ain Bligh found him a
clever assistant in the preparation of charts and in making astronomical
observations. Indeed, says an expert writer, although Flinders was as yet
"but a juvenile navigator, the latter branch of scientific service and
the care of the timekeepers were principally entrusted to him."* (* Naval
Chronicle Volume 32 180.) These facts indicate that he was applying
himself seriously to the scientific side of his profession, and that he
had won the confidence of a captain who was certainly no over-indulgent
critic of subordinates.

The Providence and the Assistant returned to England in the latter part
of 1793. Before Flinders once more sighted the Australian coastline he
was to experience the sensations of battle, and to take a small part in
the first of the series of naval engagements connected with the
Revolutionary and Napoleonic era.

CHAPTER 4. THE BATTLE OFF BREST.

When Bligh's expedition returned, Europe was staggering under the shock
of the French Revolution. The head of Louis XVI was severed in January;
the knife of Charlotte Corday was plunged into the heart of Marat in
July; Marie Antoinette, the grey discrowned Queen of thirty-eight,
mounted the scaffold in October. The guillotine was very busy, and France
was frantic amid internal disruption and the menace of a ring of foes.

The English governing classes had been clamouring for war. It seemed to
many political observers that it was positively needful to launch the
country into an international struggle to divert attention from demands
for domestic reform. "Democratic ambition was awakened; the desire of
power, under the name of reform, was rapidly gaining ground among the
middling ranks; the only mode of checking the evil was by engaging in a
foreign contest, by drawing off the ardent spirits into active service
and, in lieu of the modern desire for innovation, rousing the ancient
gallantry of the British people."* (* Alison, History of Europe, 1839 2
128.) French military operations in the Netherlands, running counter to
traditional British policy, were provocative, and the feeling aroused by
the execution of Louis immediately led Pitt's ministry to order the
French Ambassador, Chauvelin, to leave London within eight days. He left
at once. On February 1st, acting on Chauvelin's report of the disposition
and preparations of Great Britain, France formally declared war.

Flinders was with Bligh, peacefully landing breadfruit trees in the