King sent for Paterson, and questioned him as to what he had heard. His excuse for not personally communicating the story which he had allowed to drift to the governor's ears by chance, was that he thought that what he had heard must have come to King's knowledge also: a supine and almost flippant explanation of neglect in a matter which was serious if the allegations were true. He affirmed also that one of the French officers had pointed out to him on a chart the very place where they intended to settle. It was in what is now known as Frederick Henry Bay, in the south of Tasmania.* (* Backhouse Walker, Early Tasmania page 15.) The governor took prompt action. He at once fitted out the armed schooner Cumberland--the vessel in which Flinders afterwards sailed to Mauritius--and placed her under the command of Acting-Lieutenant Robbins. She carried a company of seventeen persons in all, including the Surveyor-General, Charles Grimes; for Robbins was also instructed to take the schooner on to Port Phillip after finding the French, and to have a complete survey made. Robbins was directed to ascertain where the French ships were; to hand to Baudin a letter, and to lay formal claim to the whole of Van Diemen's Land for the British Crown; to erect the British flag wherever he landed; and to sow seeds in anticipation of the needs of settlers, whom it was intended to send in the Porpoise at a later date. It was a bold move, for had Baudin's intentions been such as he was now suspected of entertaining, the one hundred and seventy men under his command would surely have had little difficulty in disposing of the handful whom young Robbins led. But no assertion of force was necessary at all, and one can hardly read the letters and despatches bearing upon the incident without feeling that the proceedings fairly lent themselves to the ridicule which the nimble-witted French officers applied to them. Baudin and his people had not gone to Frederick Henry Bay; they had not planted the tricolour anywhere in Tasmania; they had not even called at any port in that island. Instead, they were discovered quietly charting, catching insects, and collecting plants at Sea Elephants Bay, on the east of King Island, which, it will be remembered, they had missed on the former part of their voyage.