George Bass - Final Voyage

Final Voyage

What became of Bass is unknown. He set sail on his last voyage in the Venus on 5 February 1803 and was not seen again. His plan was to go to Tahiti again, and perhaps on to the Spanish colonies on the coast of Chile to buy provisions and bring them back to Sydney.

It's been suspected Bass may also have planned to engage in contraband trade in Chile. Spain reserved the import of goods into her colonies for Spanish ships and Spanish merchants. But the colonists needed more than they could supply and shortages and heavy taxation caused high prices, encouraging an extensive illegal trade with foreign vessels. Port Jackson was a well-known base for such smuggling (Britain had no great friendship with Spain at that time so British authorities were unconcerned).

Bass still had much of the general cargo he'd brought to Sydney in 1801 and he may well have been tempted to take some to Chile. Two of his last letters have hints at a venture which he could not name. But in any case he set off in 1803, with a diplomatic letter from Governor King attesting his bona-fides and that his sole purpose if he were on the West coast of South America would be in procuring provisions.

As many months passed with no word of his arrival Governor King and Bass's friends in Sydney were forced to accept that he had met some misfortune. In England in January 1806 Bass was listed by the Admiralty as lost at sea and later that year Elizabeth was granted an annuity from the widows' fund, back dated to when Bass's half-pay had ended in June 1803. (Bass had made the usual contributions to the fund from his salary.)