Exploring The Seas: Matthew Flinders' Hms Investigator Vessel

Captain Matthew Flinders (1774-1814) was a Royal Navy officer, navigator and cartographer who led the first inshore circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland. He is also credited with being the first person to use the name Australia to describe the continent.

Flinders was involved in several voyages of discovery between 1791 and 1803, including the circumnavigation of Australia and an earlier expedition in which he and George Bass confirmed that Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) was an island.

Flinders' most successful voyage came between 1801 and 1803 when he charted the coastline of Australia, completing and linking together other partial surveys to give a complete picture of the island nation. He recorded this voyage in his journals kept on board the HMS Investigator.

But what was the name of his boat for his earlier expeditions?

Matthew Flinders' boat was called HMS Investigator

Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a Royal Navy officer, navigator and cartographer who led the first inshore circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland. He is also credited as being the first person to use the name Australia to describe the entirety of that continent.

Flinders was involved in several voyages of discovery between 1791 and 1803, the most famous of which was the circumnavigation of Australia. In March 1800, Flinders returned to Britain via the Antipodes Islands, which he discovered and charted. His work caught the attention of scientists of the day, including the influential Sir Joseph Banks, to whom Flinders dedicated his "Observations on the Coasts of Van Diemen's Land, on Bass's Strait, etc.".

In January 1801, Flinders was given command of HMS Investigator, a 334-ton sloop, and promoted to commander the following month. Investigator set sail for New Holland on 18 July 1801. Attached to the expedition were the botanist Robert Brown, botanical artist Ferdinand Bauer, landscape artist William Westall, gardener Peter Good, geological assistant John Allen, and John Crosley as astronomer. The future explorer John Franklin, Flinders' cousin by marriage, served as midshipman.

Aboard Investigator, Flinders reached and named Cape Leeuwin on 6 December 1801, and proceeded to survey the southern coast of the Australian mainland. The expedition soon anchored in King George Sound and stayed there for a month, exploring the area and interacting with local Aboriginal people.

Flinders continued with his charting of the coast, making landings wherever desirable to allow the naturalists time to explore. In February, the Investigator entered the mouth of a large inlet stretching northwards (Spencer Gulf); however, hopes that it might be the entrance to a strait stretching to the Gulf of Carpentaria soon faded. On 22 March, the expedition reached Kangaroo Island, where they killed kangaroos for food.

Gulf St Vincent was next explored and charted, and, after a second brief visit to Kangaroo Island, the Investigator sailed east. On 8 April, Flinders encountered the French corvette Géographe, commanded by the explorer Nicolas Baudin, who was on a similar expedition. Flinders named the bay in which they met Encounter Bay.

With stores running low, Flinders proceeded to Sydney, arriving on 9 May 1802. After resupplying and enlisting further crew, Flinders set sail again on 22 July, heading north to survey the coast of what would later be called Queensland.

The expedition continued north but navigation became difficult as they entered the Great Barrier Reef. The Investigator was deemed unseaworthy and condemned upon their arrival in Sydney on 9 June 1803.

Matthew Flinders' boat was indeed called HMS Investigator.

Investigator was a 334-ton sloop

Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a Royal Navy officer, navigator and cartographer who led the first inshore circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland. He is also credited as being the first person to utilise the name Australia to describe the entirety of that continent.

In March 1800, Flinders returned to Britain from his voyages and his work came to the attention of scientists of the day, particularly Sir Joseph Banks, to whom Flinders dedicated his "Observations on the Coasts of Van Diemen's Land, on Bass's Strait, etc.". Banks used his influence to convince the Admiralty of the importance of an expedition to chart the coastline of New Holland. As a result, in January 1801, Flinders was given command of HMS Investigator, a 334-ton sloop, and the following month, he was promoted to commander.

The HMS Investigator set sail for New Holland on 18 July 1801. The ship was accompanied by a crew of scientists, including the botanist Robert Brown, botanical artist Ferdinand Bauer, landscape artist William Westall, gardener Peter Good, geological assistant John Allen, and John Crosley as an astronomer. The future explorer John Franklin, Flinders' cousin by marriage, also served as a midshipman.

Aboard the HMS Investigator, Flinders reached and named Cape Leeuwin on 6 December 1801 and proceeded to survey the southern coast of Australia. The expedition anchored in King George Sound and stayed there for a month, exploring the area and interacting with the local Aboriginal people. Flinders continued his charting of the coast, making landings to allow the naturalists to explore and collect specimens.

On 22 March 1802, the expedition reached Kangaroo Island, where they killed 31 kangaroos for food. They then explored and charted Gulf St Vincent before sailing east. On 8 April, they encountered the French corvette Géographe, commanded by the explorer Nicolas Baudin, who was on a similar expedition. Flinders and Baudin exchanged details of their discoveries, despite believing that their countries were at war. Flinders named the bay in which they met Encounter Bay.

After reaching Port Jackson on 9 May 1802, Flinders spent 12 weeks resupplying and enlisting additional crew before setting sail again on 22 July to continue his survey of the Queensland coast. The expedition soon anchored at Sandy Cape, where they feasted on porpoise blubber with a group of Batjala people. Continuing north, the HMS Investigator entered the Great Barrier Reef, where navigation became increasingly challenging.

By the time the HMS Investigator reached the Gulf of Carpentaria on 4 November 1802, the ship was found to be rotten and unfit for service. Flinders made the decision to complete the circumnavigation of the continent without further close surveying of the coast. He sailed to Sydney via Timor and the western and southern coasts of Australia, reaching Port Jackson on 9 June 1803. Upon arrival, the HMS Investigator was deemed unseaworthy and condemned.

Flinders charted the coastline of Australia

Matthew Flinders, born in Donington, Lincolnshire, in 1774, was a Royal Navy officer, navigator, and cartographer who led the first inshore circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland.

Flinders' charting of the Australian coastline was highly accurate and systematic. He measured and rechecked his readings to produce charts that remained in use for certain areas until World War II. He also used a running survey method, standing his ship off the shore at dusk and returning to the previous day's work each morning. Each bearing and angle were taken by Flinders himself, either from the deck or the masthead, and the results were worked up each night.

Flinders' first encounter with the Australian continent came in 1791 when he served under William Bligh as a midshipman on a voyage to Tahiti. The expedition sailed to Adventure Bay on the eastern coast of Bruny Island, now part of Tasmania.

In 1795, Flinders arrived in Port Jackson, Sydney, on the HMS Reliance. He and the ship's surgeon, George Bass, organised an expedition in a small open boat named Tom Thumb, sailing to Botany Bay and up the Georges River. In 1796, they set out again in a larger boat, dubbed Tom Thumb II, sailing south from Port Jackson but were forced to beach at Red Point (Port Kembla). With the help of two Aboriginal men, they reached the entrance of Lake Illawarra, where they dried their gunpowder and obtained water from another group of Aboriginal people.

In 1798, Flinders was given command of the sloop Norfolk and circumnavigated Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), proving it was an island. In 1799, he explored the Queensland coast, including Moreton Bay, and discovered and named Hervey Bay.

Flinders' most successful voyage came between 1801 and 1803 when he charted the coastline of Australia. In December 1801, he reached and named Cape Leeuwin, and proceeded to survey the southern coast of the Australian mainland. He made landings wherever desirable to allow naturalists to collect plant and animal specimens. In February 1802, he entered the mouth of a large inlet stretching northwards (Spencer Gulf) but found it was not the entrance to a strait. On 22 March, he reached Kangaroo Island, and on 8 April, he met the French explorer Nicolas Baudin in the corvette Le Geographe. Flinders named the place of their meeting Encounter Bay.

After reaching Sydney in May 1802, Flinders set sail again in July, heading north to survey the Queensland coast. He sailed into the Great Barrier Reef and, after navigating the Torres Strait, entered the Gulf of Carpentaria in November. However, the Investigator was found to be rotten, and Flinders decided to complete the circumnavigation of the continent without further close surveying. He sailed to Sydney via Timor and the western and southern coasts of Australia, reaching Port Jackson in June 1803.

Flinders' charting of the Australian coastline was a remarkable feat of navigation and exploration. Despite the challenges of unsuitable ships and relatively unsophisticated surveying instruments, he produced highly accurate charts that contributed significantly to our understanding of the Australian continent.

He was the first man to circumnavigate Australia

Captain Matthew Flinders (1774-1814) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and Royal Navy officer who became the first man to circumnavigate Australia.

Flinders' journey began in 1801 when he set sail from England on the HMS Investigator. His mission was to explore the entire Australian coast and chart the eastern part of the Great Australian Bight, known as "the Unknown Coast". Flinders reached Cape Leeuwin on December 6, 1801, and continued to survey the southern coast of Australia.

Flinders' expedition made landfall in Fowler Bay on January 28, 1802, and he named it after the Investigator's first lieutenant. They then discovered a large inlet stretching northward, now known as Spencer Gulf, which they explored before reaching and naming Kangaroo Island on March 22. After charting Gulf St Vincent and making a second stop at Kangaroo Island, the Investigator sailed east.

On April 8, 1802, Flinders encountered the French corvette Géographe, captained by Nicolas Baudin, who was also exploring the continent. Flinders named the bay where they met Encounter Bay. Flinders and Baudin exchanged information about their discoveries, despite believing their countries were at war.

After exploring Port Phillip, the future site of Melbourne, Flinders arrived in Sydney on May 9, 1802, and spent the next 12 weeks resupplying and preparing for the next leg of the voyage. He set sail again on July 22, heading north to survey the coast of what would later become Queensland.

Flinders and his crew continued their journey through the Great Barrier Reef, which he named, before entering the Torres Strait and sailing into the Gulf of Carpentaria. However, it was discovered that the Investigator was badly leaking and in poor condition, and Flinders made the difficult decision to abandon the detailed survey and complete the circumnavigation of the continent.

He sailed west and rounded Cape Leeuwin again, navigating the Great Australian Bight during winter, before finally returning to Sydney on June 9, 1803, completing the first circumnavigation of Australia.

He was imprisoned on the Île de France (Mauritius) on his return journey

Captain Matthew Flinders, a Royal Navy officer, navigator and cartographer, was imprisoned on Île de France (now Mauritius) during his return journey to Britain.

Flinders had been involved in several voyages of discovery between 1791 and 1803, including the circumnavigation of Australia and an expedition that confirmed Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) was an island. In 1803, he set sail for Britain as a passenger aboard HMS Porpoise, but the ship was wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef. Flinders navigated the ship's cutter back to Sydney and then took command of the schooner HMS Cumberland to return to England. However, the poor condition of the vessel forced him to stop at Île de France for repairs.

At the time, Britain and France were at war, and despite Flinders' belief that the scientific nature of his work would grant him safe passage, he was detained as a spy by the French governor, Charles Mathieu Isidore Decaen. Flinders' French passport was for his previous vessel, HMS Investigator, and not for Cumberland, which carried dispatches from the New South Wales Governor, Philip Gidley King. Decaen's search of Flinders' vessel uncovered papers that were not permitted under his scientific passport, including a request to the British Admiralty for more troops in case Decaen attacked Port Jackson.

Flinders was imprisoned for more than six years, during which time he recorded details of his voyages for future publication. He was initially confined but was later granted greater freedom to move around the island and access his papers. Flinders' scientific credentials and engaging personality made him well-liked by the French settlers, and he formed close friendships with many of them. He also socialised with colonial landed proprietors, some of whom were descended from French noble families. Flinders' wide circle of acquaintances on Île de France included French officers, musicians, artists, and writers.

Despite attempts by both the English and the French to secure his release, Decaen refused to allow Flinders' freedom. By 1809, the Royal Navy had begun a blockade of the island, and in June 1810, Flinders was paroled. He finally returned to England, where he resumed work on his book, "A Voyage to Terra Australis", which was published in 1814, the day before his death.

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