Edward Edwards, a British Post Captain, was placed in charge of the 24 gun frigate HMS Pandora with the commission to round up the 25 men who had 'pirated' the Bounty and cast adrift her Captain, William Bligh in the infamous mutiny on the Bounty. Numerous sailors from the Bounty gave themselves up on Edwards' arrival in Tahiti. Many had not sided with Bligh or Christian and were forced to remain with the Bounty after the mutiny. Edwards treated them as prisoners and left Tahiti in search of Fletcher Christian on 8th May 1791, with his captives in irons. The captives were placed in a tiny, inhumane prison cell which became known as Pandora's Box.
The search, which took Edwards to Tokelau Islands, the Tongan Islands and Fiji but was unsuccessful, so Edwards headed for the coast of Australia with the intention of charting endeavour Strait on his way home. On 28 august, Pandora was wrecked on a reef. 99 lives were saved and Edwards set sail with them to Kupang in four lifeboats.On his arrival in Kupang, Edwards made arrangements for the return of the prisoners aboard a Dutch ship. they were transferred to a British vessel at the Cape of Good Hope, arriving home in June 1792. Ten of the prisoners were tried and found guilty of mutiny.
The Pandora wreck remained undisturbed until its rediscovery by scuba divers in November 1977. Following an archaeological survey to positively identify the wreck and assess its potential, it was declared a protected historic site in April 1979 and is now being excavated by the Queensland Museum.
Matthew Flinders (1774-1814) was an accomplished navigator and cartographer, having circumnavigated the Australian continent, proved that Tasmania was not joined to the mainland, and played a major part in the naming of Australia. Despite Flinders short life he accomplished some exceptional feats. His charts were of a particularly high standard and though published in 1814, many continued to be republished and used until recent years. Flinders most famous chart was of the Australian continent, published in 1814, which is famously named 'General Chart of Terra Australis or Australia'. Undoubtedly the foremost explorer and hydrographer of the Australian coastline, Matthew Flinders carried out several important and daring voyages of discovery along coastal portions of the land now known as Australia. He was the first to consistently use the term Australia, and it was at his recommendation that it was officially adopted, something that would have guaranteed him a place in history apart from his many other achievements. Additionally he was first to prove that the eastern and western sections of Australia were connected, and his work gave the map of Australia its final shape. Interestingly, Matthew Flinders is believed to have been an accomplished flute player, unusual for a Royal Navy Commander.
Matthew Flinders
George Bass (1771 - 1803) explored the coast of New South Wales from Botany Bay to Illawarra and to Wilson's Promontory 1797-98. In 1798-99 he circumnavigated Tasmania with Matthew Flinders. Born Aswarby, Lincolnshire, England, 30 January 1771. Possibly died at sea 1803. Apprenticed to a local surgeon-apothecary, and by 1789 was a "surgeon second-rate". Postings in several ships; arrived in Port Jackson on the "Reliance" 1795; explored the George's River with Matthew Flinders 1795 (this led to the establishment of a settlement at Banks Town); explored south of Botany Bay in "Tom Thumb" 1796.
George Bass
In 1801, amid rumours that the French were sending a fleet of ship to New Holland to establish a colony, Governor King dispatched the acting chief surveyor of New South Wales, Charles Grimes, Lieut John Murray and James Flemming (botanist) to King's Island, Port King (Port Phillip Bay as it was then known) and Storm Bay (the bay into which the Derwent River flows to the south of Hobart) to claim for Britain the southern section of the eastern side of the continent south of latitude 38 degrees S, and to investigate the possibility of setting up settlements to forestall any moves by the French to lay claim to sections of the continent of Australia already annexed by Britain. Other motives were to establish a base for the fishing and sealing industry and to provide timber and flax to the Royal Navy which had been depleted by the Napoleonic Wars.
John Murray
Six weeks after John Murray returned from his trip to the Port Phillip Bay area, Governor King's fears that the French has sent an expedition to check out the coast of New Holland were realised when Matthew Flinders, who had been charting the south coast of Australia, returned to Sydney with the news that he had met the French exploration party of Nicolas Baudin at Encounter Bay. Shortly after Flinders' arrival, Baudin's ships limped into port, his crew in a poor state of health and in desparate need of supplies. Immediately after the French had left, acting under private instructions from Governor King, acting Lt Charles Robbins was hastily sent south from the Colony of Port Jackson (Sydney) with the schooner Cumberland and a party of 16 men to examine Bass Strait and to thwart any colonising attempts by the French.
