their arrival there that it had been taken possession of a few days previously by the English. They were not allowed by the English authorities to build any fortifications, or land their guns or munitions of war, beyond what were absolutely necessary for personal protection; and were at this time getting on prosperously under the protection of the British flag. The next day Commander Crozier and I returned Captain L'Evêque's visit; and on acquainting him with my intention to visit the Chatham Islands, he very kindly furnished me with a more accurate plan of them than any with which we had been supplied.
We owe this valuable survey to the diligence and research of his predecessor in command of the Héroine, Captain Cécille, whilst employed in the protection of the French ships engaged in the whale fishery. The islands were almost entirely unknown to us, no British man-of-war having been there since their discovery by Lieutenant Broughton, in the Chatham, tender to the Investigator, in November, 1791, after his separation from his commodore, the justly celebrated navigator Vancouver.[1]
Captain Cécille had been induced to visit the islands by hearing from the master of an American whaler, who had recently been there, that a French vessel, the Jean Bart, had been captured and de-
- ↑ For an interesting account of his discovery of the islands and unfortunate affray with the natives at Skirmish Bay, see Vancouver's Voyage, vol. i. p. 84.
