[AT MAURITIUS. PORT LOUIS.]
SATURDAY 17 DECEMBER 1803
At four in the afternoon of Dec. 17, we got to an anchor at the entrance of Port Louis, near the ship which I had hoped might be Le Géographe; but captain Melius had sailed for France on the preceding day, and this proved to be L'Atalante frigate.
The peculiarity of my situation, arising from the renewal of war and neglect in the passport to provide for any accident happening to the Investigator, rendered great precaution necessary in my proceedings; and to remove as much possible, any doubts or misconceptions, I determined to go immediately with my passport and commission to the French governor, and request his leave to get the necessary reparations made to the schooner; but learning from the pilot that it was a regulation of the port for no person to land before the vessel had been visited by the officer of health, it was complied with. At five the boat came along-side; and having answered some general questions proposed in good English, I went into the boat in my frock uniform, and was conducted to the government house by an officer of the port and an interpreter. These gentlemen, after speaking with an aide-de-camp, told me that the captain-general was at dinner, and we must return in an hour or two; and they took me to a shady place which seemed to be the common lounge for the officers connected with the port. There were some who spoke English, and by way of passing the time, they asked if I had really come from Botany Bay in that little vessel; whether a corvette, sent out the night before to observe my motions, had been seen; and if I had not sent a boat on shore in the night? Others asked questions of monsieur Baudin's conduct at Port Jackson, and of the English colony there; and also concerning the voyage of monsieur Flinedare, of which, to their surprise, I knew nothing, but afterwards found it to be my own name which they so pronounced.
In two hours we again went to the government house, and the officers entered to render their account, leaving me at the door for half an hour longer. At length the interpreter desired me to follow him, and I was shown into a room where two officers were standing at a table; the one a shortish thick man in a laced round jacket, the other a genteel-looking man whose blood seemed to circulate more tranquilly. The first, which was the captain-general De Caen, fixed his eyes sternly upon me, and without salutation or preface demanded my passport, my commission! Having glanced over them, he asked in an impetuous manner, the reason for coming to the Isle of France in a small-schooner with a passport for the Investigator? I answered in a few words, that the Investigator having become rotten, the governor of New South Wales had given me the schooner to return to England; and that I had stopped at the island to repair my vessel and procure water and refreshments. He then demanded the order for embarking in the schooner and coming to the Isle of France; to which my answer was, that for coming to the island I had no order, necessity had obliged me to stop in passing--my order for embarking in the Cumberland was on board. At this answer, the general lost the small share of patience of which he seemed to be possessed, and said with much gesture and an elevated voice--"You are imposing on me, sir! (Vous m'en imposez, monsieur!) It is not probable that the governor of New South Wales should send away the commander of an expedition on discovery in so small a vessel!--" He then gave back my passport and commission, and I made a motion to follow the interpreter out, but was desired to stop a little. In a few minutes the interpreter returned with a military officer, to whom some orders not explained to me were given, and I was desired to follow them; when going out the captain-general said in a softer tone something about my being well treated, which I could not comprehend.
In the way to the wharf, I inquired of the interpreter where they were taking me? He said, on board the schooner, and that they had orders to bring my books and papers on shore; in effect, they took all the charts, papers, and journals relating to my voyage, as also the Port-Jackson letters and packets, both public and private; and having put them into a trunk which was sealed by me at their desire, they made out a report (procès verbal) of their proceedings, and requested me to sign it with them. The preamble of this report set forth something upon the suspicions excited by my appearance at the Isle of France, with the captain-general's opinion thereon; I therefore refused to sign it, but certified at the bottom, that all the charts, journals, and papers of the voyage, together with all the letters on board the schooner had been taken.
The conduct of these gentlemen being polite, I expressed to them my sentiments of general De Caen's manner of receiving me, and the injustice of taking away the papers of a voyage protected by a passport from the French government; and added, that the captain-general's conduct must alter very much before I should pay him a second visit, or even set my foot on shore again. The interpreter hoped I would go on shore with them, for the general had ordered a lodging to be provided for me; and that, in fact, they had orders to take me there. I looked at him and at the officer, who was one of the aides-de-camp--What! I exclaimed in the first transports of surprise and indignation--I am then a prisoner! They acknowledged it to be true; but said they hoped it would last only a few days, until my papers were examined; and that in the mean time, directions had been given that I should want for nothing.
Mr. Aken was also to go on shore; and whilst we put a few clothes together in a trunk, several black men, under the direction of another pilot, were warping the schooner up into the port. At one in the morning [SUNDAY 18 DECEMBER 1803] the officers took us into their boat, leaving the Cumberland, with Mr. Charrington and the crew, under a guard of soldiers.
We were conducted to a large house in the middle of the town, and through a long dark entry, up a dirty stair case, into the room destined for us; the aide-de-camp and interpreter then wished us a good night, and we afterwards heard nothing save the measured steps of a sentinel, walking in the gallery before our door. The chamber contained two truckle beds, a small table and two rush-bottomed chairs; and from the dirty appearance of the room I judged the lodging provided for us by the general to be one of the better apartments of a common prison; there were, however, no iron bars behind the lattice windows, and the frame of a looking-glass in the room had formerly been gilt. It seemed to me a wiser plan to leave the circumstances to develop themselves, rather than to fatigue ourselves with uncertain conjectures; therefore, telling Mr. Aken we should probably know the truth soon enough, I stripped and got into bed; but between the musketoes above and bugs below, and the novelty of our situation, it was near daybreak before either of us dropped asleep.
At six o'clock, I was awakened by two armed grenadiers entering the room. The one said some words to the other, pointing to us at the same time, and then went out; and he that remained began walking backward and forward between our beds, as a sentinel on his post, without seeming to pay great attention to us. Had there been curtains, I should have tried to regain my slumber; but not being able to sleep in such company, I rose and awoke my companion, who seeing the grenadier and not at first recollecting our situation, answered in a manner that would have diverted me at any other time. The sentinel did not prevent us speaking together; and on looking out at the window, we found that it was in reality a tavern where they had placed us, though a very dirty one; it bore the name of Café Marengo. A breakfast was brought at eight, and dinner at twelve, and we eat heartily; good bread, fresh meat, fruit, and vegetables being great rarities.