The Logbooks of the Lady Nelson | Page 2

six
days after the Lady Nelson's return. Duplicates were forwarded by the
Speedy, which left Sydney in June, but a comparison of those at the
Admiralty shows that King added nothing further to this second series.
My thanks are also due to Lieutenant Bell, R.N., 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 home at first, nor are the

Lady Nelson's logbooks complete; those however of Grant and Murray,
Curtoys and Symons, give us the story of the work carried out by those
energetic seamen. They are writings worthy of being more widely
known, for they are records left by men who sailed uncharted seas
along unknown coasts in days which will not come again--men who
have helped to give to later generations a spacious continent with a
limitless horizon.
IDA LEE.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER 1.
THE LADY NELSON BUILT WITH CENTREBOARDS. HER
VOYAGE TO SYDNEY UNDER JAMES GRANT. THE FIRST SHIP
TO PASS THROUGH BASS STRAIT.

CHAPTER 2.
RETURNS TO EXPLORE THE STRAIT. HER VISITS TO JERVIS
BAY AND TO WESTERN PORT IN 1801.

CHAPTER 3.
COLONEL PATERSON AND LIEUTENANT GRANT SURVEY
HUNTER RIVER.

CHAPTER 4.
MURRAY APPOINTED COMMANDER OF THE LADY NELSON.
HIS VOYAGE TO NORFOLK ISLAND.

CHAPTER 5.
MURRAY'S EXPLORATION OF BASS STRAIT.

CHAPTER 6.
DISCOVERY OF PORT PHILLIP.

CHAPTER 7.
THE LADY NELSON IN COMPANY WITH H.M.S.
INVESTIGATOR EXAMINES THE NORTH-EASTERN SHORES
OF AUSTRALIA.

CHAPTER 8.
THE FRENCH SHIPS IN BASS STRAIT. THE FOUNDING OF
HOBART.

CHAPTER 9.
SYMONS SUCCEEDS CURTOYS AS COMMANDER OF THE
LADY NELSON. HIS VOYAGES TO PORT PHILLIP, TASMANIA
AND NEW ZEALAND.

CHAPTER 10.

THE LADY NELSON IN TASMANIA. THE FOUNDING OF PORT
DALRYMPLE.

CHAPTER 11.
THE ESTRAMINA IS BROUGHT TO SYDNEY. THE LADY
NELSON VISITS NORFOLK ISLAND AND PORT DALRYMPLE.

CHAPTER 12.
TIPPAHEE AND HIS FOUR SONS ARE CONVEYED TO NEW
ZEALAND IN THE LADY NELSON.

CHAPTER 13.
THE LADY NELSON ACCOMPANIES H.M.S. TAMAR TO
MELVILLE ISLAND.

CHAPTER 14.
THE LOSS OF THE LADY NELSON.
APPENDIX.
INDEX.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
1. THE LADY NELSON. From a painting in the possession of the
Victorian Government.

2. LIEUTENANT JAMES GRANT'S CHART OF THE
AUSTRALIAN COAST.
[Jas Grant autograph facsimile.]
3. EYE-SKETCH OF THE LADY NELSON'S TRACK ON HER
FIRST VOYAGE THROUGH BASS STRAIT. Drawn by Governor
King. Writing of this chart, he says that the longitude in which
Lieutenant Grant placed Cape Otway was about a degree and a half in
error. He also made the land to trend away on the west side of Cape
Otway to a deep bay, which he named Portland Bay. An examination of
modern maps will show that the name Portland Bay has been retained
for a bay to the westward of Grant's Portland Bay, which is now called
Armstrong Bay.
Chart of the track of His Majesty's Armoured Surveying Vessel Lady
Nelson Lieutenant James Grant Commander. From Bass's Straits
between New Holland and Van Diemen's Land on her passage from
England to Port Jackson. By Order of His Grace The Duke of Portland.
In December 1800.
4. CHART OF WESTERN PORT SURVEYED BY ENSIGN
BARRALLIER IN 1801.
5. CHART OF BASS STRAIT SHOWING THE DISCOVERIES
MADE BETWEEN SEPTEMBER 1800 AND MARCH 1802. Drawn
by Ensign Barrallier, New South Wales Corps, under the direction of
Captain P.G. King, Governor of New South Wales." This chart is
generally referred to as "Barrallier's Combined Chart." King doubtless
alludes to it when writing to the Duke of Portland in May 1802. See
Historical Records of New South Wales volume 4 page 761.)
(CHART OF KING'S ISLAND IN BASS'S STRAIT. This earliest
chart of King Island was drawn by Alexander Dalrymple from a sketch
made by Flinders of Murray's original chart. Flinders added to it the
west coast unseen by Murray, though it had been sighted by both Black
and Buyers. The details given by Flinders were supplied by William
Campbell, master of the Harrington, who, in March 1802, found a

quantity of wreckage there. Nothing remained to show the name of the
lost vessel, nor was any clue subsequently discovered by which she
could be identified. The Harrington lay at anchor at New Year's Isles
for over two months, but could not trace the nationality of the vessel or
her crew except in the language of the Harrington's captain, "one dead
English cat." See Historical Records of New South Wales volume 4
page 780.)
6. THE LADY NELSON AND THE FRANCIS SCHOONER
ENTERING HUNTER RIVER.
7. COAL HARBOUR (NEWCASTLE, NEW SOUTH WALES),
SURVEYED BY ENSIGN BARRALLIER IN 1801.
Coal Harbour and Rivers on the Coast of New South Wales. Surveyed
by Ensign Barrallier, in His Majesty's