Echoes of Lady Nelson on Australia's Shores

On a recent visit to Melbourne, we took a few days holiday to explore and play golf on the Mornington Peninsula, a two-hour drive southwest.  We lodged at the Hotel Sorrento in the small town of the same name. On our first day we ventured along the famous “Millionaire’s Mile” – a picturesque coastal pathway flanked by impressive estates. The walk led us to a striking memorial cairn commemorating the bicentenary of Lieutenant John Murray, Captain of HMS Lady Nelson raising the Union Jack on 8th March, 1802.

Image: HMS Lady Nelson - print from engraving by Samuel John Neele July 1803

I had encountered the replica of HMS Lady Nelson in Hobart a year or two ago and here again I was reminded of this small piece of history that carries the name of my ancestor.

The Lady Nelson Comes to Australia

His Majesty’s Armed Survey Vessel Lady Nelson was purpose built to sail in shallow waters – originally in the shallow seas of the Thames Estuary. Before she was commissioned in 1799, the future Governor of the Colony of New South Wales, Phillip King, persuaded the Admiralty that this would be an ideal vessel to survey the new colony. Whether or not Lady Nelson was present for the naming of the ship which carried her name I am unable to ascertain but I am sure she was aware of the vessel and its intended purpose.

The vessel of 60 tons was originally designed as a cutter but the Admiralty was persuaded to rig her as a Brig since it was believed there would be more sailors experienced in that sail layout. The ship was sailed by three officers and twelve crew. One other unique feature was its three drop keels which could reduce its draught from twelve feet to six.

I ask myself why she was named HMS Lady Nelson. In 1799, before the battles of Copenhagen and Trafalgar, Nelson had achieved immortal fame as the victor of the Battle of the Nile. At the time the ship was commissioned he was still based in Naples, and it was about this time that his scandalous love affair with Lady Hamilton was about to begin.

The decision to name this unassuming craft after the Admiral’s wife would have been another discreet accolade and perhaps a suggestion that the Nelson name would be present in the noble venture of securing a new country in the South Pacific for the British Empire.

Milestones for the hardworking Lady

Despite any noble sentiment about her name, HMS Lady Nelson was to be a work horse for the task of exploration. She achieved her first milestone by being the first vessel to sail through the Bass Straight on the way to Port Jackson (Sydney) – it having been determined only recently that Tasmania was not part of the mainland. She was soon assigned to continue exploring that region of the new continent and hence Lieutenant Murray’s landing near Sorrento.  Thereafter she was sent on expeditions to establish new settlements at Newcastle – a day’s sail north of Sydney - and Port Macquarie another day’s sail north of Newcastle. Another was the settlement of Port Dalrymple in Tasmania (Launceston) and Hobart whence she carried the settlers from Norfolk Island after a decision was made to abandon both the settlement and the prison there. (Norfolk was later resettled by the HMS Bounty’s mutineer descendants who had over-populated their original home on Pitcairn Island).

The accounts of HMS Lady Nelson’s journeys are well documented and include details from her log about the storms, lee shores and near disasters that for ever plagued sailing ships in that era before engines. There were advances and retreats, long periods of sheltering or repairing, searches for accompanying ships which were lost and periods in which food was in short supply. There was even a story of the capture of an armed Spanish merchant ship, Extremena which had been illegally taken and was owned by Madras merchants.

Having surveyed Port Phillip Bay, Lieutenant Murray carried settlers to establish a permanent presence there and later to move them to Tasmania when that settlement failed. Reading the accounts of these efforts to settle and colonise, I am struck by the intrepid decision to found a settlement and the pragmatic decision to remove it if it failed. There was no spare money to persist for long if things were not working – a characteristic of Australians to this day.

Pirate Attack

HMS Lady Nelson Replica in Hobart

It was on one such project in 1824 – twenty-two years after sailing into the waters of the new colony - that HMS Lady Nelson met her end. She had sailed to Timor to re-provision the colony on Melville Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria when her crew met their gruesome end at the hands of pirates. The ship was found abandoned and wrecked. It was a sad end to such a noble and hard-working ship.

Somehow her persistence and her usefulness remind me of the personality of my ancestor. I expect it was because the story of HMS Lady Nelson is one of resilience, consistent effort and quiet heroism — characteristics shared by my ancestor. This was a vessel that played a pivotal role in exploring and shaping a young colony. Her legacy, marked by both triumph and tragedy, also echoes the enduring spirit of adventure and pragmatism that characterised the era.

Fanny would have been proud to know that her namesake had been useful to one of Britain’s grandest enterprises.

Today a replica of HMS Lady Nelson commissioned in 1988 as a sail training ship is berthed at Hobart. It participates in various tall ships events around Australia and offers short sails run by volunteers. Seeing the replica ship in Hobart today serves as a poignant reminder of this fascinating chapter in Australia’s maritime heritage — a history that continues to inspire and fascinate many.

Image: Tourists enjoying the new HMS Lady Nelson – for a virtual tour and more information see: https://www.ladynelson.org.au/ship/todays-lady-nelson/virtual-tour Thank you to Lady Nelson Tasmania for the images. Learn more or book a tour at: https://ladynelson.rezgo.com/details/115497/hobart-short-sails

Find out more about the real Lady Nelson - read my novel Nelson's Folly or enjoy my interview on the ABC Listen App or on your computer at: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/nightlife/fanny-nelson/103570882

'Nelson's Folly' is now also available as an audiobook.