Sixty years after entering Port Phillip Bay [under Flinders in 1802], INVESTIGATOR returned with cargo for the Victorian Gold Rush. After 77 years of service, she was finally sold in Williamstown. Ironically, the ship that put Australia on the map [literally] finished up a coal hulk in Melbourne. In 1872, her register closed with the comment “broken up.” It was a dreadful end to arguably Australia’s most historically significant ship.

“It was 3am on 25th March when Flinders, Bass and William Martin rowed the over-laden little boat out through the heads of Port Jackson. They audaciously hauled directly offshore to clear the confused seas inshore and to catch a sea breeze.