A Voyage to Terra Australis - Volume 1, Paperback/Matthew Flinders

Descriere

Description This edition of A Voyage to Terra Australis contains all of the original illustrations and charts, which are vital for understanding the details of Matthew Flinders circumnavigation of Australia. The book covers a period of thirteen years (1801-1814); the initial three years comprise the journey of Flinders' ship the HMS Investigator as it sailed the coastlines of what was then known as Terra Australis. The second volume details the conclusions of these voyages, and Captain Flinders capture at the hands of the French. At war with England, and unconvinced Flinders' mission was purely scientific, the French governor Charles Mathieu Isidore Decaen imprisoned him for a total of six years; a Royal Navy blockade forced the author's parole. The scientific importance of mapping the entirety of Australia - upon which the British had established colonies - was undoubted: much of Australia, particularly the northern and western coasts, were hitherto poorly understood by mariners. The job was difficult: throughout, Flinders' ship would sustain wear and damage, impairing its ability to avoid calamities such as a collision with land or destruction in a storm. A Voyage to Terra Australis primarily concerns the various episodes that the HMS Investigator and its crew encountered in its voyage. The first volume however commences by summarizing what was already known thanks to the previous explorations of Australia by various ships; the early Dutch mercantile ventures to the outer portions of the continent, and the famous voyage of James Cook, are recounted. After these summaries are completed, Matthew Flinders commences to detail his own expedition. The painstaking process of mapping the coastlines between and around portions already discovered is described with measurements and charts. The obstacles of weather, and the sheer distance of the traversal, were surmounted by the persistence of Flinders and his fellow cartographers. Although this book is chiefly concerned with