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Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was an English navigator and cartographer, who was the first to circumnavigate Australia and identify it as a continent. Flinders made three voyages to the southern ocean between 1791 and 1810. In the second voyage, George Bass and Flinders confirmed that Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) was an island. In the third voyage, Flinders circumnavigated the mainland of what was to be called Australia. Heading back to England in 1803, Flinders' vessel needed urgent repairs at Isle de France (Mauritius). Although Britain and France were at war, Flinders thought the scientific nature of his work would ensure safe passage, but a suspicious governor kept him under arrest for more than six years. In captivity, he recorded details of his voyages for future publication, and put forward his rationale for naming the new continent 'Australia', as an umbrella term for New Holland and New South Wales – a suggestion taken up later by Governor Macquarie. Flinders' health had suffered, however, and although he reached home in 1810, he did not live to see the publication of his widely praised book and atlas, ''A Voyage to Terra Australis''. ==Early life== Flinders was born in Donington, Lincolnshire, England, the son of Matthew Flinders, a surgeon, and his wife Susannah, née Ward. In his own words, he was "induced to go to sea against the wishes of my friends from reading ''Robinson Crusoe''",〔Scott, Chapter 2〕 and in 1789, at the age of fifteen, he joined the Royal Navy. Initially serving on HMS ''Alert'', he transferred to HMS ''Scipio'', and in July 1790 was made midshipman on HMS ''Bellerophon'' under Captain Pasley. By Pasley's recommendation, he joined Captain Bligh's expedition on , transporting breadfruit from Tahiti to Jamaica. This was also Bligh's second "Breadfruit Voyage" following on from the ill-fated voyage of the ''Bounty''. Flinders' first voyage to New South Wales, and first trip to Port Jackson, was in 1795 as a midshipman aboard HMS ''Reliance'', carrying the newly appointed governor of New South Wales Captain John Hunter. On this voyage he quickly established himself as a fine navigator and cartographer, and became friends with the ship's surgeon George Bass who was three years his senior and had been born from Donington. Not long after their arrival in Port Jackson, Bass and Flinders made two expeditions in small open boats, both named ''Tom Thumb'': the first to Botany Bay and Georges River, the second, in a larger ''Tom Thumb'',〔''The Journal of Daniel Paine 1794–1797'' page 39〕 south from Port Jackson to Lake Illawarra during which expedition, they had to seek shelter at Wattamolla. In 1798, Matthew Flinders, who was now a lieutenant, was given command of the ''Norfolk'' and orders "to sail beyond Furneaux's Islands, and, should a strait be found, pass through it, and return by the south end of Van Diemen's Land". The passage between the Australian mainland and Tasmania enabled savings of several days on the journey from England, and was named Bass Strait, after his close friend. In honour of this discovery, the largest island in Bass Strait would later be named Flinders Island. The town of Flinders near the mouth of Western Port also commemorates Bass' discovery of that bay and port on 4 January 1798. Flinders never entered Western Port, and only passed Cape Schanck on 3 May 1802.〔(In the wake of Bass and Flinders: 200 years on :the story of the re-enactment voyages 200 years on... | National Library of Australia ). Catalogue.nla.gov.au. Retrieved on 2 August 2013.〕 Flinders once more sailed the ''Norfolk'', this time north on 17 July 1799; he arrived in Moreton Bay between modern day Redcliffe and Brighton. He touched down at Pumicestone Passage, Redcliffe and Coochiemudlo Island and also rowed ashore at Clontarf. During this visit he named Redcliffe after the Red Cliffs. In March 1800, Flinders rejoined the ''Reliance'' and set sail for England. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Matthew Flinders」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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