FLINDERS, MATTHEW. - SURVEYING THE COAST OF NEW HOLLAND.

Concerning the Differences in the Magnetic Needle, on Board the Investigator, arising from an Alteration in the Direction of the Ship's Head. Read March 28, 1805.

London, W. Bulmer and Co., 1805. 4to. No wrappers as extracted from "Philosophical Transactions" 1805. With titlepage to Phil. Transactions Part I. Pp. 186-197. Having also the titlepage to the volume (Part II, 1805). A few scattered brownspots and very faint browning to outer margins, otherwise fine and wide-margined. A small stamp to verso of titlepage.

First printing of, probably the first work, to discover, and correct for the errors of the compass caused by the iron in ships, by the first circumnavigator of Australia.

"Captain Matthew Flinders RN (16 March 1774 - 19 July 1814) was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, which had previously been known as New Holland. He survived shipwreck and disaster only to be imprisoned for violating the terms of his scientific passport by changing ships and carrying prohibited papers. He identified and corrected the effect upon compass readings of iron components and equipment on board wooden ships and he wrote what may be the first work on early Australian exploration A Voyage to Terra Australis."(Wikepedia)

Order-nr.: 45129