CHAPTER XX 



FLINDERS, continued 



WITH THE " CUMBERLAND " TO TORRES STRAIT, 1803 



CAPTIVITY AT MAURITIUS, 1803-10 AND CLOSE OF 



HIS CAREER 



FLINDERS ON THE " PORPOISE " AS A PASSENGER FOR ENGLAND VIA TORRES STRAIT. 

 " BRIDGEWATER " AND " CATO " ACCOMPANY " PORPOISE." " PORPOISE " AND 

 " CATO " STRANDED ON WRECK REEF AND DESERTED BY THE " BRIDGEWATER." 

 THREE LIVES LOST. NINETY-FOUR MEN ON A SANDBANK. FLINDERS AND THE 

 CAPTAIN OF THE " CATO " WITH TWELVE MEN REACH SYDNEY IN A BOAT. FLINDERS 

 GIVEN THE SCHOONER " CUMBERLAND." SAILS FOR SANDBANK IN COMPANY WITH 



THE " ROLLA " AND " FRANCIS." " RoLLA " TAKES SOME OF THE SHIPWRECKED 



MEN TO CANTON. " FRANCIS " TAKES OTHERS TO SYDNEY. THE " CUMBERLAND " 

 UNSEAWORTHY, BUT FLINDERS TAKES HER THROUGH TORRES STRAIT BY THE QjMBER- 

 LAND PASSAGE AND PRINCE OF WALES CHANNEL, AND TOWARDS TIMOR, VIA BOOBY 

 ISLAND AND ARNHEIM LAND. CALLS AT KOEPANG. No FACILITIES FOR 

 REPAIRS. LEAVES FOR CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. FLINDERS, UNAWARE THAT WAR 

 BETWEEN FRANCE AND ENGLAND HAD BROKEN OUT AGAIN, is COMPELLED BY 

 ROUGH WEATHER TO RUN INTO PORT Louis, MAURITIUS. FROSTY RECEPTION 

 BY GOVERNOR DE CAEN. SUSPECTED OF ESPIONAGE. THE BREACH WIDENS. 

 SEVEN YEARS' CAPTIVITY. FLINDERS REGAINS HIS LIBERTY ON THE CAPTURE OF 

 MAURITIUS BY THE BRITISH. RETURN TO ENGLAND. REJOINS HIS LOST BRIDE. 

 FAILING HEALTH. THREE YEARS WRITING HIS GREAT WORK, " TERRA AUSTRALIS." 

 His DEATH. 



ATER consultation with Governor King, Flinders deter- 

 mined to go to England as a passenger by the " Porpoise" 

 under command of Lieutenant Fowler, to lav his charts 

 and journals before the Admiralty and to solicit the grant 

 of another vessel to continue his investigations. Fowler's instruc- 

 tions were to go by TORRES STRAIT " by the route Captain Flinders 

 may indicate." The " Porpoise " left Sydney on loth August, 1803, 

 accompanied by the " Brtdgewattr" of the East India Company, 

 and the " Cato" of London, both bound for Batavia. 1 



On ijth August, the " Porpoise" which was in the lead, struck 

 on WRECK REEF (22 n' S., 155 13' E.) and the " Cato" im- 

 mediately did the same. The " Bridgewater " weathered the reef 

 and shamefully deserted her consorts. (She reached Bombay and 

 left for London ; after which she was never heard of again.) 



Three lives were lost in the WRECK, but the remainder (ninety- 



1 Terra Australis, II, p. 286. 

 I 10 145 



