death_date death_place birth_place parents birth_date image article_title name occupation death_cause
21 january 1810 guadeloupe england john shortland 5 september 1769 captain john shortland.jpg john shortland
 '' lt. john shortland '' naval officer battle injuries
john shortland

john shortland -lrb- 1769 -- 1810 -rrb- was a naval officer , the eldest son of john shortland .
shortland joined the royal navy as a midshipman and went to quebec in a transport commanded by his father .
from 1783 to 1787 he served in the west indies .
in 1787 he was master 's mate in the `` sirius '' when the first fleet sailed for australia .
shortland spent nearly five years in australia including time on norfolk island where `` sirius '' was wrecked in 1790 .
in 1792 he returned to england .
on 9 september 1797 , while on his way to port stephens in pursuit of some runaway convicts , shortland entered the estuary of the hunter river on which newcastle , new south wales is situated .
during his brief stay , shortland named the river , though for some years it was often referred to as the coal river , made the first chart of the harbour in the form of an eye-sketch and collected some samples of coal .
in a later letter to his father , shortland predicted that his discovery would prove `` a great acquisition to the settlement '' .
the suburb of shortland is named after him .
in 1800 earl spencer promoted shortland to the rank of master and commander .
then his friend , admiral john schank , a commissioner of the transport board , was able to get shortland appointed to the troopship `` pandour '' as agent of the troops then going to egypt .
while shortland was in egypt , he flew a kite over pompey 's pillar .
this enabled him to get ropes over it , and then a rope ladder .
then on 3 february 1803 he and john white , `` pandour `` s master , climbed it .
when they got to the top they displayed the union jack , drank a toast to king george iii , and gave three cheers .
three days later they climbed the pillar again , erected a staff , fixed a weather vane , ate a beef steak , and again toasted the king .
on shortland 's return from egypt in 1803 , he paid off `` pandour '' .
a few days later he was appointed to , also a troopship .
after serving briefly on her , he transferred to the 18-gun sloop .
on 13 december 1809 he was captain of when it engaged and was overwhelmed by two 48-gun and two 20-gun french ships .
shortland was very seriously wounded and his ship so badly damaged that the enemy was compelled to burn her .
the french took his mangled body to the hospital at guadeloupe where he died on 21 january 1810 , ` firm in his attachment to the protestant faith ' .
he was buried with full military honours at basse-terre .
