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[Page 3]
to explain, that the gentlemen should be put upon the exact footing of lieutenants, and that the whole division should be according to the usual custom in the East Indies, for as many years as the sum might last out.
By Mr. Ramsays letter I find, that the gardener and miner are not included in the £1200; but they are to receive the extra 40 guineas first ordered, but which is not yet drawn for, as far as I know. To the 40 guineas, I would wish to make such an addition from the £1200 to the gardiner and miner, as to make their portions equal to half that of commissioned officers, if it meets the general approbation; but if the E. I. company or some competent person would take the trouble to regulate the division entirely, it would be very acceptable to me
The present length of this letter requires many apologies, and that it should be concluded immediately, I shall therefore only slightly touch upon two other points; the discipline of the ship, and the cause for not having before mentioned the above various circumstances to Sir Joseph Banks.
On the first subject, it is only a duty to myself to assert, that the discipline and good order on board the Investigator is exceeded in very few ships of her size; and is at least twice what it was under her former commander. I beg to refer to lieut.t Fowler on this subject, who knows the ship intimately, both as the Xenophon and Investigator. On the last subject I excuse myself, from not having thought the occurrences of sufficient consequence to trouble Sir Joseph with; and it was what I least suspected that my character required a defender; for it was in my power to have such suppressed almost the whole of these things for which I am blamed; but I was not ashamed of them, and I had the good of the service sufficiently at heart to make the reports which brought them into light.
That the admiralty have thrown blame upon me, and should have represented to my greatest and best friend, that I had gotten the ship on shore, had let a prisoner escape, and three of my men run away, without adding the attendant circumstances, is most mortifying and grievous to me; but it is impossible to express so gratefully as I feel, the anxious concern with which you took the part of one who has not the least claim to such generosity; but was I to enter upon this subject, I should write to all eternity; I shall, therefore, only say, that with the highest respect, gratitude, and esteem, I am, Sir Joseph
your faithful and obedient servant
Matth.w Flinders