Narrative of the Wreck of HMS Porpoise – Robert Purdie [A Flinders Item]

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Octavo, xiv, 134 pages, published by Hordern House in 2014. A very good copy.

Robert Purdie was a young surgeon who was wrecked on HMS Porpoise on a reef off the Queensland coast (to become known as “Wreck Reef’’). This was the vessel originally taking Matthew Flinders back the England having completed his coastal survey of Australia, confirming the entirety of the land mass. Purdie’s account had been published anonymously in The Naval Chronicle in 1807/07. He had been a junior officer on the Investigator and was among those that stayed on the reef whilst Flinders and other rowed back to Sydney to successfully mount a rescue.

The narrative is lively, informative and readable … here well presented with an excellent introduction and notes by Matthew Fishburn

Flinders and Wreck Reef by Surgeon’s Mate Purdie.

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Narrative of the Wreck of HMS Porpoise – Robert Purdie [A Flinders Item]

Short Description