I communicated it to
Mons'r Baudin, who informed me that he knew of no idea that the
French had of settling on any part or side of this continent. They
had not been gone more than a few hours when a general report was
circulated that it had been the conversation of the French
officers that Mons'r Baudin had orders to fix on a place for a
settlement at Van Diemen's Land, and that the French, on receiving
his accounts, were to make an establishment at 'Baie du Nord,'
which, you will observe, in D'Entrecasteaux's charts is what we
call 'Storm Bay Passage,' and the French 'Canal D'Entrecasteaux.'
It seemed one of the French officers had given Colonel Paterson a
chart, and described the intended spot."
So King sent for the colonel, and then,
"without losing an instant, a colonial vessel was immediately
equipped and provided with as many scientific people as I could
put into her, and despatched after Mons'r Baudin. The instruction
I gave the midshipman who commanded her was to examine Storm Bay
Passage and leave His Majesty's colours flying there with a guard,
and that it was my intention to send an establishment there by the
_Porpoise_. This order, you will observe, was a blind, and as such
was to be communicated to Mons'r Baudin, as my only object was to
make him acquainted with the reports I had heard, and to assure
him and his masters that the King's claim would not be so easily
given up.
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