Kaart van Basses Straat, Tusschen Nieuw Zuid Wales en Van Diemens-Land. opgemaakt door den Heer Flinders. Luitenant van’s Konings Schip Reliance, op Last van den Heer Hunter Gouverneur van Botanie Baai. 1798-1799

One of the earliest obtainable charts of Bass Strait that shows the discoveries made by Bass and Flinders on the Norfolk in October 1798 which proved the existence of a strait between the mainland and Van Diemen’s Land.

Aaron Arrowsmith the great British cartographer was the first to issue this chart on June 16th 1800, that map is primarily identified by the incorrect spelling of the title; Basses. Arrowsmith then reissued the chart with the correct spelling of the strait after Flinders return to England. This Dutch edition has used the Arrowsmith’s first edition version of the title, Basses. This chart is curiously included in a fourteen volume Dutch work on Cook’s voyages, Reizen Rondom de Waereld door James Cook by Jan David Pasteur (1753-1804).

Arrowsmith’s chart was the first chart solely devoted to the discoveries made by George Bass on the Tom Thumb, along the Victorian coast to Western Port in 1797-1798 and Matthew Flinders’s and George Bass’s circumnavigation of Tasmania in the Norfolk in 1798-1799, that proved its insularity and the existence of Bass Strait. Extensive inscriptions refer to the methods of fixing positions and to the sources used for sections of the coast not surveyed in the Norfolk. At Port Jackson, Bass had sought permission to make a third journey further south in December 1797 and was provided a whale-boat and a crew of six by Governor Hunter. On this three-month voyage Bass explored 600 miles of coastline, discovering the Shoalhaven River, Twofold Bay, the Victorian coast between Cape Everard and Western Port. At the same time Flinders had been sent on the schooner Francis to the Furneaux Islands (north of Van Diemen’s Land), to pick up the cargo and remaining crew from the wreck of the Sydney Cove. Bass had been given specific instructions to explore the area we now know as Bass Strait and while on his return trip, he noticed the strong south-west swell, which gave him reason to believe that Van Diemen’s Land might be separated from New Holland by a strait.

Hunter subsequently instructed Flinders to attempt a circumnavigation of Van Diemen’s Land in the Norfolk in September 1798. Flinders and Bass made their historic circumnavigation between 7 October 1798 and 12 January 1799. The resulting chart was engraved by Arrowsmith from a draft sent to England by Governor Hunter, which provided the first news of the proven existence of Bass Strait and the insularity of Van Diemen’s Land. The discovery shortened the passage from England to Sydney, making Bass Strait the principal waterway for shipping to and from New South Wales, Tasmanian and later Victoria. Arrowsmith had published the chart in June 1800 while Flinders was still in Australia. On his return to England, Arrowsmith also published Flinders’s thirty six page pamphlet Observations on the coasts of Van Diemen’s Land, on Bass’s Strait and its Islands, which contained the important sailing directions from his recent explorations. In his Observations, Flinders refers to three charts, all published by Arrowsmith, A Chart of Bass Strait, Chart of part of the coast of New South Wales and Port Dalrymple, on the North Coast of Van Diemen’s Land. These three charts referred to in the Observations, were all published after Flinders return, when he had the opportunity to inspect and make changes prior to publication, unlike A Chart of Basses Strait, which had been published first and prior to his return. The later three charts were not issued as part of the pamphlet, although the obvious intent was that they were integral to its practical use.