Immediately on his arrival he consulted with Governor King as to the future explorations of the Investigator. They came to the conclusion that it would be injurious both for the ship and for her crew to attempt another survey of the South Coast at that season of the year, and decided that the Investigator, in company with the Lady Nelson, should proceed to the northward along the Australian coast and then to the westward, if it were possible, to examine the Gulf of Carpentaria before the November following when the north-west monsoon might be expected.
There was at this time a very great need of a proper survey of these shores, particularly of the portion which now forms the Queensland coast and of the reefs that skirt it. Since the days when Cook in the Endeavour had discovered these reefs, except when Flinders sailed to Hervey Bay in 1799, little had been done to make this part of Australia better known, although in the vicinity of the Great Barrier Reef both land and sea were alike dangerous to seamen and disasters were of frequent occurrence. Cook himself had met with a mishap in these waters, and Flinders afterwards was totally wrecked on the inner edge of the Great Barrier Reef. Consequently, in agreeing to Flinders' proposal, King was conferring a real benefit upon the whole of the shipping community. It was also decided that in the event of Flinders' progress being retarded, or if he were unable to examine the Gulf of Carpentaria, he should either explore Torres Strait or return and survey Fiji. Eventually, however, it was found possible for him to carry out the exploration of the Gulf.
TRACK OF THE LADY NELSON IN COMPANY WITH H.M.S. INVESTIGATOR ON A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY along the coast of New South Wales. By John Murray. This chart also bears Murray's signature, as well as the outward and return track of his ship
In this chart by Murray, sent to the Admiralty from Sydney by Governor King in 1802, few names appear, although Murray named Point Palmer, Point Paterson, and Point Nepean, and the fact that it bears the date January 1802 seems further evidence that it is the first chart of Port Philip drawn by its discoverer. It is one of those referred to as "unfortunately missing" in the Historical Records of New South Wales volume 4 page 764.
Mr. Westall, landscape painter, with Mr. Robert Brown, botanist, and other scientists, sailed in the Investigator. Bungaree, the Rose Bay native who had accompanied Flinders on his voyage in the Norfolk to Hervey Bay also went with him as well as a Sydney black fellow named Nanbury. Murray was given a code of signals for the Lady Nelson and was directed by Flinders, in case of the ships being separated, to repair to Hervey Bay, which he was to enter by a passage between Sandy Cape and Breaksea Spit said to have been found by South Sea whalers.
The two ships left Sydney together on July 22nd, 1802, but the Lady Nelson was soon in difficulties, and was left astern at Port Stephens. Shortly afterwards the Investigator lay to, to await her coming. On Saturday 24th—writes Flinders, "our little consort being out of sight we stood an hour to the southward, and not seeing her in that direction bore away along the coast." Meanwhile on the afternoon of July 26th, Moreton Island at the entrance of Moreton Bay was passed, and on Wednesday the 28th, Flinders reached Sandy Cape where he immediately began to seek for a passage into Hervey Bay. One was found but proved too shallow for the Investigator to pass through, so the ship was brought to two miles from the Spit.
On the 30th the Lady Nelson came up with the Investigator anchoring near her at sunset. After leaving Sandy Cape, Captain Flinders found that the trend of the land differed noticeably from that laid down by Cook in his chart. On August 7th Port Curtis was discovered and on the 21st Port Bowen, but by October 17th, when off the Cumberland Isles (a group off the east coast of Queensland in 20 degrees south), the Lady Nelson had become so unfit for service that she had to be sent back to Sydney.
The vessels at the time were within the Great Barrier Reef, and Flinders states that he kept the brig with him until a passage out to sea clear of the reefs could be found. "It is a matter of much concern to me," he writes to Banks,* (* See letters of Flinders to Banks. Add. manuscripts, British Museum.) "that this navigation could not be surmounted without such a loss of anchors to both vessels and of damage...to the Lady Nelson in the loss of her main keel and the damage done to the trunk." It was also found that her capacity of beating to windward, never great, was much reduced. And again in his journal he says, "the Lady Nelson sailed so ill and had become so leewardly since the loss of the main and part of the after keel that she not only caused us delay but ran great risk of being lost." Therefore, much as he desired the aid of the small vessel, Flinders decided to proceed on his voyage alone.