then in Sydney Harbour
and others will show:--

"On the port side out of ninety-eight timbers, eleven were sound,
and sixty-three were uncertain if strained a little; on the
starboard five out of eighty-nine timbers were good, fifty-six
were uncertain, and twenty-eight rotten; the planking about the
bows and amidships was so soft that a stick could be poked through
it."

Considering all these defects it was not worth while to keep her, so she
was converted into a hulk in Sydney Harbour. But later on it was found
that by cutting her down it might be possible to navigate her to England.
This was done, and the old ship sailed from Sydney on May 24th, 1805,
under the command of Captain Kent, who managed with the greatest
difficulty to reach Liverpool on the 14th of October following. In his
despatch announcing her arrival he says:--

"A more deplorable, crazy vessel than the _Investigator_ is,
perhaps, not to be seen. Her maintopmast is reefed a third down;
we have been long without topgallantmasts, being necessitated to
take the topgallant rigging for running gear."

And Governor King, anxious to do Flinders justice, says:--"I hope no
carping cur will cast any reflection on him respecting the _Investigator_
... should it be so it will be an act of great injustice," and then he
alludes to the thoroughly rotten condition of the ship. He was quick, too,
to recognize the immense value of the work accomplished by Flinders, and
made him every offer of help that lay within his power to continue the
survey.

There were not more than half a dozen vessels in the colony, but Flinders
could have any one of them he liked, but they were all too small and unfit
for such a severe service. At last it was decided that he should return
home as a passenger in the _Porpoise_; some of his fellow-workers on the
_Investigator_ accompanied him, others went to the East Indies, and one or
two stayed behind. It was with a feeling of intense satisfaction that
Flinders took possession of his comfortable cabin on the _Porpoise_, for
he was looking forward to an agreeable rest after the hardships he had
undergone. The quarter-deck was taken up by a greenhouse protecting the
plants collected on the _Investigator's_ voyage, and designed for the
King's garden at Kew.

Early in August, accompanied by two returning transports, the _Cato_ and
_Bridgewater_, the _Porpoise_, under Lieutenant Fowler, sailed out of
S