Produced by Sue AsscherTHE LOGBOOKS OFTHE LADY NELSONWITH THE JOURNAL OF HER FIRST COMMANDERLIEUTENANT JAMES GRANT RNBYIDA LEE FRGSMRS CHARLES BRUCE MARRIOTTAUTHOR OFTHE COMING OF THE BRITISH TO AUSTRALIAandCOMMODORE SIR JOHN HAYES HIS VOYAGE AND LIFEWITH SIXTEEN CHARTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE ORIGINALSIN THE ADMIRALTY LIBRARYGRAFTON  CO69 GREAT RUSSELL STREETLONDON WCFirst Published in 1915TO THE MEMORY OF MY GRANDFATHERWILLIAM LEEONE OF AUSTRALIAS PIONEERSPREFACEThe objects for which the Lady Nelsons voyages were undertaken renderher logbooks of more than ordinary interest She was essentially anAustralian discovery ship and during her successive commissions she wasemployed exclusively in Australian waters The number of voyages that shemade will perhaps never be accurately known but her logbooks inexistence testify to the important missions that she accomplished Themost notable are those which record early discoveries in Victoria theexploration of the Queensland coast the surveys of King Island and theKent Group the visits to New Zealand and the founding of settlements atHobart Port Dalrymple and Melville Island Seldom can the logbooks of asingle ship show such a record Their publication seemed very necessaryfor the handwriting on the pages of some of them is so faded that it isalready difficult to decipher and apparently only the story of Grantsvoyages and the extracts from Murrays log published by Labilliere in theEarly History of Victoria have ever before been published Intranscription I have somewhat modernized the spelling where old orincorrect forms tended to obscure the sense and omitted repetitions asit would have been impossible to include within the limits of one volumethe whole of the contents of the logbooks The story of the Lady Nelsonas told by Grant has in places been paraphrased for he sometimes writesit in diary form under date headings and at others he inserts the date inthe narrative The entries from the logbooks of Murray Curtoys andSymons in the Public Record Office with such omissions as I havespecified are printed verbatimMurrays charts now published are distinctly valuable as in the fourthvolume of the Historical Records of New South Wales where they should befound it is stated that they are unfortunately missingOn my inquiring at the Admiralty Mr Perrin the Librarian to whom mycordial thanks are due made a special search and was fortunate enough todiscover them Thus after a long separation Murrays charts and hisjournal are united again in this volume Perhaps the most importantchart and the one which should appeal especially to the people ofVictoria is that of Port Phillip showing the track of the Lady Nelsonsboat when the brig entered the bay for the first time Murrays logtelling of this discovery ends on March 24th 1802 In writing later tothe Duke of Portland Governor King says The Lady Nelsons return justbefore I closed my letters enabled me to transmit ActingLieutenantMurrays log copies of the discoveries of King Island and Port PhillipThese important discoveries being combined with the chart of formersurveys I hope will convince your Grace that that highly useful vesselthe Lady Nelson has not been idle under my direction The charts weresent home in charge of Lieutenant Mackellar who sailed in the shipCaroline on March 30th 1802 six days after the Lady Nelsons returnDuplicates were forwarded by the Speedy which left Sydney in June but acomparison of those at the Admiralty shows that King added nothingfurther to this second seriesMy thanks are also due to Lieutenant Bell RN whose researches haveenabled me to publish the charts of the Queensland coast These oldcharts cannot fail to interest students of Australian history It ispossible that they do not include all that were sent home at first norare the Lady Nelsons logbooks complete those however of Grant andMurray Curtoys and Symons give us the story of the work carried out bythose energetic seamen They are writings worthy of being more widelyknown for they are records left by men who sailed uncharted seas alongunknown coasts in days which will not come againmen who have helped togive to later generations a spacious continent with a limitless horizonIDA LEECONTENTSCHAPTER 1THE LADY NELSON BUILT WITH CENTREBOARDSHER VOYAGE TO SYDNEY UNDER JAMES GRANTTHE FIRST SHIP TO PASS THROUGH BASS STRAITCHAPTER 2RETURNS TO EXPLORE THE STRAITHER VISITS TO JERVIS BAY AND TO WESTERN PORT IN 1801CHAPTER 3COLONEL PATERSON AND LIEUTENANT GRANT SURVEY HUNTER RIVERCHAPTER 4MURRAY APPOINTED COMMANDER OF THE LADY NELSONHIS VOYAGE TO NORFOLK ISLANDCHAPTER 5MURRAYS EXPLORATION OF BASS STRAITCHAPTER 6DISCOVERY OF PORT PHILLIPCHAPTER 7THE LADY NELSON IN COMPANY WITH HMS INVESTIGATOR EXAMINES THENORTHEASTERN SHORES OF AUSTRALIACHAPTER 8THE FRENCH SHIPS IN BASS STRAITTHE FOUNDING OF HOBARTCHAPTER 9SYMONS SUCCEEDS CURTOYS AS COMMANDER OF THE LADY NELSONHIS VOYAGES TO PORT PHILLIP TASMANIA AND NEW ZEALANDCHAPTER 10THE LADY NELSON IN TASMANIATHE FOUNDING OF PORT DALRYMPLECHAPTER 11THE ESTRAMINA IS BROUGHT TO SYDNEYTHE LADY NELSON VISITS NORFOLK ISLAND AND PORT DALRYMPLECHAPTER 12TIPPAHEE AND HIS FOUR SONS ARE CONVEYED TO NEW ZEALAND IN THE LADYNELSONCHAPTER 13THE LADY NELSON ACCOMPANIES HMS TAMAR TO MELVILLE ISLANDCHAPTER 14THE LOSS OF THE LADY NELSONAPPENDIXINDEXILLUSTRATIONS1 THE LADY NELSON From a painting in the possession of the VictorianGovernment2 LIEUTENANT JAMES GRANTS CHART OF THE AUSTRALIAN COASTJas Grant autograph facsimile3 EYESKETCH OF THE LADY NELSONS TRACK ON HER FIRST VOYAGE THROUGH BASSSTRAIT Drawn by Governor King Writing of this chart he says that thelongitude in which Lieutenant Grant placed Cape Otway was about a degreeand a half in error He also made the land to trend away on the west sideof Cape Otway to a deep bay which he named Portland Bay An examinationof modern maps will show that the name Portland Bay has been retained fora bay to the westward of Grants Portland Bay which is now calledArmstrong BayChart of the track of His Majestys Armoured Surveying Vessel Lady NelsonLieutenant James Grant Commander From Basss Straits between New Hollandand Van Diemens Land on her passage from England to Port Jackson ByOrder of His Grace The Duke of Portland In December 18004 CHART OF WESTERN PORT SURVEYED BY ENSIGN BARRALLIER IN 18015 CHART OF BASS STRAIT SHOWING THE DISCOVERIES MADE BETWEEN SEPTEMBER1800 AND MARCH 1802 Drawn by Ensign Barrallier New South Wales Corpsunder the direction