Terre Napoleón; a History of French Explorations and Projects in Australia

by Sir Ernest Scott

The governor took prompt action. He at once fitted out the armed schooner Cumberland--the vessel in which Flinders afterwards sailed to Mauritius--and placed her under the command of Acting-Lieutenant Robbins. She carried a company of seventeen persons in all, including the Surveyor-General, Charles Grimes; for Robbins was also instructed to take the schooner on to Port Phillip after finding the French, and to have a complete survey made.

Robbins was directed to ascertain where the French ships were; to hand to Baudin a letter, and to lay formal claim to the whole of Van Diemen's Land for the British Crown; to erect the British flag wherever he landed; and to sow seeds in anticipation of the needs of settlers, whom it was intended to send in the Porpoise at a later date. It was a bold move, for had Baudin's intentions been such as he was now suspected of entertaining, the one hundred and seventy men under his command would surely have had little difficulty in disposing of the handful whom young Robbins led.

But no assertion of force was necessary at all, and one can hardly read the letters and despatches bearing upon the incident without feeling that the proceedings fairly lent themselves to the ridicule which the nimble-witted French officers applied to them. Baudin and his people had not gone to Frederick Henry Bay; they had not planted the tricolour anywhere in Tasmania; they had not even called at any port in that island. Instead, they were discovered quietly charting, catching insects, and collecting plants at Sea Elephants Bay, on the east of King Island, which, it will be remembered, they had missed on the former part of their voyage.

But Acting-Lieutenant Robbins was young, and was surcharged with a sense of the great responsibility cast upon him. A more experienced officer, having delivered his message, might have waited quietly alongside the French until they finished their work, and then seen them politely "off the premises," so to speak; in which event Governor King's purpose would have been fully served and no offence would have been given. But instead of that, after lying at anchor beside Le Geographe for six days, on friendly and even convivial terms with the French, Robbins landed with his army of seventeen stalwarts, fastened the British flag to a tree over the tents of the naturalists, had a volley fired by three marines--he was doing the thing in style--and, calling for three cheers, which were lustily given, formally asserted possession of King Island. There was no need to do anything of the kind, for the island had been discovered four years before, and was at this very time occupied by British people, who used it as the headquarters of the Bass Strait sealing industry.

Robbins' action, though strictly in accordance with the instructions given to him on the supposition that the French would be found in occupation of territory in Tasmania, was, in the circumstances, tactless to the point of rudeness, though it caused less indignation than amusement among them. It is to be noticed that the flag of the Republic had not been erected over the tents of the visitors, nor anywhere on the island. Otherwise, we may suppose, Acting-Lieutenant Robbins would have gone a step further and pulled it down; and what would have happened then we can but surmise.

CAPTAIN NICHOLAS BAUDIN
From an engraving

Baudin was on his ship, which was anchored a little way off the shore, when the "hurrahs" of the assertive seventeen directed his attention to Robbins' solemn proceedings. In a private letter to King he described what had happened as a "childish ceremony," which had been made more ridiculous "from the manner in which the flag was placed, the head being downwards, and the attitude not very majestic. Having occasion to go on shore that day, I saw for myself what I am telling you. I thought at first it might have been a flag which had been used to strain water and then hung out to dry; but seeing an armed man walking about, I was informed of the ceremony which had taken place that morning."* (* Baudin to King, Historical Records 5 829.) He asserted that Petit, one of his artists, had made an amusing caricature of the ceremony, but that he, Baudin, had torn it up, and directed that it was not to be repeated.

The tone of Baudin's letters betrayed more annoyance than his language actually expressed; but assuming that his professions were true, it must be admitted that he had reason to feel offended. He had left Sydney on excellent terms with the governor, who had not only wished well to his undertaking, but had assisted in its prosecution by enabling the Casuarina to be purchased. He now found himself pursued by a youthful and exuberant officer, presented with a letter which suggested intentions that he had explicitly disavowed, and the British flag was virtually flapped in his face in a somewhat unmannerly fashion. King's letter to him explained the rumour which had led to the despatch of the Cumberland, and contained the following passage: "You will easily imagine that if any information of that kind had reached me before your departure, I should have requested an explanation; but as I knew nothing of it, and at present totally disbelieving anything of the kind ever being thought of, I consider it but proper to give you this information."