Overview

Matthew Flinders (1774–1814) joined the Royal Navy at fifteen, later claiming to have been inspired by Robinson Crusoe. He served under William Bligh, and charted the Bass Strait in 1798. In 1801 he was commissioned to chart 'New Holland', and so became the first to circumnavigate the island he referred to as Australia. After being shipwrecked on the Barrier Reef and imprisoned for six years on Mauritius on suspicion of spying, he returned to England in 1810 and began work on A Voyage to Terra Australis. He died the day after his book and maps were published. This biography, published in 1914 to mark the centenary of his death, was the first comprehensive study of this central figure of Australian maritime exploration. The leading Australian historian Ernest Scott (1868–1939) based his account on material held in private collections in France as well as on documents deposited in Australian libraries.

Full Product Details

Author:   Ernest Scott
Publisher:   Cambridge University Press
Imprint:   Cambridge University Press (Virtual Publishing)
ISBN:  

9781139149297

ISBN 10:   1139149296
Publication Date:   05 December 2012
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Undefined
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Table of Contents

Preface; 1. Birth and origins; 2. At school and at sea; 3. A voyage under Bligh; 4. The battle off Brest; 5. Australian geography before Flinders; 6. The Reliance and the Tom Thumb; 7. The discovery of Bass Strait; 8. The voyage of the Francis; 9. Circumnavigation of Tasmania; 10. The fate of George Bass; 11. On the Queensland Coast; 12. The Investigator; 13. The French expedition; 14. South Coast discovery; 15. Flinders and Baudin in Encounter Bay; 16. Flinders in Port Phllip; 17. The French at Port Jackson. Péron the spy; 18. Australia circumnavigated; 19. Wrecked on the Barrier Reef; 20. To Ile-de-France in the Cumberland; 21. General Decaen; 22. The captivity; 23. The captivity prolonged; 24. The captivity modified; 25. The order of release; 26. The release; 27. Last years and death of Flinders; 28. Characteristics; 29. The navigator; 30. The naming of Australia; Appendix; Bibliography; Index.

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