Note 7 — DISCOVERY, &c
Reading edition
Voyage of Perouse (translation). London, 1799.
Letters buried in a bottle, beneath a tree in Adventure Bay, were found by Captain Bunker, of the Venus, in 1809, to which he was directed by the words, still legible, "dig underneath;" and supposed, from his imperfect knowledge of the language, that they were left by Perouse. In this he was mistaken: they were deposited by D'Entrecasteaux, at his second visit. Bent's Almanack, 1828, adopted Bunker's mistake: it was copied by Mr. Widowson, who adds—"these letters were dated one month after his departure from Port Jackson, and led to the opinion that the expedition must have perished on some reef of Van Diemen's Land. In consequence of this idea, the French government in 1791," &c. The first mistake can be allowed for; but not that a discovery of letters in 1809, prompted an expedition in 1791.