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Updated: June 6, 2025
There is no good reason for disbelieving Baudin's disclaimer. It was plain and candid; and there was nothing in his actions while he was in Australian waters which belied his words.
On the French vessel, meanwhile, similar curiosity had been provoked as to the identity of the ship sailing east. Captain Baudin's men had been engaged during the morning in harpooning dolphins, which they desired for the sake of the flesh.
He had been charged by the commissary of Police to go to Baudin's house, No, 88, Rue de Clichy, to inform the family. Having only found the women at home he had confined himself to telling them that Representative Baudin was wounded. He offered to accompany them, and went with them in the fiacre. They had uttered the name of Gindrier before him. This might have been imprudent.
These were the Lady Nelson, under Murray's command, in February 1802 the harbour having been discovered in the previous month and the Investigator, under Flinders, in April and May. No other keels had, from the moment of the discovery until Baudin's vessels finally left these coasts, breasted the broad expanse of waters at the head of which the great city of Melbourne now stands.
I have no knowledge of the claims which the French Government may have upon Van Diemen's Land, nor of its designs; but I think that its title will not be any better grounded than yours." After this taste of Baudin's reflections, it is really a pity that we possess so little from his pen.
But Baudin's expedition having no such guide Comte's Positivist Calendar, if not of later date, would have been useful their selection of names was quite an original effort. Unfortunately, the "discoveries" to which the names were applied were not original.
Cook, too, made a record of the latitude and longitude of Port Jackson. Now, Baudin's statement is confirmed by five documents, the testimony of which is convincing. As an appendix to volume 3 of the Voyage de Decouvertes aux Terres Australes, is printed the entire log of Le Geographe. It was the wind which was hindering Flinders, sailing in the opposite direction.
It is doubtful whether the possession of one would have made any difference in General Decaen's treatment of the English navigator, as he was quite well aware of the services rendered to Baudin's expedition by the British at Port Jackson. In fact, it is not known that King made any use of the document. A copy of it was found among his papers after his death.
Governor King, notwithstanding his benevolent disposition, was mindful of his responsibilities. Before a French sail was sighted he had been advised of the fact that Baudin's ships were to visit Australian waters, and it is quite clear that, in common with most of his contemporaries, he was very suspicious of Gallic designs.
Baudin's additional statement that, prior to the flag incident, he had taken care to place in four prominent parts of the island "proofs sufficient to show the priority of our visit," must, however, have brought a smile to King's lips, and certainly makes one wonder what Baudin meant by "priority"; since King Island had previously been visited by Flinders, had been fully charted, and was the frequent resort of sealers.
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