Le Naturaliste at Sydney. Boullanger's boat party. Curious conduct of Baudin. Le Naturaliste sails for Mauritius, but returns to Port Jackson. Re-union of Baudin's ships. Hospitality of Governor King. Peron's impressions of the British settlement. Morand, the banknote forger. Baudin shows his charts and instructions to King. Departure of the French ships. Rumours as to their objects. King's prompt action. The Cumberland sent after them. Acting Lieutenant Robbins at King Island. The flag incident. Baudin's letters to King. His protestations. Views on colonisation. Le Naturaliste sails for Europe. Le Naturaliste had been unable to rejoin her consort after the tempest of March 7 and 8. She being a slow sailer, the risk of the two vessels parting company was constant, and as there had already been one separation, before the sojourn at Timor, Baudin should have appointed a rendezvous. But he had neither taken this simple precaution, nor had he even intimated to Captain Hamelin the route that he intended to pursue. When, therefore, the storm abated, the commander of the second ship neither knew where to look for Le Geographe, nor had he any certain information to enable him to follow her. Before making up his mind as to what he should do, Captain Hamelin had the good luck to pick up an open boat containing Boullanger, one of the scientific staff of Le Geographe, a lieutenant, and eight sailors. They were absent from the ship when the storm burst, and Baudin had sailed away without them. His conduct on this occasion had been inexplicable. Boullanger and his party had gone out in the boat to chart a part of the coast with more detail than was possible from the deck of the corvette. But they had not been away more than a quarter of an hour, according to Peron, when Baudin, "without any apparent reason," bore off the coast. Then came the tempest, night fell, the following days were too stormy for putting off another boat to search for the missing men; and in the end, Baudin left them to their fate. They had no chart or compass, merely enough food and water to last for a day, and were abandoned on an uninhabited coast, in an open boat, in bitterly cold, squally weather, with the rain falling in sheets at frequent intervals. Here again, British kindness saved the Frenchmen. Before having the good fortune to perceive the sails of Le Naturaliste, the starved, drenched, and miserable men had attracted the attention of a sealing brig, the Snow-Harrington, from Sydney. Her skipper, Campbell, took them on board, supplied them with warm food, and offered to convey them to Port Jackson forthwith. They remained on the Snow-Harrington for the night, but on the following morning sighted Le Naturaliste, and, after profusely thanking Captain Campbell for his generosity, soon picked her up.