The first engraved view of Wreck Reefs which are located in the southern part of the Coral Sea Islands approximately 450 kilometres east-north-east of Gladstone, Queensland, made by William Westall (1781-1850), the artist on board Matthew Flinders important voyage of exploration on H.M.S. Investigator.
After Flinders’ ‘Investigator‘ was condemned as unseaworthy at Sydney in 1803, ending his Australian survey, he embarked with Westall as passengers in HM sloop ‘Porpoise‘ to return to England, in company with the store ship ‘Cato‘ and the Indiaman ‘Bridgewater‘. They sailed on 10 August 1803 but on the 17th both ‘Porpoise‘ and ‘Cato‘ ran aground 800 miles north of Sydney, on a sandbank subsequently known as Wreck Reef (or Reefs), part of the Great Barrier Reef. Both were quickly holed by coral and the larger ‘Cato‘ broke up. Three men were lost but everyone else escaped onto a nearby dry bank, where they camped as shown in the engraving, having salvaged what they could (including many but not all of Westall’s drawings). The grounded and dismasted hull of the ‘Porpoise‘ (a Spanish-built packet schooner captured in 1799) can be seen at far left. The ‘Bridgewater‘ sailed on and later reported both ships lost without survivors. After nearly ten days without sign of help, Flinders then sailed back to Sydney in the ‘Porpoise’s‘ cutter and returned with the 29-ton schooner ‘Cumberland‘, the schooner ‘Frances‘ and the East Indiaman ‘Rolla’, which was bound for Canton, to pick people up. The ‘Frances‘ took a few people back to Sydney: the majority, including Westall, went on to China in ‘Rolla‘ as the next stage homeward. He first did some brief work there and then more during three months at Bombay before reaching England again in 1804. Flinders sailed directly from Wreck Reef for England with a selected volunteer crew in the ‘Cumberland‘, but was detained on Mauritius as a prisoner of war for nearly six years after putting in there for repairs, owing to the schooner’s leaky condition. Although Flinders had a French passport, this had been made out for ‘Investigator‘, not personally for him and his crew in any other ship, and his high-handed approach to General Decaen, the French governor (who decided to treat him as a spy), was not well calculated to gain co-operative and early release. He only reached England again in October 1810.
From, Flinders, M., A Voyage to Terra Australis; Undertaken for the Purpose of Completing the Discovery of That Vast Country, and Prosecuted in the Years 1801, 1802, and 1803, in His Majesty’s Ship the Investigator”.
References:
Ferguson, J. A. Bibliography of Australia Volumes 1-8, Canberra 1976 : 576.
Wantrup, J. Australian Rare Books. Sydney, 1987 : 67a.
Hill, J. The Hill Collection of Pacific Voyages. San Diego 1974 : 614.
Howgego, J. Encyclopedia of Exploration 1800-1850. Sydney 2004 : II, F11.
Sabin, J. A Dictionary of Books Relating to America, from its Discovery to the Present Time. New York. (1936) 1967 : 24758.
Ingleton, G. Charting a Continent. Sydney 1944 : 6487.
Collections:
National Library Australia: Bib ID: 750902
State Library South Australia: 919.4042 F622 d+++
State Library Victoria: RARELTEF 919.4 W 521
