Lady Nelson
Encyclopedia
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...
purchased Lady Nelson in 1799. She spent her career exploring the coast 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...
in the early years of the 19th century. She was the first known vessel to sail eastward 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:...
, the first to sail along the South coast of Victoria, as well as the first to enter Port Phillip
Port Phillip
Port Phillip Port Phillip Port Phillip (also commonly referred to as Port Phillip Bay or (locally) just The Bay, is a large bay in southern Victoria, Australia; it is the location of Melbourne. Geographically, the bay covers and the shore stretches roughly . Although it is extremely shallow for...
. The Lady Nelson was also involved in the founding of Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
, Launceston
Launceston, Tasmania
Launceston is a city in the north of the state of Tasmania, Australia at the junction of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River. Launceston is the second largest city in Tasmania after the state capital Hobart...
, Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
and Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
. She and all her crew were lost to Malay pirates in 1825.
Description
Lady Nelson was built in 1798 as a cutter for mercantile service, and to the design of the cutter . Like Trial, she was fitted with three Shank sliding or drop keels (actually removable centreboards). (The Shank keels were the invention of naval architect Captain John SchankJohn Schank
Admiral John Schank was an officer of the British Royal Navy known for his skill in ship construction and mechanical design.-Biography:...
.) The fore and aft centreboards were 3 feet long, and the centre one was 6 feet long. With them up the vessel drew only 6-7 feet instead of the 13 feet that would be more usual for vessels her size. The crew could drop the centreboards 7 feet through a relatively flat hull for stability in deeper waters.
The Lady Nelson was launched on Tuesday 13 November 1798 at Deadman's Dock Deptford
Deptford
Deptford is a district of south London, England, located on the south bank of the River Thames. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne, and from the mid 16th century to the late 19th was home to Deptford Dockyard, the first of the Royal Navy Dockyards.Deptford and the docks are...
. She was named in honour of the wife of Horatio Nelson, England's naval hero. On 21 December 1799, on hire to 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 was captured by French privateers off Cabritta Point in the Bay of Gibraltar, but recaptured by a party led by Lieutenant William Bainbridge of and escorted back to England. The Royal Navy purchased her and in 1800 converted her to brig rig and established her as a gun-brig. After the conversion, she left Deptford Dockyard on 13 January 1800, bound for Australian waters under the command of Lieutenant James Grant
James Grant (navigator)
James Grant was a British Royal Navy officer and navigator in the early nineteenth century. He made several voyages to Australia and Tasmania, and was the first to map parts of the south coast of Australia.-Early life:...
.
She was armed originally with two brass carriage guns and was given a a further four guns and a crew of fifteen men: the commander, two mates and twelve seamen.
New South Wales
After she had arrived in New South WalesNew 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...
, the Lady Nelson was for the next twenty five years one of the most important vessels in the colony. She sailed regularly between 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...
, Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. The island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia, but it enjoys a large degree of self-governance...
, Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
, Port Dalrymple and Port Macquarie
Port Macquarie, New South Wales
Port Macquarie is a city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, located about north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. The city is located on the coast, at the mouth of the Hastings River, and has an estimated population of 44,313....
.
In 1807 she was one of the four ships commissioned to bring the first evacuees from Norfolk Island to Hobart Town. She sailed again in 1808 for Hobart Town with more evacuees. Most of the these people were convicts from the First
First Fleet
The First Fleet is the name given to the eleven ships which sailed from Great Britain on 13 May 1787 with about 1,487 people, including 778 convicts , to establish the first European colony in Australia, in the region which Captain Cook had named New South Wales. The fleet was led by Captain ...
, Second
Second Fleet (Australia)
The Second Fleet is the name of the second fleet of ships sent with settlers, convicts and supplies to colony at Sydney Cove in Port Jackson, Australia. The fleet comprised six ships: one Royal Navy escort, four convict ships, and a supply ship....
and Third Fleet
Third Fleet (Australia)
The Third Fleet consisted of 11 ships which set sail from United Kingdom in February, March and April 1791 bound for the Sydney penal settlement, with over 2000 convicts. The passengers consisted of convicts, military personnel and notable people sent to fill high positions in the colony...
, along with a few military men, who had been living on Norfolk Island for the previous twenty years.
Exploration of the Victorian coast
James Grant was the first known European to pass through Bass Strait from west to east, on his way to Port Jackson, in the Lady Nelson. He was also the first to see and chart the south coast of Victoria from Cape Nelson to Western Port. Grant also discovered Port Phillip and named it Governor King’s Bay on 8 December 1800.Grant named Cape Schank, Mount Gambier
Mount Gambier (volcano)
Mount Gambier is a maar complex in South Australia associated with the Newer Volcanics Province. It contains four lake-filled maars called Blue Lake, Valley Lake, Leg of Mutton Lake, and Brownes Lake...
, Cape Northumberland, Cape Banks, Cape Bridgewater, Mount Schank
Mount Schank
Mount Schank is an inactive maar volcano in the south-east of South Australia, near Mount Gambier. It was named by James Grant in 1800 after Admiral John Schank, designer of Grant's ship, the HMS Lady Nelson....
, Lady Julia Percy Island, Portland Bay
Portland Bay
Portland Bay is a small Bay off the coast of Victoria, Australia. It is about 360 km west of Melbourne. The main town on the bay is also named Portland....
, Point Danger and Cape Otway
Cape Otway
Cape Otway is a cape in south Victoria, Australia on the Great Ocean Road; much of the area is enclosed in the Otway National Park.-History:...
along the southern coast. After arriving in Sydney on 16 December 1800, Grant was ordered by Governor King to take a cartographer to chart the southern coastline to protect it against claims by the French. Grant sailed on 8 March 1801, with John Murray aboard as first mate, and en route explored Jervis Bay
Jervis Bay
Jervis Bay is a large bay bounded by the state of New South Wales, the Jervis Bay Territory, and a detached enclave of the Australian Capital Territory. HMAS Creswell is located between Jervis Bay Village and Greenpatch in the Jervis Bay Territory.-History:...
, where he was able to befriend some aborigines. But when he discovered that they practised cannibalism, he set sail again. Grant surveyed as far as Westernport. However, her most famous southern voyage was in early 1802 when John Murray, having been given command of the Lady Nelson, discovered the entrance to Port Phillip
Port Phillip
Port Phillip Port Phillip Port Phillip (also commonly referred to as Port Phillip Bay or (locally) just The Bay, is a large bay in southern Victoria, Australia; it is the location of Melbourne. Geographically, the bay covers and the shore stretches roughly . Although it is extremely shallow for...
. On the same voyage he also surveyed King Island (which he later named after the Governor of New South Wales). He did not name the Kent Group
Kent Group
The Kent Group of Islands lies in Bass Strait, Australia, north-west of the Furneaux Group. They form the Kent Group National Park.The islands were named Kent's Group by Matthew Flinders, "in honour of my friend captain William Kent, then commander of the Supply" when Flinders passed them on...
; Matthew Flinders named them in 1800..
In 1801 she came under the command of Jonathan Murray. Later she was under George Courtoys and then John Symons.
The coastal Hunter River area
Lady Nelsons next assignment was to make an extensive survey of the Hunter River area. The ship sailed with Colonel William PatersonWilliam Paterson (explorer)
Colonel William Paterson, FRS was a Scottish soldier, explorer, Lieutenant governor and botanist best known for leading early settlement in Tasmania. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation Paterson when citing a botanical name.-Early years:A native of Montrose, Scotland, Paterson was...
in charge. So much coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
was found - 75 tonnes, mined in what is now the centre of Newcastle - that King sent the brig back in company with a schooner. King traded the coal with the captain of the Earl Cornwallis for iron of the same value, possibly Australia's first mineral transaction.
Association with Matthew Flinders
The Lady Nelson is also associated with Matthew FlindersMatthew 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...
. In 1802 Lady Nelson intended to accompany Flinders' other survey ship, the , in surveying the coast north of Port Jackson, into what is now Queensland. However, she accompanied the Investigator only as far as the Cumberland Islands when Flinders decided she was too slow and unseaworthy and sent her back.
Tasmania
In June 1803, the Lady Nelson took the first settlers, ten convicts and three soldiers, to Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania), landing on 7 September 1803 at Risdon. Colonel David CollinsDavid Collins
-People:* David Collins , 18th-century cricketer associated with Hampshire* David Collins , played for Wellington and Cambridge University...
soon found the site unsatisfactory and moved the settlement to the present site of Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
. In October 1804, the ship was again dispatched to Van Diemen's Land, this time with troops and settlers for Port Dalrymple (now Launceston).
After much storm damage and a complete refit in Sydney, she was sent again to Jervis Bay to investigate a report that a Spanish armed schooner was anchored there. The vessel, the Estramina, was crewed by Americans who had taken her as a prize in the American war against Spain. She tried to escape, but surrendered after Lady Nelson fired a shot across her bows; Lady Nelson then escorted her back to Sydney.
In May 1807 Lady Nelson came under the command of Lieutenant William G.C. Kent. She was then paid off in 1808.,
In 1813 Lady Nelson, with the Minstrel, brought the last of the evacuees (except the clean-up party), this time to Port Dalrymple in Van Diemen's Land
Van Diemen's Land
Van Diemen's Land was the original name used by most Europeans for the island of Tasmania, now part of Australia. The Dutch explorer Abel Tasman was the first European to land on the shores of Tasmania...
. With this voyage, Lady Nelson had brought a total of 568 men, women and children from Norfolk Island to begin a new life in Van Diemen's Land. These people became an important part of the new settlement and many descendants still live in what is now known as Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
.
Near loss
On 2 May 1815 on departing Port Macquarie the Lady Nelson ran aground on the south side of the harbour. The crew abandoned ship as the brig's rudder and sternpost were swept away and the bottom planks started to leak. Shortly afterwards the tide completely filled the ship. The Lady Nelson was considered lost by the commandant of the settlement but eventually the ship was refloated and repaired.
The loss of the Lady Nelson to pirates
Her final voyage started in February 1825, when she was sent under the command of Master John to Koepang to bring back buffaloes for food. Several months passed before it was learned that Malay pirates had captured her off Babar Island, north-east of Timor. The pirates massacred the entire crew; the vessel herself was wrecked on the island.On September 22 1825, the Sydney Gazette reported:
Modern replica
A modern replica of the Lady Nelson was built in about 1987 and took part in the Tall Ships Festival at Pyrmont Bay in Sydney. She took part in the Tall Ships race from Sydney to Hobart. She is based in HobartHobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
, Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
and operates as a sail training vessel crewed entirely by volunteers.
External sites
- First lady: the story of HMS Lady Nelson / Lorraine Paul (1982, ISBN 0-909131-91-0)
- H.M. Survey vessel Lady Nelson and the discovery of Port Phillip / John Murray, edited and introduced by John Currey (2002, ISBN 0-949586-11-0)
- Rebirth of a Lady: The Lady Nelson project, from conception to rebirth, book 1, 1980 to launch, reflections and recollections / John R. Sargent (1998, ISBN 0-9585284-3-8)
- Papers of Geoffrey Chapman Ingleton - maritime historian and marine artist, includes Lady Nelson material
- Chart of the N and W. parts of Bass's Straits discovered and sailed through in a passage from England to Port Jackson in December 1800 in H.M. armed surveying vessel Lady Nelson commanded by Jas. Grant ...
- Chart of King's Island, in Bass's strait [sign denoting anchorage in Elephant Bay Lat. 39p0s51'17"S. Long. 143p0s57'45"E / by acting Lieut. John Murray, in the Lady Nelson 1802. Plan of Port Phillip in Bass's Strait / discovered & partly surveyed by Acting Lieut. John Murray, in the Lady Nelson January 1801]
- Chart of the sound and coves between the East and West Islands of Kent's Group in Bass's Strait: discovered and sailed thro by Lieut: Flinders in 1798 ; examined in the Lady Nelson by Acting Lieut. John Murray, 1801
- Chart of Western Port and coast to Wilson's Promontory forming part of the North side of Bass's Strait / surveyed by order of Governor King by Ensign Barrallier in HM armed surveying vessel Lady Nelson ; Lieut. James Grant, Commander, in March, April and May, 1801
- Pluck be a Lady, Telegraph, c. 22 January 1998