Letter received by Banks from Philip Gidley King, 5 June 1802 (Series 39.068) - No. 0001

[Page 1]

June 5 1802

Dear Sir    --  By Capt McKellar you will have learned that I retained the Lady Nelson till November when finding the Investigator did not arrive, I was unwilling to lose so much of the summer &  sent her to the Straits, expecting  she might fall in there with the tribes.- The young man who commands her did very well he remained out from 9th Nov till 20 March & as I had cleared my dispatches I could say but little about what he had done at that time, however I now have the pleasure of saying that in this trip he ascertained every thing on the East, North & Sth sides of Kings' Island which he made a very good sketch of as well as the passage through & [indecipherable] the Kents Group - he also discovered a spacious harbor about six leagues to the westward of western port, which I named Port Phillip after my worthy and dear friend the Admiral who until now has not had his name bestowed on either Stick or Stone in the Colony: I have sent Mr. Murrays journal to the Admiralty with a chart containing his discoveries together with his tracks & those of other vessells that have passed through the Straits : I have also sent a letter respecting the Naturaliste [Baudin's Expedition] which arrived here April 24th & [indecipherable] 9th May:  Under the persuasion that you will see that letter either at the Admiralty or Whitehall I shall say nothing more about it the Whaler this goes by is in a great hurry to get home before winter that you may not be left in darkness  -  The Investigator is refitting & will sail I hope in a month accompanied by the Lady Nelson, which is & has been a most valuable vessell to this Colony, & the service she is going on - and as the young man who commands her [Flinders] has [indecipherable] & has hitherto acquitted him
[in margin] [indecipherable] 25 April