The tone of Baudin's letters betrayed more annoyance than his language actually expressed; but assuming that his professions were true, it must be admitted that he had reason to feel offended. He had left Sydney on excellent terms with the governor, who had not only wished well to his undertaking, but had assisted in its prosecution by enabling the Casuarina to be purchased. He now found himself pursued by a youthful and exuberant officer, presented with a letter which suggested intentions that he had explicitly disavowed, and the British flag was virtually flapped in his face in a somewhat unmannerly fashion. King's letter to him explained the rumour which had led to the despatch of the Cumberland, and contained the following passage: "You will easily imagine that if any information of that kind had reached me before your departure, I should have requested an explanation; but as I knew nothing of it, and at present totally disbelieving anything of the kind ever being thought of, I consider it but proper to give you this information." Baudin wrote two letters in reply, one officially, and the second, by far the more interesting document, a personal and friendly epistle. In the official answer he said: "The story you have heard, of which I suspect Mr. Kemp, captain in the New South Wales corps, to be the author, is without foundation, nor do I believe that the officers and naturalists who are on board can have given cause for it by their conversation. But in any case you may rest well assured that if the French Government had ordered me to remain some days either in the north or south of Van Diemen's Land, discovered by Abel Tasman, I would have stopped there without keeping my intention secret from you." Baudin's additional statement that, prior to the flag incident, he had taken care to place in four prominent parts of the island "proofs sufficient to show the priority of our visit," must, however, have brought a smile to King's lips, and certainly makes one wonder what Baudin meant by "priority"; since King Island had previously been visited by Flinders, had been fully charted, and was the frequent resort of sealers. As a matter of fact, the Snow-Harrington, which had succoured Boullanger and his boat crew of abandoned Frenchmen in the previous March, had, after that fortunate meeting, stayed at the island ten weeks, when there were killed the enormous number of six hundred sea-elephants and four thousand three hundred seals.* (* Backhouse Walker, Early Tasmania page 21.) Besides, Baudin assured King that "I intend" that the island "shall continue to bear your name," forgetful that it would not have had a name already if his own visit had been "prior" to others.