Investigators. Anthony Hill. 2023.

John Franklin always wanted to be a sailor. As a volunteer in the Royal Navy at age fourteen, he found himself in the Battle of Copenhagen, but nothing could prepare him for the adventure  of a lifetime, when he set off in 1801 with his cousin Matthew Flinders on HMAS Investigator as it sought to chart the first circumnavigation of Australia.

Taking on responsibility for the chronometers, under the jealous eye of Flinders’ younger brother, the young midshipman found all the action, adventure and excitement he’d hoped for in his new life at sea. It inspired him to become one of the great navigators and explorers of the nineteenth century.

However, he wasn’t quite so prepared for the other challenges that life onboard had in store - the rivalries with fellow shipmates, the shortages of food, and the harsh realities of what they encountered in the colonies. Danger, disease and death seemed to follow in their wake, and even the Investigator herself was at serious risk of destruction, having to flee to Kupang in present-day Indonesia formrepair.