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Dear Sir
Sydney July 1803
As I hope Capt Flinders will deliver this himself he will inform you respecting his voyage, which anyone must lament being so [indecipherable] put a stop to - The state of the Investigator is the worst I have ever witnessed nor could I have any Idea of it before she was opened - that she would have survived a gale without drifting asunder is very doubtful to me as well as every one who sees her -
Capt Flinders will inform you that no substitute could with any degree of propriety & doing justice to the service he is employed on will be hard [?] for him to go on with - When these circumstances are known, I hope it will be considered that every thing has been done for the best -
The Porpoise in which ship Capt Flinders goes, is in too bad a state to give her those repairs she wants, here, under 12 months; & even then, would be very ineligible in most respects for Captain [indecipherable] and as I meant to send her home by a Summer passage round Cape Horn, I think as circumstances have turned out, that the sooner Flinders returns to England the better, it it is intended he should complete the business he has so advantageously begun - I need not say what my Ideas are on the service he has performed, as it will speak for itself - The passage he has ascertained in Torres Straits, appears to me a matter of great universal benefit; and I hope the utility of the others points he has ascertained & accurately explained together with the [indecipherable] of finishing his work as he has begun it; will be so far considered as to induse Government to give him an opportunity of completing the object of his voyage -
You will be informed of the motives that induced Mr.s Brown & Bauer, & the [river?] to remain here, and of Capt Flinders and myself concurring to the propriety of what appeared to so a judicious & credible proof of their attachments & perseverance in
July 14 1809