Place of Flinders among Australian navigators. Birth. Flemish origins. Pedigree. Connection with the Tennysons. Possible relationship with Bass. Flinders' father. Donington. CHAPTER 2. AT SCHOOL AND AT SEA. Education. Robinson Crusoe. Aspirations for a naval career. His father's wish. John Flinders' advice. Study of navigation. Introduction to Pasley. Lieutenant's servant. Midshipman on the Bellerophon. Bligh and the Bounty mutiny. CHAPTER 3. A VOYAGE UNDER BLIGH. The second breadfruit expedition. Flinders in the Providence. Notes from Santa Cruz. At the Cape. Tahiti. In Torres Strait. Encounter with Papuans. Return to England. CHAPTER 4. THE BATTLE OFF BREST. The naval war with France. The battle of June 1st, 1794. Flinders as gunner. Pasley wounded. Flinders' journal of the engagement. Effect of Pasley's wound on the career of Flinders. CHAPTER 5. AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHY BEFORE FLINDERS. The predecessors of Flinders. How Australia grew on the map. Mediaeval controversies on antipodes. Period of vague speculation. Sixteenth century maps. The Dutch voyagers. The Batavia on the Abrolhos Reef. The Duyfhen in the Gulf. Torres. The three periods of Australian maritime discovery. Geographers and their views of Australia. The theory of the dividing strait. Cook and Furneaux. The untraced southern coast. CHAPTER 6. THE RELIANCE AND THE TOM THUMB. Governor Hunter. Captain Waterhouse. Flinders' passion for exploring new countries. Joins the Reliance. Hunter on the strategic importance of the Cape. Sailing of Reliance and Supply for New South Wales. Flinders' observations. Arrival at Port Jackson. George Bass. The Tom Thumb. Exploration of George's River. A perilous cruise. Meeting with aboriginals. The midshipman as valet. Port Hacking. Patching up the Reliance. Voyage to South Africa. CHAPTER 7. THE DISCOVERY OF BASS STRAIT. Bass in the Blue Mountains. Supposed strait isolating Van Diemen's Land. Bass's whaleboat voyage. Wilson's Promontory. Escaped convicts. Discovery of Westernport. Return to Port Jackson. CHAPTER 8. THE VOYAGE OF THE FRANCIS. The wreck of the Sydney Cove. Discovery of Kent's Islands. Biological notes. Seals. Sooty petrels. The wombat. Point Hicks. CHAPTER 9. CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF TASMANIA. Flinders in command of the Norfolk. Bass's association with him. Twofold Bay. Discovery of Port Dalrymple. Bass Strait demonstrated. Black swans. Albatross Island. Tasmanian aboriginals. CHAPTER 10. THE FATE OF GEORGE BASS. Bass's marriage. Part owner of the Venus. Voyages after pork. A fishing concession. South American enterprise. Unsaleable goods. A "diplomatic-looking certificate." Bass's last voyage. Probable fate in Peru. His missing letters. CHAPTER 11. ON THE QUEENSLAND COAST. Flinders and the Isaac Nicholls case. Exploration on the Queensland coast. Moreton Bay. CHAPTER 12. THE INVESTIGATOR.