Command

trade, marry, live in his own dwelling—in fine, he will be once more a credit to society. Now where in England may he do this, I ask?'

'You are still . . . ?'

'Yes, Mr Kydd. I am a convicted prisoner serving out his time—but equally I am assistant surgeon to the Crown on Norfolk Island, of not inconsequential status I may add. And there are more like myself who have taken advantage of this enlightened position and have thus advanced in the social order. You should think also of the free settlers who arrive on these shores with the sole purpose of wresting a living from the soil. Together we are creating nothing less than a new nation.'

He hesitated, then slumped back and considered Kydd with hooded eyes. 'But this is not of any interest to one who will shortly depart for more civilised climes.'

Kydd smiled. Perhaps there was something in what Redfern had said. 'I've stepped ashore in Canada, m' friend. They're making a new nation there an' it's just as hard a country. If'n they can raise a nation by guts an' spirit, then so will you.' He emptied his glass, then added, 'But I'm not t' shortly depart—the Totnes Castle is t' be careened an' repaired afore I'll be on m' way.'

Redfern returned the smile. 'So you'll need lodgings. I'd not recommend the usual seafarers' rests—they're to be found at what we term the Rocks. No, if you wish, you may stay here, if sleeping on my examination couch does not discommode. I have the use of this cottage during my regular visits back from Norfolk Island. Now there's a hard place—peine et dure indeed . . .'

'That's kind in ye, sir. It's been a long voyage,' Kydd said. Redfern would be agreeable company and he had no real wish at present to be among the rowdy jollity and lusty vigour of sailors ashore. 'Tell me,' he asked, 'what are th' two Frenchmen lying across the harbour?' It had been niggling: in a time of peace they had every right to be there but he had not seen any sign of working cargo.

'Why, have you not heard? It caused not a little stir when they came. This is the celebrated French expedition of Commodore Baudin! Given special status as a neutral by the Admiralty in a voyage of survey and exploration in the south of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land.

'Nearly prostrated with scurvy when they arrived, and you would not conceive the commotion when a little later our own Investigator puts in!' He chuckled. 'Commander Flinders, sent by the Admiralty to do a like task. Both believe they are alone in this uncharted realm, making discoveries and naming names, until each meets the other at the same enterprise.'

'Where is Mr Flinders now?'

'You haven't noticed? The rather grubby little North Sea collier the other side of what we call Garden Island. Why don't you pay him a visit? He'd be sure to welcome a man of events.'

Kydd completed his letter, a formal request from a fellow officer to come aboard HMS Investigator if convenient to visit. As he was about to sign his name he hesitated—they were of equal rank—then he dashed off Lieutenant Thomas Kydd at the foot. There was no way as a convict-ship master he wanted it known that he was an ex-commander, Royal Navy.

A courteous reply arrived almost immediately and Kydd lost no time in making his way out to the little ship. Only a hundred feet long and about three hundred tons, Kydd estimated—not much more than dear Teazer, but she was a very different vessel. Stout and roomy with a beam that spoke of a broad bottom and shallow draught, she was a workaday collier disguised as a ship-of-war and undertaking explorations on a scale not seen since Captain Cook.

There was not a scrap of gold leaf or other naval ornamentation but Kydd felt a growing respect, even awe, for this humble ship so newly emerged from the unknown regions.

He was met at the side by her commander. 'My ship is all ahoo, sir—it's my intention to sail just as soon as these scallywag shipwrights can set her to rights.' Flinders was of slight build and about his own age; Kydd was struck by his eyes, soulful against dark hair. 'Shall we take refuge below?'

In Investigator's great cabin, smaller even than Kydd's quarters in Totnes Castle, every conceivable surface was set out with papers and charts. On one, a large black cat with white figuring looked balefully at Kydd, then leaped straight at Flinders, who caught him neatly.

'This is the noble Trim,' Flinders said, as he affectionately stroked the jet-black fur. 'The butler in Tristram Shandy, of course. He's been aboard since the first, and must be accounted the most nearly travelled of all his tribe.'

Flinders found a chair for Kydd and sat at his desk with the cat curling fussily into his lap.

'Sir, y'r fame is assured fr'm what I've been told about y'r exploring,' Kydd began.

Flinders inclined his head civilly. 'Should the Good Lord and the rotten timbers of this ship allow, I shall complete a circumnavigation of this vast land, Mr Kydd.'

Kydd leaned back in admiration. What it must be to swing a bowsprit between two headlands where no man had been before! Was there to be a bay opening beyond, deep and broad, or was this to be a mysterious passage separating two great lands?

He knew that the man before him, within this present voyage, had finally established that New Holland was one immense continent, there was no navigable channel leading from a vast inland sea or any other. Flinders had achieved this and therefore solved the last great geographical question remaining. There was no doubt that his name would be known to history.

'Ah, Mr Flinders, I'm curious—for th' fixing of the longitude, should ye sight something of interest.'

'A hard question! If it be convenient to come to an anchor, then I find the method of eclipses of Jupiter's keepers answers when taken with a worked lunar distance. The chronometers are there to verify. Under way, of course, it is a task for the compass and a carefully measured log-line to fix the position relative to the last known.'

'A compass is a fickle enough thing t' use in strange waters.'

Flinders looked at Kydd sharply. 'Indeed. Yet on this voyage I have observations that may persuade you. I am to communicate these to Sir Joseph Banks but the essence of them is that there is a fixed error attributable not to polar magnetic orientation but magnetism induced in the ship's own upright iron fittings by the earth's vertical magnetic component. A deviation, sir, not a variation.'