Matthew Flinders Rescue Mission

Matthew Flinders is one of the most celebrated explorers of Australia. He has so many things named after him plus plenty of statues in his honour dotted across the country. There are even a couple of statues of his faithful cat Trim.

Matthew Flinders

Most Australian students study his voyages with George Bass. These included his circumnavigation of Tasmania, proving it was an island and his successful mission in HMS Investigator to chart the coastline of Australia.

Less well known is a remarkable unplanned trip he made that would be much more celebrated if he hadn’t done so many other amazing things.

In 1803 Flinders was returning to England aboard HMS Porpoise with his charts and other important documents from his recent voyage. He was actually a passenger on the ship and Lieutenant John Fowler was Captain. They were accompanied by two other vessels, the Bridgewater and the Cato.

Unfortunately the three vessels were caught by a sandbank on what is today the northern end of Fraser Island and the Porpoise and the Cato were shipwrecked. Fortunately all but three people aboard were able to make it to a sandbank as the vessels broke apart. The Bridgewater managed to get through but strangely sailed on, even though they knew the other ships had foundered. They never attempted a rescue and later reported that all hands on the Porpoise and Cato were lost.

The party of 94 from the two vessels sat stranded on the sandbank for about nine days as they slowly realised they were not going to be rescued.  They had salvaged a couple of small ships cutters and began contemplating sending a group to raise the alarm. Brisbane is located about 400 kilometres from the shipwreck site, a difficult but possible journey in a small boat. The only problem was that in 1803 Brisbane didn't exist and wouldn’t for another thirty or so years.

The closest outpost of the Empire was their departure point of Sydney. This lay over 1,000 km to the south. Undaunted, Flinders and Fowler took the largest of ship's cutters, which they optimistically christened Hope, with twelve of the crew plus the intrepid Trim and set off to obtain a rescue party.

This would be some trip today but to undertake it successfully in 1803 was remarkable. It certainly helped to have one of the world’s greatest navigators aboard because this was a feat of considerable navigation as well as seamanship.

The journey to Sydney took them almost two weeks. We can only wonder what conditions aboard were like as they arrived in port but these were hardy people. Three ships were dispatched on the rescue mission which was a complete success with all those on the sandbank found safe and sound. You can imagine their faces when they finally saw the sails of the rescue vessels appear.

While the other two rescue ships returned to Sydney, Flinders took command of the Cumberland to complete his return to England but he probably shouldn’t have. Perhaps following the idea that no good deed goes unpunished, Flinders trip home would take him six and a half years. By the time he returned he was a broken man and he had also lost the wonderful Trim. But that is another story. Still his remarkable rescue mission in the cutter Hope deserves to be celebrated for the achievement it was.