoners, particularly mine; but in the answer given by general De Caen it was said, that not being a prisoner of war, no exchange for me could be accepted; nor did any one obtain his liberty in consequence.

OCTOBER 1804

Few persons were admitted to the Garden Prison during the presence of the English squadron; but it did not prevent captain Bergeret and M. Bonnefoy from coming occasionally. In the end of October I learned with much regret, that the interpreter had been dismissed from his employment, in consequence of having carried only one copy of the same newspaper to general De Caen, when two had been found in an American vessel which he had boarded off the port, according to custom; the other had been communicated to some of his friends, which was deemed an irremissible offence. This obliging man, to whom I was under obligations for many acts of attention and some of real service, feared to ask any future permission to visit the Garden Prison.

Admiral Linois arrived from a cruise on the 31st, with three rich prizes, and got into Port Bourbon unimpeded by our ships, which were off another part of the island; and the same evening commodore Osborn quitted Mauritius. Mr. Robertson and Mr. Webb of the Aplin were now permitted to go to England by the way of America [NOVEMBER 1804]; and I took the good opportunity of sending by the first of these gentlemen a copy of the general chart of Terra Australis, comprehending the whole of my discoveries and examinations in abridgment, and a paper on the magnetism of ships addressed to the president of the Royal Society.* Four officers of the army also obtained permission to go to India, on condition of returning, should four French officers whose names were specified, be not sent back in exchange; and two other gentlemen left the Garden Prison, and the island soon afterward. In lieu of these, were sent in captain Turner and lieutenant Cartwright of the Indian army, and the officers of the Princess Charlotte indiaman.

[* This paper was read before the Society, and published in the Transactions of 1805, Part II.]

By information received from the Grande-Riviere prison, where the merchant officers and the seamen were confined, it appeared that my six remaining people, and no doubt many others, were very miserable and almost naked; having been hurried off suddenly from Flacq, and compelled to leave their few clothes behind. On this occasion I addressed the captain-general on the score of humanity, intreating him either to order their clothes to be restored, or that they should be furnished with others; and on the same day an answer was returned in the most polite manner by colonel D'Arsonval, saying that an order had been given for all the prisoners to be fresh clothed, and their wants supplied. Six weeks afterward, however, finding that the poor seamen remained in the same naked state as before, I wrote to remind the town major of what he had said; requesting at the same time, if it were not intended to give these unfortunate men any clothing, that Mr. Aken might be permitted to visit them, in order to relieve their urgent necessities from my own purse. No answer was returned to this letter, but it produced the desired effect.

DECEMBER 1804

My hopes of a speedy liberation by an order of the first consul became weakened in December, on seeing nothing arrive to confirm them after a whole year's imprisonment. On the 17th I wrote to remind the captain-general that one year had elapsed; and requested him to consider that the chance of war rendered the arrival of despatches uncertain--that I was suffering an irretrievable loss of time, and very severely in my health, advancement, and every thing that man holds dear; I begged him to reflect, that the rights of the most severe justice would be ensured by sending me to France, where the decision of my fate was remitted; and where, should the judgment of the French government be favourable, it could be immediately followed by a return to my country and family, and the resumption of my peaceable labours. No answer being given at the end of a week, a second letter was sent, inclosing a copy of the extract from captain Baudin; and His Excellency was requested to compare the treatment of the French commander at Port Jackson with what I had received at Mauritius, and at least to give Mr. Aken and myself the liberty of some district in the island where we might take exercise, and find the amus.e.m.e.nt necessary to the re-establishment of our health; but neither of these letters obtained any reply, or the least notice.

Mr. Aken had been removed to the hospital in September, and after a stay of six weeks had returned, more from finding himself so ill accommodated and fed than from the improvement in his health. He now declined rapidly; [JANUARY 1805] and my own health was impaired by a const.i.tutional gravelly complaint to which confinement had given accelerated force, and by a bilious disorder arising partly from the same cause, from the return of hot weather, and discouraging reflections on our prospects. We were therefore visited by Dr. Laborde, princ.i.p.al physician of the medical staff, who judged the air and exercises of the country to be the most certain means of restoration; and in order to our procuring them, he gave a certificate which I sent to general De Caen through colonel Monistrol, then become town major. No answer was returned; but after some days it was told me that Dr. Laborde had received a message from the general, desiring him not to interfere with matters which did not concern him; and this was the sole mark of attention paid to his certificate or to our situation.*

[* The doctor had said in his certificate, "J'estime qu'il faut prevenir 'augmentation de ses maux; et en le secourant apropos, c'est a.s.surer la conservation d'un homme dont les travaux doivent servir aux progres des sciences, et a 1'utilite de ses semblables."]

Being thus disappointed in every attempt to procure an amelioration for my companion and myself, I sought the means of dispensing with the captain-general's humanity. I rose very early, and took much exercise in our inclosure before the heat of the sun, became too powerful; and applied closely to the charts and accounts of my voyage, which ill health and a languid melancholy had for some time caused to be neglected. By perseverance in these means, my disorders were at least prevented from becoming worse; but more particularly I acquired a tranquil state of mind, and had even the happiness of forgetting general De Caen, sometimes for days together. The strength of my companion was too much exhausted for such a regimen; and he was obliged to return to the hospital, being so much reduced that there was reason to fear for his life.

Several military and merchant officers obtained permissions at this time to depart on parole, some to India, others to America; which furnished opportunities of writing many letters. I addressed one to admiral Rainier, the commander in chief of His Majesty's ships in India, upon the subject of my detention; and another to lord William Bentinck, governor of Madras, in favour of two relations of my friend Pitot, who were prisoners under his government; and it is with much grat.i.tude to His Lordship that I add his more than compliance with the request: he not only set the two prisoners at liberty, but used his endeavours to procure my release from general De Caen.

On the 29th, an American vessel arrived from France with many pa.s.sengers, and amongst them monsieur Barrois, the brother-in-law of the general. He was charged with despatches; and I was told upon good authorities that he had been sent to France in Le Geographe upon the same service, in December 1803. The knowledge of this fact gave an insight into various circ.u.mstances which took place at, and soon after my arrival at Mauritius. Le Geographe having an English pa.s.sport, was equally bound with myself to observe a strict neutrality; and the conveyance of an officer with public despatches in time of war was therefore improper.

Common report said, that captain Melius objected to it, as compromising the safety of his ship and results of the voyage; but on its being known from the signals that an English vessel was on the south side of the island, M. Barrois embarked secretly, and the ship was ordered off the same evening. Hence I missed seeing her, and was arrested on arriving at Port Louis without examination; and hence it appeared to have been, that an embargo was immediately laid on all foreign ships for ten days, that none of our cruisers might get information of the circ.u.mstance and stop Le Geographe; hence also the truth of what was told me in the Cafe Marengo, that _my confinement did not arise from any thing I had done_.

Such was the respect paid by general De Caen to the English pa.s.sport; and how little sacred he held that given by his own government for the protection of the Investigator's voyage, will in part have already appeared. The conduct of the British government and its officers in these two cases was widely different. In consequence of the English pa.s.sport, the Geographe and Naturaliste were received at Port Jackson as friends, and treated with the kindness due to their employment and distressed situation, as will satisfactorily appear from M. Peron's account of their voyage; and with regard to the French pa.s.sport, it may be remembered that the Admiralty directed me, on leaving England, not even to take letters or packets other than such as might be received from that office, or that of the secretary of state; and the despatches sent from those offices were to governor King alone, and related solely to the Investigator's voyage. I was ordered to stop at Madeira and the Cape of Good Hope, but neither to the officers commanding His Majesty's land or sea forces at one, nor at the other place was any despatch sent; although no opportunity of writing to the Cape had for some time presented itself.

FEBRUARY 1805

The return of M. Barrois gave a reasonable hope that the captain-general might have received orders concerning me, and that some thing would be immediately determined; but a whole month pa.s.sed in silence as so many others had before done. It was reported, however, as having come from the general, that the council of state had approved of the precautions he had taken; but whether it had decided upon my being set at liberty, sent to France, or continued a prisoner, was not said.

There were at this time only six officers in the Garden Prison, Mr. Aken being still at the hospital; lieutenant Manwaring of the Bombay marine, before commander of the Fly packet, with two of his officers had possession of one part of the house, and Messrs. Dale and Seymour, midshipmen of the Dedaigneuse, lived with me in the other. These two young gentlemen, the first in particular, aided me in making copies of charts and memoirs, in calculating astronomical observations, etc.; and I had much pleasure in furnishing them with books and a.s.sisting their studies.

MARCH 1805

In the beginning of March, I was surprised to see in the official gazette of the French government, the Moniteur of July 7, 1804, a long letter from Dunkirk addressed to the editor; containing many particulars of my voyage, praising the zeal with which it had been conducted, and describing my detention in Mauritius as a circ.u.mstance which had originated in a mistake and was understood to be terminated. In the succeeding Moniteur of the 11th, some observations were made upon this letter on the part of the government, which afforded some insight into what was alleged against me; and these being important to the elucidation of general De Caen's policy, a translation of them is here given.

MONITEUR, No. 292.

Wednesday 22 Messidor, year 12; or July 11, 1804.

In a letter from Dunkirk, addressed to the editor of the Moniteur, and inserted in the paper of the 18th of this month, No. 288, we read an account of the voyage of Mr. Flinders, an English navigator, who arrived at the Isle of France the 24 Frimaire last, in the schooner c.u.mberland.

The author of the letter in the Moniteur says, that Mr. Flinders, _"not knowing of the war, stopped at the Isle of France which was in his route, to obtain water and refreshments: that some secret articles in his instructions gave rise to suspicions upon which the captain-general at first thought it his duty to detain him prisoner; but that, nevertheless, the pa.s.sports he had obtained from the French government and all other nations, the nature even of his expedition which interested all civilized people, were not long in procuring his release."_

The fact is, that Mr. Flinders not knowing of, but suspecting the war, ventured to come to the Isle of France; where having learned its declaration, he doubted whether the pa.s.sport granted him by the French government in the year 9, would serve him. In reality, the pa.s.sport was exclusively for the sloop _Investigator, of which it contained the description_; and it is not in the Investigator that he has been arrested, but in the c.u.mberland.

The same pa.s.sport did not permit Mr. Flinders to stop at French colonies but on condition that he should not deviate from his route to go there; and Mr. Flinders acknowledges in his journal that he deviated voluntarily, (for the Isle of France was not in his pa.s.sage, as the author of the above cited letter says). In fine, the pa.s.sport granted to Mr. Flinders did not admit of any equivocation upon the objects of the expedition for which it was given: but we read in one part of his journal, _that he suspected the war_; and in another, _that he had resolved to touch at the Isle of France, as well in the hope of selling his vessel advantageously, as from the desire of knowing the present state of that colony, and the utility of which it and its dependencies in Madagascar could be to Port Jackson._

As the pa.s.sport given by the French government to Mr. Flinders, an English navigator, was far from admitting an examination of that nature in a French colony; it is not at all surprising that the captain-general of that colony has arrested him; and nothing announces as yet, that he has thought it necessary to release him.

An elaborate refutation of these trifling, and in part false and contradictory charges, will not, I should hope, be thought necessary. By turning to Chapter 3 (December), and comparing my reasons for putting in at Mauritius with what the Moniteur says, it will be seen that the necessity of the measure, arising from the bad state of the c.u.mberland, is kept wholly out of sight; and that in giving the subordinate reasons, there is much omission and misrepresentation. The charges, even as they stand in the Moniteur, amount to nothing, if my suspicion of the war be taken away; and it has no other foundation than that, being a stranger to what had pa.s.sed in Europe for twelve months, I thought there was a possibility of war between England and France; and thence deduced an additional reason for stopping at Mauritius where my pa.s.sport would be respected, in preference to going on to the Cape of Good Hope where it might not. This suspicion, which is twice brought forward, is moreover contradicted by inference, in the Moniteur itself. It says, "Mr. Flinders not knowing of, but suspecting the war, ventured to come to the Isle of France; where having learned its declaration, he doubted whether the pa.s.sport would serve him." Now it is not credible, that with such a suspicion, and being aware, consequently, of the great importance of the pa.s.sport, I should wait until arriving at the island before seeking to know its particular contents; but going to Mauritius under the belief of peace, and finding war declared, an examination of the pa.s.sport was then natural. It is true that I did then entertain some apprehensions, from not finding any provision made for another vessel in case of shipwreck or other accident to the Investigator; but my confidence in the justice and liberality of the French government overcame them; and had general Magallon remained governor, this confidence would most probably have been justified by the event.

How my reasons for stopping at Mauritius were worded in the log book, I certainly do not remember correctly, nor how far they were accompanied with explanations; and particular care has been taken to prevent me giving the words themselves; but is it possible to suppose, that suspecting the war and entertaining inimical designs, I should have inserted this suspicion and these designs in my common journal? Or that, having done so, the book would have been put into the hands of general De Caen's secretary, and these very pa.s.sages pointed out for him to copy?

Yet the reasons alleged in the Moniteur, to be true, require no less.

The a.s.sertion that I acknowledge to have deviated _voluntarily_ from my route, for the Isle of France was not in my pa.s.sage--if voluntarily mean, _without necessity_, must be false altogether. I had intended to pa.s.s the island without stopping, and probably said so; but that the intention was altered voluntarily, could not have been said, for the _necessity_ arising from the bad state of the schooner was alleged for it. Whether Mauritius be in the pa.s.sage from Timor to the Cape of Good Hope, any seaman or geographer who knows the trade winds, can tell: it is as much in the pa.s.sage as is the Cape in going from Europe to India. The above a.s.sertion induced me to examine captain Cook's track from Timor to the Cape, as it is traced upon Arrowsmith's general chart, and to measure the distance from a certain part of it to Port Louis, and from thence to regain the track really made; and I found that his distance would not have been increased so much as _one hundred miles_; or less than the half of what ships augment their distance by stopping at Table Bay, in their route to India. It may perhaps be said, that my _voluntary_ deviation and the island not being in the pa.s.sage, apply only to my intention of pa.s.sing Mauritius and then changing it. If so, the a.s.sertion could only be made for superficial readers, and contains nothing; such, in fact, are all the charges when duly examined, not excepting the pretence that the pa.s.sport was _exclusively for the Investigator_; and more has already been said upon them than is due to their real importance.

These Moniteurs, however, informed me of two material circ.u.mstances--that there was at least one person in France who viewed my detention in its true light, and that the government had either been deceived by the representations of general De Caen, or coincided with his views from some secret motive; consequently, that too much reliance ought not to be placed in an early liberation by its orders. I then determined to write to monsieur De Fleurieu, author of the instructions to La Perouse, etc., and counsellor of state, who might be supposed to interest himself in my voyage; and annexed to the letter copies of papers showing the reception given to the French ships at Port Jackson, and the necessity which had forced me to stop at Mauritius; and begged him in the name of humanity and the sciences, to use his influence that I might either be permitted to continue the voyage, or otherwise be ordered to France for examination. My worthy friend Pitot wrote to the same effect, to M. De Bougainville, the navigator and counsellor of state--to M. De la Lande, the astronomer--to M. Chaptal, minister of the interior--and to M.

Dupuis, counsellor of state; and admiral Linois had the goodness to write to M. De Fleurieu in favour of my request. At the same time I wrote to the secretary of the Admiralty, inclosing a copy of the first letter; and all these being sent away in duplicate, by opportunities which occurred soon afterward, every step seemed to have been taken that could afford any hope of liberty and the rest.i.tution of my books and papers.

APRIL 1805

The fate of my officers and people on board the Rolla had been a subject of some anxiety; but about this time I had the satisfaction to learn from the public papers, that they had arrived safely in England; that lieutenant Fowler and the officers and company of the Porpoise had been honourably acquitted of all blame for the loss of the ship, and that Mr.

Fowler had much distinguished himself in the action between the China fleet and admiral Linois' squadron.

MAY 1805

Permissions being granted to several prisoners to go away on their parole in American vessels, Mr. Aken, who still remained at the hospital, conceived hopes that his might pa.s.s amongst the rest, if he applied. In this notion I encouraged him, since my own prospects were so obscure; and recommended that his plea should turn wholly upon his long-continued ill health, and to say nothing of his connexion with me. The application was made accordingly; and on the 7th, he came to the Garden Prison with the unexpected information of being then at liberty to depart, on giving his parole "not to serve against France or its allies, until after having been legally exchanged;" that is, as a _prisoner of war._

It seemed doubtful whether this permission had been granted from motives of humanity, from forgetfulness, or from some new plan having been adopted; the general might possibly have received orders, permitting him to dispose of us as he should think proper, and have no objection to getting rid of me also, as a prisoner of war, provided an application gave him the opportunity. In this uncertainty of what might be his intentions, I wrote to colonel Monistrol, requesting him to state the length of my imprisonment and ill health; and to move His Excellency to let me depart on parole, or in any other way he should judge proper; but it appeared after waiting several days, that the colonel foreseeing the request could answer no purpose, had not laid it before the captain-general. I then resolved to make good use of the opportunity presented by Mr. Aken's departure, and from this time to that of his sailing, was fully occupied in making up my despatches; and Mr. Aken's health being improved, he took up his residence in the Garden Prison for the purpose of giving his a.s.sistance.

Besides a general chart of Terra Australis, showing the whole of my discoveries, examinations and tracks in abridgment, this packet for the Admiralty contained nine sheets upon a scale of four inches to a degree of longitude, and three sheets of particular parts in a larger size; also five chapters of a memoir explanatory of their construction, of the changes in the variation on shipboard, etc.; an enlarged copy of my log book, with remarks and astronomical observations from the commencement of the voyage to quitting the north coast of Terra Australis in March 1803; and a book containing all the bearings and angles which entered into the construction of the charts. The time keeper, with the mathematical and nautical instruments belonging to the Navy Board were also sent; and in fine, either the original or a copy of every thing in my possession which related either to the Investigator or the voyage.

Mr. Campbell, commander of the American ship James, bound to New York, liberally gave Mr. Aken and some other prisoners a pa.s.sage free of expense;* and the paroles they were required to sign laying no other injunction than that of not serving until legally exchanged, the books.

etc. above mentioned, with many letters both public and private, were safely embarked; and on the 20th in the evening, the ship got under sail, to my great satisfaction. Of the ten officers and men who had come with me to Mauritius, only four now remained; one was in the hospital with a broken leg, another with me in the Garden Prison, and two were shut up at the Grande Riviere. A seaman had been allowed to go with Mr. Aken in the James, and all our endeavours were used to obtain permission for the two in prison to embark also, but without effect; about a month afterwards, however, they were suffered to enter on board an American ship, at the request of the commander.