ABSTRACT
The phase of commerce and exploration that yielded so little by way of knowledge of the Northwest Passage strengthened science and opened more of the seas and oceans. It coincided with a decade of relative peace. This lasted from the Treaty of Versailles to the declaration of war on England by revolutionary France. With war voyages of discovery into the Pacific virtually ceased, and they resumed again only at the turn of the century. This chapter describes the investigator mission, and with it some of the political and scientific priorities that determined the course of exploration. Alongside the ordeals Matthew Flinders endured the circumnavigation of Australia must be ranked as one of the great historic feats of the mission he led, and he has also been credited with naming the continent of Australia. A famous mission was assisted by Sir Joseph Banks, that of HMS Investigator, the Napoleonic Wars interrupting similar missions until after 1815.
