The Logbooks of the Lady Nelson

The Logbooks of the Lady Nelson

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Title: The Logbooks of the Lady Nelson
Author: Ida Lee
Release Date: February, 2005 [EBook #7509] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on May 12,
2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
LOGBOOKS OF THE LADY NELSON ***

Produced by Sue Asscher

THE LOGBOOKS OF THE LADY NELSON
WITH THE JOURNAL OF HER FIRST COMMANDER
LIEUTENANT JAMES GRANT, R.N.
BY
IDA LEE, F.R.G.S. (MRS. CHARLES BRUCE MARRIOTT.)
AUTHOR OF: THE COMING OF THE BRITISH TO AUSTRALIA,
[and] COMMODORE SIR JOHN HAYES, HIS VOYAGE AND LIFE.
WITH SIXTEEN CHARTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE
ORIGINALS IN THE ADMIRALTY LIBRARY.
GRAFTON & CO. 69 GREAT RUSSELL STREET LONDON. W.C.
First Published in 1915.
TO THE MEMORY OF MY GRANDFATHER, WILLIAM LEE,
ONE OF AUSTRALIA'S PIONEERS.

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 ship and during her successive commissions
she was employed exclusively in Australian waters. The number of
voyages that she made will perhaps never be accurately known, but her
logbooks 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 Dalrymple, and
Melville Island. Seldom can the logbooks of a single ship show such a
record. Their publication seemed very necessary, for the handwriting
on the pages 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 from Murray's log published by Labilliere in the Early History
of Victoria have ever before been published. In transcription I have
somewhat modernized the spelling where old or incorrect forms tended
to obscure the sense, and omitted repetitions, as it would have been
impossible to include within the limits of one volume the whole of the
contents of the logbooks. The story of the Lady Nelson as told by Grant
has in places been paraphrased, for he sometimes writes it in diary form
under date headings and at others he inserts the date in the narrative.
The entries from the logbooks 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 "unfortunately missing."
On my inquiring at the Admiralty, Mr. Perrin, the Librarian, to whom
my cordial thanks are due, made a special search and was fortunate
enough to discover them. Thus, after a long 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 time. Murray's
log telling 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 my letters enabled me to transmit
Acting-Lieutenant Murray's log copies of the discoveries of King
Island and Port Phillip. These important discoveries, being combined
with the chart of former surveys, I hope will convince your Grace that
that highly useful vessel the Lady Nelson has not been idle under my
direction." The charts were sent home in charge of Lieutenant
Mackellar, who sailed in the ship Caroline on March 30th, 1802,