Of Boullanger's
Training And Qualifications Nothing Can Be Said, Except That It May Be
Presumed That The Committee Of The Institute Of France Which Selected
Him, Comprising Two Such Experts As Bougainville And Fleurieu, Must Have
Been Satisfied Of His Attainments.
Much of his work was certainly done
under severe trials and difficulties, but it is chiefly significant that
the
Improvement in the charting synchronises with the presence in command
of Freycinet; and allusion may again be made to the beautiful work done
by this officer when he commanded the Uranie and the Physicienne a few
years later, as showing his deep interest and practical skill in
employment of this class.
There can be no doubt that the work would have been better done
throughout had Captain Baudin been a more sympathetic commander. To what
extent the deficiencies of the French charts of the remainder of the
Terre Napoleon coasts are attributable to his failure to appreciate the
requirements of his scientific staff, can be conjectured; but the
peremptory manner in which he allotted so many days and no more for the
survey of the gulfs, and then sailed off leaving the Casuarina to shift
for herself, reveals an extraordinary temper in a commander on such
service, as well as a fatuous disregard of the many hindrances that made
rigid time conditions difficult to observe.
Flinders had occupied forty days in his exploration of the two
gulfs - from February 21 to April 1, 1802. Freycinet occupied only
twenty-one days in traversing precisely the same extent of
coast-line - from January 11 to February 1, 1803. Flinders had settled the
question as to whether there was a passage through the continent to the
Gulf of Carpentaria, and Freycinet and Baudin were by this time aware
that no important discovery of this character was to be expected. But the
navigation was perilous, the risks were unknown, and Freycinet should
have been able to pursue his task unhampered by the fear that if
circumstances compelled him to over-stay his time for a day or two, he
would be abandoned in a small vessel without provisions for more than his
narrowly prescribed period. "But the character of our chief was known."
"Quite sure of being pitilessly abandoned in case of delay," Freycinet
made haste to return to Nepean Bay at the end of the month. But when he
reached the anchorage he found that Baudin had already sailed away. "The
abandonment of our companions in the midst of these vast gulfs, where so
many perils might be encountered, had been a subject of consternation on
board Le Geographe," Peron records. It really was unaccountable
behaviour; even worse than that of the abandonment of Boullanger and his
boat's crew on the east coast of Tasmania in the previous March. A
commander who treated those among his subordinates who were sustaining
the most dangerous and exacting part of the work with so little
consideration, can hardly have maintained their confidence, or deserved
it.
The Casuarina, making all sail for Nepean Bay westward, sighted the
leading ship in Investigator Strait.
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