They decided to calm things down by trying to amuse the aborigines. Flinders pulled out a pair of scissors and started cutting the aborigines hair, while Bass and a servant boy called Martin made the boat ready. Then Flinders leapt aboard the flimsy boat and the three companions sailed away, leaving the aborigines on the shore.
Flinders had been doing some exploring on his own and believed that he could prove that Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) was an island. Bass and Flinders convinced Governor Hunter that another expedition should be set up with a bigger boat and more men. In 1798, Bass and Flinders sailed the Norfolk through Bass Strait and round Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), proving that it was an island. This was to be their last voyage together as Bass disappeared mysteriously in the Pacific Ocean.
Flinders returned to England in 1800. While he was here, he became married. The British government asked him to make an even bigger voyage - right around Australia. Leaving his wife, Anne, behind in England, he sailed back to Australia in the Investigator. In 1802, Flinders sailed north from Sydney, passing through Torres Strait and across the Gulf of Carpentaria. He went right round Australia, becoming the first man to circumnavigate Australia. He called in at Timor on the way, arriving back in Sydney in June, 1803.
Flinders was captured by the French on the island of Mauritius in 1803 until 1810. They claimed that he was a spy. He was later allowed to return to England. When he reached London, he was 39. but looked much older. His health began to fail and he died young, like Bass. Although very ill, he completed a book on his travels called A Voyage to Terra Australis. He died on the day that his book was published. Flinders proved that Australia was not a series of islands, but one island. His charts were so accurate, that they were used for many years after his death.
Matthew Flinders
Matthew Flinders (1774-1814) was born in Lincolnshire in England. Flinders joined the navy where he trained as a navigator. Flinders wanted to become a sailor and explorer after reading the book Robinson Crusoe. He met George Bass, a ship's doctor, when they were both sailing to Australia on the Reliance. They became very good friends and were to go on many journeys of exploration together. Flinders was to first man to circumnavigate Australia. It was Flinders who suggested the name "Australia" and it was adopted in 1824. Several places have been named after him such as Flinders Island.
In 1796 Bass and Flinders explored the coastline south of Sydney using a tiny open boat about 2.5 metres long. It was called the Tom Thumb. As they were sailing along the southern coast of New South Wales, they were met by a party of fierce-looking aborigines.
In 1797 Bass left Sydney in a whaleboat. He took with him 6 sailors and 6 weeks' supply of food.Before reaching Western Port, he came across a party of 7 escaped convicts and promised to rescue them on his return. He then sailed on to Western Port on the southern coast of Australia. Strong winds forced him to stay here for nearly 2 weeks. Bass suspected that there must be a strait of water separating the mainland from Tasmania (then called Van Diemen's land). He rescued the convicts on his way back and sailed back to Port Jackson, after exploring 300 miles of previously unknown coastline.
In 1798, Bass and Flinders set off in the Norfolk to sail around Van Diemen's Land. The Norfolk was the first boat to be built in the colony and was built by the prisoners on Norfolk Island. Bass and Flinders discovered and explored the Tamar River. They then spent another 3 weeks mapping the north coast of Tasmania before they sailed down the west coast. They sailed down the Derwent River where Hobart now stands and then set sail for Sydney. They had proved that Van Diemen's Land was an island by sailing right round it. Flinders named the strait, Bass Strait, after George Bass. The discovery of this strait meant that ships could save days when sailing to England, by sailing straight along the south coast, rather than right around the bottom of Tasmania. This was their last voyage together. Bass sailed from Sydney in 1803 to travel to South America. He disappeared and was never heard of again.
George Bass
George Bass (1771-1803?) explored the east coast of Australia. Together with Flinders, he sailed more than 18 000 kilometres exploring the coastline of Australia and proved that Tasmania was an island. Bass was born in England and arrived in Sydney in 1795. In 1803, he disappeared after he sailed into the Pacific Ocean with a cargo that he wanted to sell in South America. Some people believe he was captured by the Spanish and forced to work in mines in Peru.
Soon after they arrived in Australia, Bass and Flinders explored the coastline south of Sydney in a tiny boat called the Tom Thumb. Bass who was 24 was a surgeon and Flinders who was only 21 was a sailor. Both were very adventurous. Very few people would have had the courage to sail into the open sea in such a small boat. During this trip they explored the land south of Sydney and found land suitable for settlement.
Bern Cuthbertson
In 1937 at the age of 13 years, Bern joined his father as his crew member on the Weerutta, the last trading ketch built by John Wilson at Cygnet in 1904. This vessel was converted to fishing in 1938, by the Tasmanian Government to trial for the catching of tuna. The tuna was canned by H. Jones and Co.
The Weerutta was commandeered by The Royal Australian Navy in 1942 and was lost in New Guinea in 1944. This started Bern on a fishing career that lasted for sixty years. He retired in 1988.
He owned many vessels, the first being the Flying Scud, Flying Cloud and Flying Spray. By 1961 the vessels Flying Cloud and Flying Spray had been sold and Flying Scud had been leased out and lost at sea. For a short period he came ashore to build the first fish-processing factory at Port Esperance, named Dover Fisheries.
During this time he was instrumental in establishing the TS. Esperance to train naval sea cadets. Bern arranged the charter of the well known racing schooner Astor, for one pound per year, to be used as a sea cadet training vessel. Up to 80 sea cadets received training on Astor for the year. Seven were selected to sail as crew-members in the 1964 Sydney to Hobart yacht race in which the vessel won line honours. There were 18 in the crew including Peter Warner the owner as Skipper, and Bern as Sailing Master.
In 1965 Astor was sold to a wealthy American and Bern accepted the offer of delivery skipper to Los Angeles. Sailing from Hobart in March 1965, Astor was delivered to her new owners in May 1965.
Bern travelled to England where he bought an ex-Fisheries Research and Protection vessel, MFV Kathleen del Mar. With his family and two sea cadets aboard the vessel they sailed for home in September via the Panama Canal arriving in Hobart in May 1966.
After this vessel was sold, Bern converted the 110' ferry Sorrento to an abalone mother ship, returning on one trip of five days with 25 tons. The biggest quantity of abalone ever caught in the world.
Bern was instrumental in having abalone delivered to port alive and in the shell, rather than being shucked at sea in less than ideal conditions. He was the driving force behind the introduction of the limiting of abalone licences to 125 for Tasmania, which still stands.
Next, in 1972, came the building of Australia's first purpose built abalone mother ship, the 160 tons Tasmanian Enterprise which could carry alive, 20 tons. In 1977 Bern and his wife Jan sailed the well known 73' schooner Derwent Hunter back to Tasmania from Cairns, Q. The vessel needed a new bottom and full restoration and this was completed in 1978.
By 1983 Bern had sold out of the fishing industry but in 1984 he bought a 50' prawn trawler to sample prawn fishing in semi tropical waters.
In 1986 he sailed with four crew around Tasmania in a 28' 6" whaleboat, emulating Captain James Kelly's voyage of 1815-16.
In 1987 with a volunteer crew Bern re-enacted the return voyage of George Bass from Westernport to Sydney, in the whaleboat. 1988 with a replacement stainless steel knee, he sold the prawn trawler Episode and retired. In late 1988 Bern gathered together a group of students and seamen to fully rig the brig Lady Nelson. He became her first captain. He received a second replacement stainless steel knee in 1990.
In 1997 Bern and crew re-enacted the whaleboat voyage of George Bass from Sydney to Westernport, exactly 200 years later to the day. They then continued on through the Rip across Port Phillip and up the Yarra River to Melbourne. The first whaleboat to do so.
After taking three years to organise the building of the replica Norfolk, Bern and crew re-enacted the 1798-99 circumnavigation of Tasmania by Bass and Flinders, exactly 200 years later.
In July 1999, again with volunteer crew he re-enacted the voyage of Matthew Flinders from Sydney to Yamba and on to Moreton Bay, Hervey Bay and return to Sydney.
The original Norfolk had been used as a trading vessel on the Hawkesbury River, and this was re-enacted by a journey of 200 miles from Sydney to Windsor and return to Sydney in October, 1999. Bern and Norfolk arrived back in Hobart in early November 99 having sailed over 6500 miles without an engine. In 1999 he received the Australian Senior Achievers Award in Canberra.
Bern was appointed an Officer in the Order of Australia on Australia Day 2000 for services to the community and to the fishing industry, for the training of sea cadets and for services to Australia's maritime history.