The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders Part 18

indignation; but can we not also appreciate Decaen's doubt?

The officers, acting under instructions, collected all the charts, papers, journals, letters, and packets, found on board, and put them in a trunk which, says Flinders, "was sealed by me at their desire." They then requested him to go ash.o.r.e with them, to a lodging at an inn, which the General had ordered to be provided for him. In fact, they had orders to take him there. "What! I exclaimed in the first transports of surprise and indignation, I am then a prisoner!" The officers expressed the hope that the detention would not last more than a few days, and a.s.sured him that in the meantime he should want for nothing. Flinders, accompanied by Aken, went ash.o.r.e, and the two were escorted to a large house in the middle of the town, the Cafe Marengo, where they were shown into a room approached by a dark entry up a dirty staircase, and left for the night with a sentry on guard in the pa.s.sage outside.

That Flinders had no doubt that he would soon be released, is shown by the fact that he wrote from the tavern the following letter to the captain of the American ship Hunter, then lying in Port Louis: "Sir, understanding that you are homeward bound, I have to represent to you that I am here with an officer and nine men belonging to His Britannic Majesty's ship Investigator, lately under my command, and if I am set at liberty should be glad to get a pa.s.sage on board your vessel to St.

Helena, or on any other American who does not touch at the Cape of Good Hope* and may be in want of men. I am, Sir, etc., etc., MATTHEW FLINDERS.

"If it is convenient for you to call upon me at the tavern where I am at present confined, I shall be glad to see you as soon as possible."

(* He did not wish to call at the Cape, because if he got clear of the French frying-pan he did not want to jump into the Dutch fire.)

Early in the afternoon of the following day Colonel Monistrol came to the inn to take Flinders and Aken before the General, who desired to ask certain questions. The interrogatories were read from a paper, as dictated by Decaen, and Flinders' answers were translated and written down. In the doc.u.ment amongst Decaen's papers the French questions and answers are written on one side of the paper, with the English version parallel; the latter being signed by Flinders. The translation is crude (the scribe was a German with some knowledge of English) but is printed below literally:

"Questions made to the commanding officier of an English shooner anch.o.r.ed in Savanna Bay, at the Isle of France, on the 24th frimaire 12th year (on the 17th December, 1803) chasing a coaster, which in consequence of the declaration of war between the French Republic and Great Britain, had intention to avoid the poursuit of said shooner. Said shooner carried the next day in the harbour of Port North-West, where she anch.o.r.ed under cartel colours, the commanding officer having declared to the officer of the health boat that his name was Matthew Flinders, and his schooner the c.u.mberland.

"Demanded: the Captain's name?

"Answered: Matthew Flinders.

"D.: From what place the c.u.mberland sailed?

"A.: From Port Jackson.

"D.: At what time?

"A.: The Captain does not recollect the date of his departure. He thinks it is on the 20th of September.

"D.: What is the purpose of his expedition?

"A.: His only motive was to proceed on to England as soon as possible, to make the report of his voyages and to request a ship to continue them.

"D.: What can be the reason which has determined Captain Flinders to undertake a voyage on board of the so small a vessel?

"A.: To avoid losing two months on proceeding by China, for a ship sailing from Port Jackson was to put in China.

"D.: Does not Port Jackson offer frequent opportunities for Europe?

"A.: There are some, as he has observed it above, but that ship putting in China is the reason which determined him not to proceed that way.

"D.: At what place had the c.u.mberland put in?

"A.: At Timor.

"D.: What could be the reason of her putting in at Timor?

"A.: To take fresh provision and water. He has left Timor 34 days ago.

D.: What pa.s.sports or certificates has he taken in that place?

"A.: None.

"D.: What has been his motive for his coming at the Isle of France?

"A.: The want of water. His pumpers (sic) are bad, and his vessel is very leaky.

"D.: To what place does Captain Flinders intend to go to from this island?

"A.: Having no pa.s.sport for the Dutch Government, he cannot put in the Cape, according to his wishes, and will be obliged to stop at St. Helena.

"D.: What can be the reason of his having none of his officiers, naturalis, or any of the other persons employed in said expedition?

"A.: Two of these gentlemen have remained in Port Jackson to repair on board of the ship Captain Flinders expected to obtain in England,* and the rest have proceeded on to China. (* "Pour s'embarquer sur le vaisseau que le Cap. Flinders a espoir d'obtenir en Angleterre," in the French.

That is to say, Brown and Bauer remained behind till Flinders came out again with another ship.)

"D.: What reason induced Captain Flinders to chase a boat in sight of the island?

"A.: Being never to this island, he was not acquainted with the harbour.

Seeing a French vessel he chased her* for the only purpose of obtaining a pilot, and seeing her entering a bay he followed her. (* It is singular that Flinders did not take exception to this word "chased" in the translation when he signed it. The French version of his statement is correct: "il forca de voile, NON POUR LUY APPUYER CHa.s.sE mais pour luy demander un pilote." The German translator boggled between the French and the English.)

"D.: What reason had he to make the land to leewards, the different directories pointing out the contrary route to anchor in the harbour.

"A.: He came to windwards, but the wind shifting contrary he took to leewards and perceiving said vessel he followed her and anch.o.r.ed in the same bay. He has no chart of the island.

"D.: Why has he hoisted cartel colours?

"A.: He answers that it is the custom, since Captain Baudin coming to Port Jackson hoisted the colours of both nations.

"D.: Was he informed of the war?

"A.: No.

"D.: Has he met with any ship either at sea or in the different ports where he put in?

"A.: He met one ship only, by the 6 or 7 degrees to the east of the Isle of France. He did not speak her, though desirous of so doing, being prevented by the night. He met with no ship at Timor.

"In consequence of the questions made to Captain Flinders respecting to his wreck, he declares that after putting in at Port Jackson with the ship under his command, he was through her bad condition obliged to leave her, being entirely decayed. The Governor at that time furnished him with a ship thought capable of transporting him to Europe. He had the misfortune to wreck on the east coast of New Holland by the 22 degrees 11 minutes of lat.i.tude south on some rock distant 700 miles from Port Jackson, and 200 miles from the coast. He embarked in the said ship's boat, taking with him 14 men, and left the remainder of his crew on a sand bank. He lost on this occasion three charts respecting his voyages and particularly Golph Carpentary. After 14 days' pa.s.sage he arrived at Port Jackson. After tarrying in said place 8 or 9 days, the Governor furnished him with the small vessel he is now in, and a ship to take the remainder of the crew left on the bank. This vessel not being a government ship and bound to China, proceeded on her intended voyage with the officers and the crew which had been left on the bank.

"Captain Flinders declares that of the two boxes remitted by him one contains despatches directed to the Secretary of State and the other was entrusted to him by the commanding officer of the troops in Port Jackson, and that he is ignorant what they contain.

"Captain Mw. Flinders to ascertain the legality of this expedition and the veracity of what he expose,* (* "La verite de son expose," i.e., the truth of his statement.) has opened in our presence a trunk sealed by him containing the papers having a reference to his expedition, and to give us a copy by him certified of the pa.s.sport delivered to him by the First Consul and His Majesty King of Great Britain; equally the communication of his journal since the condemnation of his ship Investigator.

"Port North-West, Ile of France, the 26th frimaire 12th year of the French Republic (answering to the 19th December, 1803).

"(Signed) MATTW. FLINDERS."

Flinders corroborates the statement regarding the taking of papers from the trunk, stating that they consisted of the third volume of his rough log-book, which contained "the whole of what they desired to know,"

respecting his voyage to Ile-de-France. He told Decaen's Secretary to make such extracts as were considered requisite, "pointing out the material pa.s.sages." "All the books and papers, the third volume of my rough log-book excepted, were then returned into the trunk, and sealed as before." It is important to notice that at no time were papers taken from the trunk without Flinders' knowledge and concurrence, because the charge has frequently been made, even by historical writers of authority,* that his charts were plagiarised by the cartographers of Baudin's expedition.

(* In the Cambridge Modern History, for instance (9 739): "The French authorities at Mauritius having captured and imprisoned the explorer Flinders on his pa.s.sage to England, attempted by the use of his papers to appropriate for their ships the credit of his discoveries along the south coast of Australia.") Flinders himself never made any such allegation, nor is there any foundation for it. On the contrary, as will be made clear hereafter, neither Decaen and his officers, nor any of the French, ever saw any of Flinders' charts at any time.

Immediately after the examination the General, on behalf of Madame Decaen, sent Flinders an invitation to dine, dinner being then served. At this point, one cannot help feeling, he made a tactical mistake. It is easily understood, and allowance can be made for it, but the consequences of it were serious. He was angry on account of his detention, irritated by the treatment to which he had been subjected, and unable in his present frame of mind to appreciate the Governor's point of view. He refused to go, and said he had already dined. The officer who bore the invitation pressed him in a kindly manner, saying that at all events he had better go to the table. Flinders replied that he would not; if the General would first set him at liberty he would accept the invitation with pleasure, and be flattered by it. Otherwise he would not sit at table with Decaen. "Having been grossly insulted both in my public and private character, I could not debase the situation I had the honour to hold."