‘I beg you not to forget me’, wrote Baudin to Jussieu, ‘and I am going to do all I can to gather a new collection just as large as that you will receive by the Naturaliste’. Indeed, he had spent the entire sojourn planning and preparing to achieve just this, along with more thorough and accurate charts and more comprehensive observations. John Dunmore notes that these months on shore had allowed Baudin the time and space to evaluate the first part of the voyage, and of course, they did. But his behaviour on the south coast earlier that year shows that he had already been dissatisfied with his work and ready to renew his efforts when he made the decision to visit the British colony. In port, Baudin not only appraised the preceding voyage but constructed a new expedition. In the words of Horner, the commander discarded ‘the superfluous material’ and used all he had learned in Australian waters until that point to build a ‘leaner, more efficient instrument for carrying out his instructions’. Horner gives a neat summary, however, the process of reassessing the objectives of the voyage, the mechanics of disassembling and reconstructing the expedition, indeed, the resolution to begin afresh from Port Jackson at all, were more significant than these comments suggest.

It must be recognized from the outset that a new voyage was not necessary – it was a choice. Although Baudin himself was unsatisfied with the results, the expedition had in fact fulfilled the basic expectations of the government. The only part of the itinerary that had not yet been attempted was Australia's north coast – had he wished, Baudin could have followed his English counterpart, Flinders, and sailed directly there, thus completing his exploration. But he chose otherwise. ‘Upon departing from Port Jackson’, Milius later told the Minister of Marine, ‘the commander was so earnest that he was determined … to sacrifice all the time necessary, etc., even his life, in order to completely fulfil the object of his mission ’.