HMS Mermaid (1817)

HMS Mermaid was a cutter built in Howrah, India, in 1816. The British Royal Navy purchased her at Port Jackson in 1817. The Navy then used her to survey the Australian coasts. In 1820 she grounded and in 1823 was condemned for survey work. The Navy sold her to the colonial government which used her to run errands until she was wrecked in 1829.

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Mermaid.

The cutter Mermaid
History
United Kingdom
NameMermaid
BuilderThompson, Howrah[1]
Launched1816
FateSold 1817
United Kingdom
NameHMS Mermaid
Acquired1817 by purchase
Commissioned16 October 1817
FateSold 1823
United Kingdom
NameMermaid
OwnerGovernment of New South Wales
Acquired1823 by purchase
FateWrecked on 13 June 1829, Flora Reef, Queensland
General characteristics
Tons burthen83,[2] 84,[1] or 85 (bm)
Length56 ft (17 m)
Beam18 ft 6 in (5.6 m)
Draught8 ft 10 in (2.7 m)
Sail plan
  • Originally: single masted cutter rigged
  • c. 1829: Two-masted schooner
NotesTeak-built

Career

Mermaid was launched at Howrah in 1816 and the Royal Navy purchased her at Port Jackson in 1817.[2][3]

Phillip Parker King used her between December 1817 and December 1820 to survey parts of the Australian coast that Matthew Flinders had not already surveyed.[4] King circumnavigated the Australian mainland and conducted a survey of the Inner Route through the Great Barrier Reef.

View of the encampment in Careening Bay where Mermaid was repaired in 1820

In 1820 Mermaid grounded at Careening Bay, Kimberley, Western Australia;[5] gotten off, she only reached Sydney with difficulty. A survey resulted in her condemnation for survey work and her sale in 1823 to the colonial government.[3]

In September 1823 Mermaid carried John Oxley as he explored the Queensland coast south of Port Curtis, discovering the Brisbane and Tweed rivers. At Moreton Bay he rescued Thomas Pamphlett and John Finnegan, who had been ship-wrecked earlier in the year.[6]

In September 1825 Mermaid transported Edmund Lockyer to Moreton Bay so he could explore the upper reaches of the Brisbane River.[7]

In August 1826 John Richardson travelled on Mermaid from Fort Dundas, on Melville Island, to Timor to obtain seeds.[8]

Around 1829 the ship was rigged as a two-masted schooner.

Loss

Captain Samuel Nolbrow and Mermaid departed Sydney on 16 May 1829, bound for Port Raffles with government dispatches and provisions for King George's Sound. She proceeded on the inner passage to Torres Straits. At 6 a.m. on 13 June she struck an uncharted reef on the southern side of Flora Reef, Queensland. (Nolbrow gave the location as at 17°7′S 146°10′E.) She bilged and her crew abandoned her that evening with no loss of life.[9]

Post-script

An underwater archaeology team led by the Australian National Maritime Museum in early 2009 rediscovered the wreck.[10][11]

See also

Citations
  1. Phipps (1840), p. 108.
  2. Phipps (1840), p. 142.
  3. Colledge & Warlow (2006), p. 257.
  4. "King, Phillip Parker (1791–1856)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 2. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. 1967. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  5. "Careening Bay". kimberleytravelandcruise.com. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  6. "Pamphlett, Thomas (1789–1838)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 2. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. 1967. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  7. "Lockyer, Edmund (1784–1860)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 2. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. 1967. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  8. "Richardson, John Matthew (1797–1882)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 2. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. 1967. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  9. "A CONDISCIPULUS "BOARDING ROUND"". The Australian (Sydney, NSW : 1824 - 1848). Sydney, NSW: National Library of Australia. 25 November 1829. p. 3. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  10. "A Model Tale". Australian National Maritime Museum. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  11. "Mermaid HMCS". Australian National Shipwreck Database. Retrieved 4 December 2014.

References
  • Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
  • Nicholson, Ian Hawkins (1996) Via Torres Strait – A maritime history of the Torres Strait route and the ship's post office at Booby Island. (Roebuck Society Publication No.48). ISBN 0646250833
  • Phipps, John (1840). A Collection of Papers Relative to Ship Building in India ...: Also a Register Comprehending All the Ships ... Built in India to the Present Time ... Calcutta: Master Attendant's Office.

17°11′57″S 146°17′20″E

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