After Baudin Had
Made Those Investigations Which His Means Permitted In The Region Of The
Two Large Gulfs, The Winter Season Was Again Approaching, When High Winds
And Tempestuous Seas Might Be Anticipated.
It was therefore hoped by all
on board that when the commandant decided to steer for the shelter and
succour of Port Jackson, he would, as it was only sensible that he
should, take the short route through Bass Strait.
In view of the
distressed state of his company, it was positively cruel to think of
doing otherwise. But there was, it seems, a peculiar vein of perversity
in Baudin's character, which made him prone to do that which everybody
wished him not to do. We may disregard many of the disparaging sentences
in which Peron refers to "notre commandant" - never by name - because Peron
so evidently detested Baudin that he is a doubtful witness in matters of
conduct and character. We must also give due weight to the fact that we
have no statement of Baudin's point of view on any matter for which he
was blamed by colleagues who were at enmity with him. But even so, we
have his unquestionable actions upon which to form a judgment; and it is
difficult to characterise by any milder term than stupidity his
determination to sail to Port Jackson from Kangaroo Island round by the
south of Tasmania, a route at least six hundred miles out of his straight
path. That he came to this decision after having himself sailed through
Bass Strait from east to west, and thus learnt that the navigation was
free from difficulty; when he had in his possession the charts of Bass
and Flinders showing a clear course; during a period of storms when he
would be quite certain to encounter worse weather by sailing farther
south; when his crew were positively rotting with the scorbutic
pestilence that made life all but intolerable to them, and attendance
upon them almost too loathsome for endurance by the ship's surgeon; and
when his supplies were at starvation limit in point of quantity and
vermin-riddled in respect of quality that he resolved to take the long,
stormy, southern route in face of these considerations, seems hardly to
admit of explanation or excuse.
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