Encounter Bay

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Encounter Bay
9.4.1802. Flinders. Named for the accidental meeting here between Flinders and French expedition leader, Nicolas Baudin. Baudin made no reference to the encounter with Fliners, choosing instead to call it 'Baie des Invalides' (Invalids Bay). On Freycinet's charts it was named Baie Mollien. that name honours Comte Nicolas-Francois Mollien (1758-1850), French statesman and one of Napoleon's chief financial advisers. Mollien was administrator of the sinking fund which financed Baudin's expedition and was from time to time minister of the public treasury until 1815. Cape Jervis was apparently still in sight during the 'encounter'. It is interesting to note that Freycinet used the name Mollien for Encounter Bay and also used that name for a location that Baudin wanted to name Encounter Cape. When Baudin used the name Cap de La Rencontre (Encounter Cape) for a nearby location, Freycinet called it Cap Mollienounter Bay to the south of Australia.