CHAPTER XV 

 BLIGH, 1788-92, continued 



SECOND VOYAGE THROUGH TORRES STRAIT WITH THE 

 "PROVIDENCE" AND "ASSISTANT," 1792 



BLIGH COMMISSIONED TO CONVEY BREADFRUIT FROM TAHITI TO WEST INDIES. 

 FLINDERS, A JUNIOR OFFICER ON THE " PROVIDENCE," THE HISTORIAN OF THE 

 EXPEDITION. LIEUTENANT PORTLOCK COMMANDING THE " ASSISTANT." BLIGH 



PLANS TO KEEP CLOSE TO NEW GUINEA. THE PORTLOCK REEFS. DARNLEY 



ISLANDS. " ASSISTANT'S " BOATS ATTACKED BY ISLANDERS IN CANOES. NEPEAN 

 ISLAND. DARNLEY ISLANDERS COME OUT TO BARTER. IRON IN GREAT DEMAND, 

 STEPHENS' AND CAMPBELL ISLANDS. DALRYMPLE ISLAND. NATIVES BARTER 

 FRUIT AND ORNAMENTS FOR IRON. DUNGENESS REEF AND ISLAND. WARRIOR 

 REEF AND ISLAND. THE CHANNEL (LATER, BASILISK PASS) THROUGH THE REEF. 

 DETERMINED ATTACK BY ISLANDERS. TURTLE-BACKED ISLAND. CAP ISLAND. 

 BANKS ISLAND SEEN AND NAMED. BURKE'S ISLAND. MT. CORNWALLIS (CoRN- 

 WALLIS ISLAND). TURN-AGAIN AND JERVIS ISLANDS. ORMAN REEF. MULGRAVE 

 ISLAND. NORTH POSSESSION ISLAND. BLIGH TAKES POSSESSION OF TORRES STRAIT 

 ISLANDS. JERVIS ISLAND AND BLIGH CHANNEL (PREVIOUSLY USED BY TORRES). 

 THREATENING ISLANDERS. SHOAL CLEARED. BLIGH'S FAREWELL. SEA-ROOM 

 ENOUGH. TIMOR. PROMOTION OF BLIGH AND HIS SUBSEQUENT NAVAL SERVICES. 

 BLIGH APPOINTED GOVERNOR OF NEW SOUTH WALES. A STERN DISCIPLINARIAN, 

 BUT ARROGANT AND BRUTAL. HlS ATTEMPT TO STOP THE RuM SCANDAL IN NEW 

 SOUTH WALES. ARRESTED AND DEPOSED BY THE NEW SOUTH WALES CORPS. 

 PROMOTION TO VICE-ADMIRAL. DEATH. A FRENCH APPRECIATION OF HIS 

 QUALITIES. 



HAVING reached England after his perilous voyage in the 

 open boat, following on the mutiny of the " Bounty" 

 and written his Narrative, BLIGH was given command of 

 H.M.S. " Providence" and was accompanied by the 

 brig " Assistant" under LIEUTENANT J. NATHANIEL PORTLOCK, in 

 a second expedition having for its object the transference of 

 breadfruit from Tahiti to the West Indies. He had thus another 

 opportunity of traversing Torres Strait, and this time he succeeded 

 in his mission. So far as is known, he wrote no report on this 

 voyage, but he lodged his charts in the Admiralty Office. The only 

 available record of the voyage is the journal kept by MATTHEW 

 FLINDERS, who accompanied Bligh as a junior officer. (Terra 

 Australis, Vol. I, pp. xix. et seq.}. Bligh's charts, " with other 

 authorities," were incorporated in Plate XIII of Flinders' Atlas, 

 and the journal was sanctioned by Bligh, so that there is every 

 reason for accepting it as authoritative. The expedition left 



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