Lady Nelson

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shipstamps
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Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 8:12 pm

Lady Nelson

Post by shipstamps » Thu Sep 11, 2008 7:23 am


Built as a mercantile cutter in 1799 on the River Thames at Deptford. Whilst on the stocks she was bought by the British Admiralty.
She had a Length 52.6ft with a Beam17.11ft. 60 ton. Fitted out as a brig mounting six 3 pdrs. Her crew numbered 17. Her design being based on the cutter HMS TRIAL, she was fitted with three centerboard Schank sliding keels
Launched as the LADY NELSON on 3rd November 1799 and named after the wife of Admiral Horatio Nelson.
She was commissioned under command of Lieutenant James Grant in 1800. Specially built for inshore exploration work, with her sliding keels hoisted. she could sail in 1.8 metres of water.
On 18th March 1800, she sailed from Portsmouth in a convoy, the larger vessels she was in convoy with were faster during rough weather, and she lost contact with them.
She arrived at the Cape of Good Hope on 8th July departing on 7th October. She was the first vessel which passed the Bass Strait from west to east, and during the passage through the strait, discovered and named many islands.
The LADY NELSON arrived at Port Jackson, Australia, on 16th December 1800. After arrival, Governor King instructed Grant to sail back to the Strait and to chart the south coast of Australia from Westernport to Cape Nelson, examine the western entrance of the Bass Strait, and survey King Island and Hunter Island.
On 8th March 1802, she sailed together with the tender, BEE, from Port Jackson, but the weather being bad the tender had to return to Port Jackson the next day.
The LADY NELSON returned to Sydney on 14tH May having completed only a small portion of her task as bad weather had disrupted the survey.
Later that year, command was taken over by the first mate, John Murray, and under his command she left on 12th November for a second survey of the Bass Strait.
Following this, she joined HMS INVESTIGATOR as a tender to survey the coast north of Sydney as far as Cumberland Island. She was sent back to Sydney by Matthew Flinders, as he decided that she was not seaworthy.
In 1805, she was in service for the New South Wales Colonial Marine, and from then on, she was employed in Colonial service, maintaining communication between the various settlements in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. In May 1807, she was under command of Lieut. William Kent.
On 2nd May 1815, while leaving Port Macquarie NSW, she was swept ashore in bad weather on the south side of the harbour, with no loss of life, but her sternpost and rudder were lost. She was eventually refloated and repaired. On 19tH February 1825, she departed from Fort Dundas on Melville Island off Arnhem Island, under command of Captain Johns, to procure sheep, pigs and goats from the neighbouring islands, a voyage normally taking around three weeks, but she failed to return.
In July the Dutch Navy Lieutenant Kolff visiting the village of Tepa on Bada was informed that some months previously, an English brig manned by about a dozen Europeans had anchored off Aluta on the island's south-east coast. Bartering had begun between the natives and the ship crews. but when five crew members visited the shore, the remainder on board were attacked and murdered. Then the boat crew and the five men on shore were also murdered. There seems little doubt this was the crew of the LADY NELSON.
The ship was later run ashore, being found by another master visiting the place sometime later. Her hull with her name painted on it could still be seen.
Source: Wikipedia Encyclopaedia. Personal notes. Log Book June 2008

FrenchShips
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Joined: Wed Apr 01, 2009 4:31 pm

Re: Lady Nelson

Post by FrenchShips » Tue Apr 04, 2023 12:33 pm

Built in Deptford, England in 1798 the Lady Nelson became one of the most important vessels in Australian maritime history. She was the first ship to sail from the west through Bass Strait, initiating the shorter route from England to Sydney, and was instrumental in establishing the first European settlement in Tasmania. The replica Lady Nelson was built in the late 1980s.
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Australia_1999_Maritime_Heritage_d.jpg (18.2 KiB) Viewed 1309 times

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