What was the name of Bass and Flinders boat?
It’s the the Norfolk K.H. ‘In this tiny boat the large Bass, Flinders and assistant William Martin, charted the coastal inlets and rivers around Port Jackson. This was no Sunday Picnic jaunt and roughs seas, contrary winds and nervous Aborigines were only Part of their difficulties. Later, Governor Hunter provided the two young explorers with a larger vessel, the Norfolk, in which they were then instructed to sail far to the south to investigate the long held suspicion that Van Diemen’s land (Tasmania) was not part of the mainland. A few months later, in 1798, Bass and Flinders returned triumphantly to proclaim Tasmania was indeed an island, separated by a strait which was then named in honour of Bass. This was an important discovery that would cut days off the voyage from England. Bass and Flinders’ reputations as intrepid explorers continued to grow to the point where the Tom Thumb was exhibited as a kind of holy relic, a piece of wood from it even being presented to Baudin later on.
