'A correct map of the African islands of Bourbon, and Mauritius or the Isle of France'.

Z M2 585/1781/1

series

1781, London : Political Mag. Sept. 1781 Jn. Lodge Sculp.

Textual Records, Drawings

413436

Drawings - printed, 1 map - 26.3 x 36.8 cm.

On 21 September 1803 Matthew Flinders sailed from Sydney in the schooner 'Cumberland' for England. The vessel leaked so badly that after passing through Torres Strait he decided to seek assiatance at the French island of Mauritius (Ile de France). Unknown to him war had broken out between Britain and France and he was imprisoned as a suspected spy. He languished on the island for six and a half years until he was finally released in June 1810.

Map of Reunion (Bourbon) and Mauritius from the Political Magazine and Parliamentary, Naval, Military and Literary Journal, 1781, vol. 2, p. 545. Annotated in pencil by Phillip Parker King: 'This is the original map by which Capt. Flinders steered around Mauritius; the bearings have been laid down and done by him. This was taken from his Log Book that was forwarded by the French Government to the Admiralty in 1824. P.P.K.'
Mauritius is almost entirely encircled by reefs which are not engraved on this simple map. Flinders charted the reefs along the 'Cumberland's' passage from 'Seche Point' (Four Cocos Point) at '5.30 AM' to South Entrance at '8.30 AM' ending at 'Baye de St. Martin' (Cape Bay) on 17 December 1803. He also corrected the map's engraved latitude by one and a half degrees (165 km.), ignoring a similar error in longitude.

Scale: [ca. 1:887 040]