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In 1800 the armed ship Xenophon was chosen by the Admiralty to be
Matthew Flinders' ship on his voyage to chart the coast of Australia.
She had been built as a collier and was described as being in good
condition. At 100 feet long, 28 feet wide and with a draught of 14 feet
she was slightly smaller than Captain Cook's Endeavour. Before she
sailed, her name was changed to Investigator as being more fitting
for a voyage of exploration and discovery.

Her crew of 78 was made up of 18 officers, 45 seamen and 15
marines. In addition there was a scientific staff of six accompanied
by their four servants.

After circumnavigating Australia from 1801 to 1803, the Investigator
was condemned as rotten and unseaworthy and left at Sydney as a
hulk. She had been under Flinders' command for just two and a half
years. However in 1804 Governor King decided that she could be
repaired after all. Her upper works were cut down and she emerged
from a complete refit as a brig. In 1805, under the command of
Captain William Kent, the Investigator sailed for England where, in
in 1810 the Navy Board sold the Investigator into private service, where,
in her old age she wandered from Petersburg to the Mediterranean.
She was once again the Xenophon, the wanderer.

On August 1st 1853, she arrived in Geelong, Victoria from Liverpool and
spent her final years in the service of a company which later became the
Melbourne Steamship Company.