His Majesty's Armed Survey Vessel Lady Nelson was commissioned in 1799 to survey the coast of Australia. At the time large parts of the Australian coast were unmapped and Britain had claimed only part of the continent. The British Government were concerned that, in the event of settlers of another European power becoming established in Australia, any future conflict in Europe would lead to a widening of the conflict into the southern hemisphere to the detriment of the trade that Britain sought to develop. It was against this background that Lady Nelson was chosen to survey and establish sovereignty over strategic parts of the continent.
HMCS Integrity was a cutter built by the Colonial Government of New South Wales in 1804. She was the first vessel ever launched from a New South Wales dockyard and carried goods between the colony's coastal settlements of Norfolk Island, Newcastle, New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land and Port Jackson. In 1804 she took part in a series of voyages to Van Diemen's Land with the aim of founding a colony at Port Dalrymple, the site of the modern settlement of George Town, Tasmania.
The Young Lachlan was a schooner that was stolen and wrecked by convicts in 1819. Between 1812 and 1817 as the Henrietta Packet it provided passenger and cargo transport between colonial ports, and was possibly involved in exploration in the present-day Tasmania.
Amity was a 148-ton brig used in several notable voyages of exploration and settlement in Australia in the early nineteenth century.
Sun was a brig built in 1819 at Sunderland and was condemned at the Cape of Good Hope in August 1822. She was repaired and began sailing east of the Cape. She was wrecked in May 1826 in the Torres Strait.
Hadlow was a merchant sailing ship built in 1814 at Quebec, British North America. She made two voyages transporting convicts from England and Ireland to Australia. She plied between England, India, and Sierra Leone before being lost with all hands in 1823.
Eliza was a merchant ship built in Calcutta, British India, in 1811. She made two voyages transporting convicts from Calcutta to Australia but wrecked in 1815 on her way home from her second voyage.
Governor Ready was built at Prince Edward Island, Canada in 1825. She made two voyages transporting convicts from England and Ireland to Australia. She was wrecked in the Torres Strait in May 1829.
Integrity was a 220-ton merchant ship built at Redbridge, Southampton, England in 1824. She made two voyages transporting convicts from Mauritius to Australia. She was wrecked in the Torres Strait in August 1841.
Henry was a sailing ship built in 1819 at Quebec, Canada. She initially sailed between London and Quebec, but then she made two voyages transporting convicts from England to Australia. She was wrecked in the Torres Strait in 1825.
HMS Daphne was launched at Topsham, England in 1806. During her naval career Daphne operated primarily in the Baltic where she took part in one notable cutting-out expedition, and captured one small privateer and numerous small Danish merchant vessels. In 1816 the Admiralty sold her after the end of the Napoleonic Wars and she became a merchant ship, while retaining the name Daphne. She made one voyage to Australia in 1819 transporting convicts. Thereafter she traded with India and was last listed in 1824.
Cumberland was launched in 1800 and sailed as a West Indiaman until 1807 or 1808 when she was sold to Enderbys. She then made five voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. Enderbys sold Cumberland and she proceeded to sail between England and Australia. In 1827 she sailed from Hobart and was never seen again. It later transpired that pirates had captured her off the Falkland Islands and killed her crew and passengers.
Tiger was launched in America in 1813 and apparently captured on her maiden voyage. Captain Lewellyn purchased her in prize and initially she sailed between England and the Mediterranean. Under new ownership in the early-1820s, she started trading with New South Wales and India under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She is last listed in 1833.
Charles Eaton was a barque, launched in 1833 for use as a merchant ship. Whilst under the command of Captain Fowle, she was wrecked in 1834 among the Torres Strait Islands, off the northern coast of Queensland, Australia, and her passengers and crew attacked and nearly all killed by Torres Strait Islanders on Mer Island. A cabin boy and small child survived and lived with the islanders until being rescued by Captain Lewis and crew on Isabella in June 1836, who also found skulls of some of the murdered people on a nearby island and took them back to Sydney for burial.
Deveron was launched at Sunderland in 1814. She initially traded with Argentina and then from 1822 with Van Diemen's Land. Her owner, William Wilson transferred her registry to Hobart. She traded with England, and between Hobart and Port Jackson. From 1830 she engaged in whaling off New Zealand. She was lost on 21 July 1833 while looking for whales off the Australian coast.
HM Colonial brig Prince Leopold was launched in 1815, or earlier, as Rosetta. The government in Van Diemen's Land (VDL) purchased her in 1818 to serve the settlements. She then carried timber other supplies, and transferred both prisoners and soldiers between VDL and Port Jackson, and to and from Maria Island. In July 1831 the government sold the brig. Her new owners named her Mary Elizabeth, or Mary and Elizabeth. She was wrecked on 30 May 1835 at Port Sorell, Tasmania.
Caroline was launched at Philadelphia in 1800. She was taken in prize. New owners retained her name and she appeared in British records from 1813. From 1820 on she was based at Hobart in Van Diemen's Land. From there she sailed to and from Port Jackson and on seal hunting voyages to Macquarie Island. She departed on a sealing voyage in November 1824 and wrecked at Macquarie Island on 17 March 1825; her crew were rescued some five months later.
Harriet was launched in Massachusetts in 1809. The British captured her and on 13 January 1813 a prize court condemned her. New owners retained her name. She became a West Indiaman, and made one voyage to New South Wales. Between 1818 and 1832 she made four complete voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She was lost in October 1833 in the Seychelles on her fifth whaling voyage.
Mangles was built in Calcutta in 1803 and immediately sailed for England. Including that voyage, she made a total of six voyages as an "extra ship" for the British East India Company (EIC). Between her first as second voyages for the EIC a French privateer captured her. Mangles also made nine voyages transporting convicts to Australia: eight voyages to Port Jackson, one to Hobart Town, and one in which she delivered some convicts to Port Jackson but carried most of her charges to Norfolk Island. She was last listed in 1844.
United Kingdom
