506 THE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA 



with many fine Coves and entrances in it." On the I5th 

 of February 1802, Murray managed, with much suspicion 

 and carefulness, to sail the Lady Nelson through what 

 seemed the dangerous entrance into the harbour. ' The 

 young man," wrote Governor King to Banks, " did very 

 well. . . . He discovered a spacious harbour about six 

 miles to the Westward of Western Port which I named 

 Port Phillip, after my worthy and dear friend the Admiral, 

 who, until now, had not had his name bestowed on either 

 stick or stone in the colony." 



Grant and Thus, before Flinders reached the "unknown coast," 



Murray wo p ar ^- s o f ft had b een discovered. Grant had discovered 



Flinders, the coast from Cape Banks to Cape Otway in December 



1800 ; and Murray and Bowen had discovered Port Phillip 



in January and February 1802. Flinders did not hear of 



these discoveries till he came to Sydney. 1 



Baudin's There is no reason to think that Flinders gave himself 

 authorised trouble about the rivalry of British seamen, but there 

 May 1800. was a foreign rival whose voyage was much in his mind. 

 In May 1800 Napoleon authorised the despatch of two 

 ships, Le Geographe and Le Naturaliste, under Baudin, 

 with instructions to explore the Australian coasts, and 

 in October 1800 the ships sailed. It was a voyage the 

 meaning of which must be interpreted in the light of 

 previous French plans and enterprises. Since the days 

 when de Brosses had studied the problems of the Pacific, 

 " both as geographer and as citizen," interest in those 

 French and problems had burnt as steady and as keen in France 

 as in Britain. As rivalry in the Atlantic ended, rivalry 

 in the Pacific began. It took the form of " voyages 

 of curiosity," but the voyagers were curious not only about 

 affairs of philosophy, but also about affairs of politics. Their 

 desire was knowledge, but their talk was also of commerce 

 and of settlement. And they talked a good deal also of 

 one another, and they followed one another in a way that 

 reminds us of the old school game of Chevy Chase. Bougain- 

 ville followed Wallis, and Cook followed Bougainville, and 

 Marion and Kerguelen and Laperouse followed Cook. 

 1 Voyage, vol. i. p. 200. 



