The Life of Captain Matthew FlindersScott, Ernest, Sir
History
The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders
Scott, Ernest, Sir
Australia -- Discovery and exploration; Flinders, Matthew, 1774-1814
Ferdinand Bauer was appointed botanical draftsman to the expedition at a
salary of 315 pounds. He was an Austrian, forty years of age, an
enthusiast in his work, and a man of uncommon industry. He made 1600
botanical drawings which, in Robert Brown's opinion, were "for beauty,
accuracy and completion of detail unequalled in this or in any other
country in Europe." Bauer's Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae,
published in 1814, consisted of plates which were drawn, engraved and
coloured by his own hand. Flinders formed a very high opinion of the
capacity of both Brown and Bauer. "It is fortunate for science," he wrote
to Banks "that two men of such assiduity and abilities have been
selected; their application is beyond what I have been accustomed to
see."
Peter Good, appointed gardener to the expedition at a salary of 105
pounds, was a foreman at the Kew Gardens when he was selected for this
service. Brown found him a valuable assistant, and an indefatigable
worker. He died in Sydney in June, 1803, from dysentery contracted at
Timor. Of John Allen, engaged as a miner at a salary of 105 pounds,
nothing is known.
John Crossley was engaged to sail as astronomer, at a salary of 420
pounds, but he did not accompany the Investigator further than the Cape
of Good Hope, where his health broke down, and he returned to England.
The instruments with which he had been furnished by the Board of
Longitude were, however, left on board, and Flinders undertook to do his
work in cooperation with his brother Samuel, who had been assisting
Crossley, and was able to take charge of the astronomical clocks and
records.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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