This account of it is respectfully dedicated,
by
their Lordships'
most obliged, and
most obedient humble servant,

Matthew Flinders.

London,
20 May 1814.

PREFACE.

The publication in 1814 of a voyage commenced in 1801, and of which all
the essential parts were concluded within three years, requires some
explanation. Shipwreck and a long imprisonment prevented my arrival in
England until the latter end of 1810; much had then been done to forward
the account, and the charts in particular were nearly prepared for the
engraver; but it was desirable that the astronomical observations, upon
which so much depended, should undergo a re-calculation, and the lunar
distances have the advantage of being compared with the observations made
at the same time at Greenwich; and in July 1811, the necessary authority
was obtained from the Board of Longitude. A considerable delay hence
arose, and it was prolonged by the Greenwich observations being found to
differ so much from the calculated places of the sun and moon, given in
the Nautical Almanacks of 1801, 2 and 3, as to make considerable
alterations in the longitudes of places settled during the voyage; and a
reconstruction of all the charts becoming thence indispensable to
accuracy, I wished also to employ in it corrections of another kind,
which before had been adopted only in some particular instances.