HMS Reliance was a discovery vessel of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

. She became famous as one of the ships with the early explorations of the Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n coast and other the southern Pacific islands.

Commanded by Henry Waterhouse

Henry Waterhouse

Henry Waterhouse was a British officer of the Royal Navy who is strongly associated with the early European settlement of Australia....

, she sailed to New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, arriving in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 on 7 September 1795. Among her crew and passengers were Matthew Flinders

Matthew Flinders

Captain Matthew Flinders RN was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, which had previously been...

 as midshipman

Midshipman

A midshipman is an officer cadet, or a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Kenya...

, George Bass

George Bass

George Bass was a British naval surgeon and explorer of Australia.-Early years:He was born on 30 January 1771 at Aswarby, a hamlet near Sleaford, Lincolnshire, the son of a tenant farmer, George Bass, and a local beauty named Sarah Nee Newman. His father died in 1777 when Bass was 6...

 as the ship's doctor

Ship's doctor

A Ship's doctor or Ship's surgeon is the person responsible for the health of the people aboard a ship whilst at sea. The term "ship's doctor" or "ship's surgeon" appears often in reference to the Age of Sail British Royal Navy's "surgeons." These men, like other physicians, often did not have much...

, the new Governor John Hunter

John Hunter (New South Wales)

Vice-Admiral John Hunter, RN was a British naval officer, explorer, naturalist and colonial administrator who succeeded Arthur Phillip as the second governor of New South Wales, Australia from 1795 to 1800.-Overview:...

, and the Aboriginal Bennelong

Bennelong

Woollarawarre Bennelong was a senior man of the Eora, an Aboriginal people of the Port Jackson area, at the time of the first British settlement in Australia, in 1788...

. She later returned to Sydney, arriving on 26 June 1797 from the Cape of Good Hope

Cape of Good Hope

The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...

, carrying stores ordered by Governor Hunter and merino sheep imported by John Macarthur

John MacArthur

John MacArthur may refer to:* John Macarthur , Australian wool industry pioneer and Rum Rebel* John McArthur, Jr. , American architect* John McArthur , Union general during the American Civil War...

.

Reliance was the first ship to chart the Antipodes Islands

Antipodes Islands

The Antipodes Islands are inhospitable volcanic islands to the south of—and territorially part of—New Zealand...

, in March 1800

1800 in New Zealand

The only recorded ship visit is a 3 day visit to Hauraki to collect timber. It is possible that sealers visit Dusky Sound and that whalers are off the north-east coast but no specific records of any such activity remains.-Regal and vice regal:*Head of State – King George III.*Governor of New South...

. Reliance was relegated to harbour service that year, surviving for another 15 years before being sold on 12 October 1815.