Note 34 — Chapter XXXVIII · SPALDING AND THE CHURCHES NORTH OF IT

This Matthew Flinders, of Donington, was a notable hydrographer. He was sent as lieutenant in command of an old ship the Xenophon, renamed the Investigator, to explore and chart the coast of S. Australia in 1801-3. And he took with him his young cousin John Franklin who had just returned from the battle of Copenhagen where he distinguished himself as a midshipman on the Polyphemus,—Captain John Lawford. Under Flinders he showed great aptitude for Nautical and Astronomical observations and was made assistant at the Sydney observatory, the Governor, Mr. King, usually addressing him as “Mr. Tycho Brahe.” These two natives of Lincolnshire, Flinders and Franklin, are of course responsible for such names on the Australian Coast as Franklin Isles, Spilsby Island in the Sir Joseph Banks group, Port Lincoln, Boston Island, Cape Donington, Spalding Cove, Grantham Island, Flinders Bay, &c.

The Investigator proving unseaworthy, Flinders, with part of his crew, sailed homewards on the Cumberland; and touching at St. Mauritius was detained by the French Governor because his passport was made out for the Investigator. He was set free after seven tedious years on the island, 1803-1810, and died at Donington 1814.