From Port Phillip Bay Flinders returned to Sydney, where he arrived the 9th of May, 1802. He sailed again the 22nd of July, and, steering north, surveyed the great Barrier Reef, and made the route clear and safe for future navigators through the Torres Straits and round the shores of the great Gulf of Carpentaria, and only ceased his labours on finding his ship "quite rotten." After refreshing at the Island of Timor, he returned to Port Jackson on the 9th of June, 1803, having lost many of his best men.
No suitable ship to complete his survey was to be found in Port Jackson, He therefore embarked in the Porpoise store-ship, "in order to lay his charts and journals before the Admiralty, and obtain, if possible, a ship to complete the examination of Terra Australis."
The Porpoise was accompanied by two trading vessels, the Cato and the Bridgwater. In passing through Torres Straits on the night of the 17th of August, 1804, the Porpoise struck on a coral reef, and "took a fearful heel over on her larboard beam-ends. The Bridgwater was on the point of following, but, the Cato giving way, the former, grazing, escaped, while the latter struck and went over two cables' length from the Porpoise." The coward captain of the Bridgwater, one Palmer, having escaped, sailed away, in spite of the remonstrances of his mate, without making an effort to aid his companions.[1]
Flinders took the command, safely landed the crew of the two vessels on a sand-bank, of which a narrow space was clear at high water collected stores, erected tents, formed an encampment, and established a disciplined order of proceedings. The reef was a mere patch of sand, about three hundred yards long and one hundred broad, on which not a blade of vegetation was growing.
- ↑ Mr. Williams, the third mate of the Bridgewater, kept a journal, from which the following particulars of this unparalleled piece of cowardice on the part of Captain Palmer are taken. After describing the situation of the Porpoise, he says:—"Though the noise of the surf was so tremendous, the voice of the unfortunate Captain Flinders was heard, by the fifth officer, to say, 'For God's sake, Captain Palmer, assist me!' I now volunteered my services to proceed in the cutter if Captain Palmer would consent, to the aid of the Porpoise: he did consent, but, while getting ready, he changed his mind … The boat was promised in the morning, for which I had every refreshment that could be procured for the relief of my unfortunate companions. We again stood off: at 7 a.m., from the mast-head, we saw the reef off the two ships, and to leeward of them a sand-bank … We all rejoiced in the prospect of affording assistance to our companions; but the captain ordered the ship to be put on the other tack, and, sailing away, left them to their fate! I was sent on shore at Tellicherry with the account of the loss of the Cato and Porpoise. In giving this account, I did, for the first time, disobey orders, and gave a contrary account; for I was convinced that the crews of those ships were on the reef, and that the account of their loss was given by Captain Palmer to excuse his conduct. I wrote out the account and left it behind, after having related it as differently as possible. This caused many words, and ended in my leaving the ship, forfeiting my wages and part of my clothes." So far young Williams: Palmer and his ship were afterwards lost at sea—In fact, they were never afterwards heard of; Williams, by his honourable quarrel with his captain, escaped this singularly retributive fate.
