land
said to lie in the western entrance to Bass Strait (that is, King
Island), but Baudin said he had not seen it, and seemed to doubt whether
it existed. Baudin observed in his letter that Flinders appeared to be
pleased with this reply, "doubtless in the hope of being able to make the
discovery himself."

Baudin was very critical about an English chart of Bass Strait, published
in 1800. He found fault with the representation of the north side, but
commended the drawing of the south side, and of the neighbouring islands.
Flinders pointed to a note upon the chart, explaining that it was
prepared from material furnished by George Bass, who had merely traversed
the coast in a small open boat, and had had no good means of fixing the
latitude and longitude; but he added that a rectified chart had since
been published, and offered, if Baudin would remain in the neighbourhood
during the night, to visit Le Geographe again in the morning, and bring
with him a copy of this improved drawing, with a memorandum on the
navigation of the strait. He was alluding to his own small quarto book of
Observations, published before he left England, as related in Chapter 12.
Baudin accepted the offer with pleasure, and the two ships lay near
together during the night.

The story of the interviews, as related by the two captains, is not in
agreement on several points, and the differences are not a little
curious. Baudin states that he knew Flinders at the very beginning of the
first interview, on April 8th: "Mr. Flinders, who commanded the ship,
presented himself, and as soon as I learnt his name I had no doubt that
he, like ourselves, was occupied with the exploration of the south coast
of New Holland." But Flinders affirms that Baudin did not learn his name
until the end of the second interview on April 9th: "At parting...on my
asking the name of the captain of Le Naturaliste he bethought himself to
ask mine; and finding it to be the same as the author of the chart which
he had been criticising, expressed not a little surprise, but had the
politeness to congratulate himself on meeting me." There may well have
been some misunderstanding between the two captains, especially as
Flinders did not speak French and Baudin only spoke English "so as to be
understood," which, as experience teaches, usually means so as to be
misunderstood. It is not very likely that Baudin was unaware of the name
of the English captain until the end of the second meet