Part 1 (1/2)
The Logbooks of the Lady Nelson
by Ida Lee
PREFACE
The objects for which the Lady Nelson's voyages were undertaken render her logbooks of more than ordinary interest She was essentially an Australian discovery shi+p and during her successive commissions she was ees that she books in existence testify to the important missions that she accomplished The most notable are those which record early discoveries in Victoria: the exploration of the Queensland coast: the surveys of King Island and the Kent Group: the visits to New Zealand and the founding of settlements at Hobart, Port Dalryle shi+p show such a record Their publication seees of some of them is so faded that it is already difficult to decipher, and apparently only the story of Grant's voyages and the extracts fro published by Labilliere in the Early History of Victoria have ever before been published In transcription I have so where old or incorrect forms tended to obscure the sense, and omitted repetitions, as it would have been impossible to include within the libooks The story of the Lady Nelson as told by Grant has in places been paraphrased, for he sos and at others he inserts the date in the narrative The entries frobooks of Murray, Curtoys and Symons, in the Public Record Office, with such omissions as I have specified, are printed verbatim
Murray's charts now published are distinctly valuable, as in the fourth volume of the Historical Records of New South Wales, where they should be found, it is stated that they are ”unfortunatelyat the Admiralty, Mr Perrin, the Librarian, to whom my cordial thanks are due, h to discover the separation, Murray's charts and his journal are united again in this volume Perhaps the most important chart, and the one which should appeal especially to the people of Victoria, is that of Port Phillip showing the track of the Lady Nelson's boat when the brig entered the bay for the first ti of this discovery ends on March 24th, 1802 In writing later to the Duke of Portland, Governor King says: ”The Lady Nelson's return just before I closed -Lieutenant Murray's log copies of the discoveries of King Island and Port Phillip
These i combined with the chart of forhly useful vessel the Lady Nelson has not been idle under e of Lieutenant Mackellar, who sailed in the shi+p Caroline on March 30th, 1802, six days after the Lady Nelson's return
Duplicates were forwarded by the Speedy, which left Sydney in June, but a co added nothing further to this second series
My thanks are also due to Lieutenant Bell, RN, whose researches have enabled me to publish the charts of the Queensland coast These old charts cannot fail to interest students of Australian history It is possible that they do not include all that were sent hobooks complete; those however of Grant and Murray, Curtoys and Syetic sea more widely known, for they are records left byunknown coasts in days which will not coenerations a spacious continent with a limitless horizon
IDA LEE
THE LOGBOOKS OF THE LADY NELSON
CHAPTER 1
THE FIRST VOYAGE OF THE LADY NELSON
The logbooks of the Lady Nelson bear witness to the leading part played by one sreat continent They sho closely, fro to Sydney in 1800 until her capture by pirates off the island of Baba in 1825, this little brig was identified with the colonisation and develop upon her eventful colonial career, ”the Lady Nelson did that which alone ought to immortalize her name--she was the first shi+p that ever sailed parallel to the entire southern coast line of Australia” (
Early History of Victoria by FP Labilliere) She was also the first vessel to sail through Bass Strait But discovery cannot claim her solely for itself While she was stationed at Sydney there was scarcely a dependency of the mother colony that was notit a British possession, or for bringing it settlers and food, or for providing it with ainst the attacks of natives
In the early history of Victoria the Lady Nelson occupies a niche somewhat similar to that which the Endeavour fills in the annals of New South Wales, but while Cook and the Endeavour discovered the east coast and then left it, the Lady Nelson, after charting the bare coast-line of Victoria, returned again and again to explore its inlets and to penetrate its rivers, her boats discovering the spacious harbour at the head of which Melbourne now stands
The Lady Nelson also went northward as well as southward, and though , some survive, and one describes how, in coator under Captain Flinders, she examined the Queensland shore as far as the cumberland Islands Later she acco, to Port Macquarie when he followed Flinders' track through Torres Strait, and during her long period of service she visited different parts of the coast, including Moreton Bay, Port Essington, and Melville Island Precisely how es she made as a pioneer will probably never be known The shi+p, at least, playeddespatches frorown at the Hawkesbury, or coals fro population at Sydney; and at another ti troops and settlers to the far distant north She es; for example, when she conveyed bricks burnt in Sydney brick kilns to Tasmania and to New Zealand, in order to build homes for the first white settlers in those lands She helped also to establish Lieutenant Bowen's colony at Risdon On that occasion we read that the little shi+p lent the colony a bell and half a barrel of gunpowder The logbooks do not record to what use the bell was put, but whether it served as a timekeeper or to call the people to worshi+p, it was doubtless highly valued by the early Tas to Australia the Lady Nelson was a new shi+p of 60 tons She was built at Deptford in 1799, and differed fro a centre-board keel This was the invention of Captain John Schanck, RN, who believed that shi+ps so constructed ”would sail faster, steer easier, tack and wear quicker and in less roon to the Adht of that two similar boats had been built for the Navy, one with a centre-board and one without, in order that a trial ht be made
The result was so successful that, besides the Cynthia sloop and Trial revenue cutter, other vessels were constructed on the new plan, a them the Lady Nelson She was chosen for exploration because her three sliding centre-boards enabled her draught to be lessened in shalloaters, for when her sliding keels were up she drew no more than six feet
In 1799 the news reached London that the French were fitting out an expedition to survey unknown portions of Australia; the Admiralty were quickly stirred to renewed activity, and decided to send the Lady Nelson to Sydney At first it was believed that Captain Flinders would be placed in charge of her, but he was eventually given a more important command, and Lieutenant James Grant was appointed to the Lady Nelson She was hauled out of Deadman's Dock into the river on January 13th, 1800, with her full complement of men and stores on board She carried provisions for 15 h water for three uns
On January 16th she sailed to Gravesend So small did she look as she made her way down the Thames that the sailors on board the shi+ps in the river ridiculed her appearance and ironically christened her ”His Majesty's Tinderbox” Grant says that many expressed a doubt that she would everwhen she reached the Downs, but froood sea-boat, and it was found that lowering the keels greatly steadied her Grant now had a good opportunity for testing her capabilities A large convoy ready to sail for the West Indies lay at anchor here, and on the evening of the 23rd, as the fury of the wind increased,
Finding the Lady Nelson drag very o another anchor, with the result that she rode out through the gale with ease, although nextsix vessels were ashore dismasted, while two others had lost both their ate, where he remained until the 7th, when he sailed to Spithead and thence to Portsuns were placed on board and so to lie deeper in the water, so that Grant writes ”there were then only 2 feet 9 inches clear abreast the gangway” He believed, however, that the consu her to a proper degree of buoyancy
During her stay at Portsh illness, the other by desertion On March 15th, when she was quite ready for sea, Captain Schanck and Mr Bayley ( W Bayley, formerly astronomer on board the Adventure) paid her a visit Orders had been given for her to leave port in company with HMS Anson, Captain Durham, who (as the Poere at as to convoy a fleet of East India, and as HMS Porpoise, bound to New South Wales The wind being fair, on the night of March 16th, 1800, the signal for sailing was given by the Co up the kedge, the carpenter made his escape in the darkness Anxious to avoid further delay, and soht that the vessel was new and that he had already tested and found out her good qualities, Lieutenant Grant decided to put up with the loss of the man's services