Wednesday Lunchtime Lecture: Matthew Flinders & His Imprisonment on Mauritius (1803-1810)

Presented by Marc Serge Rivière, Professor Emeritus, University of Limerick

Over 221 years ago, on 15 December 1803, having no proper charts of Mauritius and only information gleaned from the Encyclopaedia Britannica, lent to him by Sir Joseph Banks, Captain Matthew Flinders made his way to England, after swapping his trusted Investigator for a leaking schooner, the Cumberland. It needed urgent repairs and Flinders put in at Baie du Cap, Mauritius, unaware that war had broken out between France and England. Arguably, the greatest cartographer of his generation was to be detained subsequently for nearly seven years. His extensive correspondence with Mauritian friends and his wife Ann betrays his waning hopes, growing despair and fast-changing personality. The circumstances of the unfortunate chain of events will be explained briefly in this seminar, whilst the catastrophic impact on the explorer’s health and naval career will be discussed.

My book recently published in Mauritius and Australia, True Friendship knows no bounds: Extensive Correspondence of Matthew Flinders and Thomi Pitot, 1804-1814 (2023) – available at this talk – is both the result of sustained research in Archives and Libraries over 20 years, and also a “devoir de mémoire” (a gesture of “reconciliation” from a Mauritian to Flinders), to make up for his ill-deserved incarceration and the injustice he suffered. His stay in Isle de France marked, in effect, the end of a brilliant career as an explorer and scientist. Whilst the achievements of Flinders are well-known in Australia, scholars may be less informed about his activities in Mauritius.