The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders

The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders by Ernest Scott. Contains the full illustrations of the original. Captain Matthew Flinders (1774–1814) was a distinguished navigator and cartographer, who was the first to circumnavigate Australia and identify it as a continent.

Within his forty years of life, he discovered a very large area of what is now an important region of the earth; he participated in stirring events which are memorable in modern history; he applied a vigorous and original mind to the advancement of knowledge, with useful results; and he was the victim of circumstances which, however stated, were peculiarly unfortunate, and must evoke the sympathy of everyone who takes the trouble to understand them. His career was crowded with adventures: war, perilous voyages, explorations of unknown coasts, encounters with savages, shipwreck and imprisonment are the elements which go to make up his story.