Phillip Parker King's first exploring and surveying expedition departed 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 22 December 1817 on board the cutter HMS Mermaid. On board were King, his two master's mate

Master's mate

Master's mate is an obsolete rating which was used by the Royal Navy, United States Navy and merchant services in both countries for a senior petty officer who assisted the master...

s Frederick Bedwell

Frederick Bedwell

Lieutenant Commander Frederick Bedwell was a sailor in the Royal Navy. He participated in the Peninsular War, the American War of 1812, and was a member of the guard that took Napoleon I of France to banishment on Saint Helena. He was a Master's mate on the HMS Mermaid under Phillip Parker King...

 and John Septimus Roe

John Septimus Roe

John Septimus Roe was the first Surveyor-General of Western Australia. He was a renowned explorer, and a Member of Western Australia's Legislative and Executive Councils for nearly 40 years.-Early life:...

, the botanist

Botany

Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...

 Allan Cunningham

Allan Cunningham (botanist)

Allan Cunningham was an English botanist and explorer, primarily known for his travels in New South Wales to collect plants.- Early life :...

, 12 seamen, 2 boys and the native Boongaree. The purpose of the voyage was to explore and make a rough survey of the northern and north-west coasts of 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...

.

From Port Jackson

Port Jackson

Port Jackson, containing Sydney Harbour, is the natural harbour of Sydney, Australia. It is known for its beauty, and in particular, as the location of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge...

, Mermaid sailed south down the east coast, then west through Bass Strait

Bass Strait

Bass Strait is a sea strait separating Tasmania from the south of the Australian mainland, specifically the state of Victoria.-Extent:The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Bass Strait as follows:...

 and along the south coast. On 20 January 1818, King anchored in King George Sound

King George Sound

King George Sound is the name of a sound on the south coast of Western Australia. Located at , it is the site of the city of Albany.The sound covers an area of and varies in depth from to ....

, which had previously been visited by only two other British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 explorers, George Vancouver

George Vancouver

Captain George Vancouver RN was an English officer of the British Royal Navy, best known for his 1791-95 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of contemporary Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon...

 and 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...

. He then took Mermaid into Oyster Harbour, remaining there for nearly two weeks.

On 1 February, Mermaid left King George Sound, continuing west to Cape Leeuwin

Cape Leeuwin

Cape Leeuwin is the most south-westerly mainland point of the Australian Continent, in the state of Western Australia.A few small islands and rocks, the St Alouarn Islands, extend further to the south. The nearest settlement, north of the cape, is Augusta. South-east of Cape Leeuwin, the coast...

, then north up the west coast of Australia. Sickness amongst the crew left the boat badly undermanned, preventing King from examining much of the west coast. At North West Cape

North West Cape

North West Cape is a large peninsula of land in the north west coast of Western Australia. Cape Range runs down the spine of the peninsula and Ningaloo Reef runs along the western edge...

, they discovered and surveyed a gulf, named Exmouth Gulf

Exmouth Gulf

Exmouth Gulf is a gulf in the north west of Western Australia. It lies between North West Cape and the main coastline of Western Australia. It is considered to be part of the region of the North West Shelf and in the Canning Basin area.-Environment:...

 after Lord Exmouth

Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth

Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, GCB was a British naval officer. He fought during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary, and the Napoleonic Wars...

. They lost two of their three anchors while surveying the gulf, and this would greatly hamper their surveying from then on.

Continuing north-east along the coast, the Mermaid eventually passed the northernmost tip of Arnhem Land

Arnhem Land

The Arnhem Land Region is one of the five regions of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around 500 km from the territory capital Darwin. The region has an area of 97,000 km² which also covers the area of Kakadu National...

, reaching a point on Cobourg Peninsula

Cobourg Peninsula

The Cobourg Peninsula is located 350 kilometres east of Darwin in the Northern Territory, Australia. It is deeply indented with coves and bays, covers a land area of about 2,100 km², and is virtually uninhabited with a population ranging from about 20 to 30 in five family outstations, but...

 that King named Port Essington

Port Essington

Port Essington is an inlet and historic site located on the Cobourg Peninsula in the Garig Gunak Barlu National Park in Australia's Northern Territory...

. They then crossed to Timor

Timor

Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, north of the Timor Sea. It is divided between the independent state of East Timor, and West Timor, belonging to the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. The island's surface is 30,777 square kilometres...

 for reprovisioning. After a stay of two weeks at Coepang

Kupang

Not to be confused with Tanjung Kupang in JohoreKupang is the provincial capital of East Nusa Tenggara province in southeast Indonesia....

, they returned to Sydney down the west coast and east along the south coast. King and a number of the crew became dangerously ill shortly after leaving Timor, this being attributed to the food they had eaten there. During the southern leg of the journey the boat encountered extremely rough weather, and on 24 July a crew member died from his illness. The Mermaid arrived back in Sydney on 29 July, having been absent for over 30 weeks.

On reviewing the voyage, King stated that he was largely satisfied with the results. The loss of two anchors had not been as crippling as anticipated, as a long period of fine weather had enabled them to continue their work with one remaining anchor.