HMC brig LADY NELSON returned to Port Jackson, Sydney, after an unsuccessful search for survivors from the schooner WILLIAM COSSAR, in the Port Stephens, NSW area. A wreck, identified as ...
On This Day
Australian Naval History on 23 October 1817
The monthly rate of pay for an able seaman in HMC vessels was £11 3s 6d. Soap and slops were charged against them. ...
Australian Naval History on 19 October 1817
The RN adopted the 9,000 item flag signalling system compiled by CAPT Frederick Marryat, RN. The system was adapted from the French Navy manual. It was first demonstrated in Australia ...
Australian Naval History on 12 January 1817
HMCS LADY NELSON, (brig), sailed from Sydney to search for survivors from the brig TRIAL in the Port Stephens area. Natives interrogated by the ship’s crew said the convicts who ...
Australian Naval History on 20 June 1814
HMS NELSON, later HMVS NELSON, was launched on the River Thames, London. ...
Australian Naval History on 10 February 1814
Captain John Piper resigned his army commission to assume the duties of Naval Officer, Port Jackson. ...
Australian Naval History on 25 December 1811
Governor Lachlan Macquarie and Mrs. Macquarie celebrated Christmas in on passage from Hobart to Newcastle. ‘My poor Elizabeth has suffered a great deal from the seasickness’, recorded the Governor. ...
Australian Naval History on 7 September 1811
The Sydney Gazette published a proclamation by Governor Lachlan Macquarie, declaring Garden Island, Sydney, a public domain. ...
Australian Naval History on 8 March 1808
The 5th-rate, HMS SAN FIORENZO, (CAPT G. N. Hardinge, RN), captured the French ship PIETMONTAISE, (40 guns), in a battle which lasted three days. CAPT Hardinge was killed in the ...
Australian Naval History on 15 December 1803
HMC Schooner CUMBERLAND, (CMDR Matthew Flinders, RN), was seized by the Captain General of Mauritius, Charles Mathieu Decaen. Flinders was held prisoner for five and a half years. He was ...
Australian Naval History on 11 March 1803
CAPT James Colnett, RN, in HMS GLATTON, was appointed Senior Officer of His Majesty’s Ships and Vessels in Port Jackson. ...
Australian Naval History on 9 March 1801
LEUT John Murray, RN, in HMC brig LADY NELSON, explored and took possession of Port Phillip. He named the bay in honour of the first Governor of NSW, CAPT Arthur ...
Australian Naval History on 25 September 1800
A battery of two guns was established on Garden Island, to protect Sydney from a French attack. The garrison of 12 Marines was commanded by Henry Hacking. ...
Australian Naval History on 12 October 1799
The Board of Admiralty issued the first signal book to the RN. ...
Australian Naval History on 13 September 1796
The Governor of NSW, CAPT John Hunter, RN, appointed Thomas Moore Master Boat Builder of His Majesty’s Dockyard at Sydney. ...
Australian Naval History on 25 July 1795
A new form of signalling called semaphore was introduced into the RN. The system was devised by the Reverend Lord George Murray. ...
Australian Naval History on 13 December 1791
Philip Parker King, (son of Governor Phillip Gidley King, RN), was born on Norfolk Island. He was the first Australian to reach flag rank in the RN. ...
Australian Naval History on 5 October 1789
The first boat built in the colony of NSW, the ROSEHILL PACKET, was launched in Sydney Cove. The boat builder was R. R. Read, the ship’s carpenter of HMS SIRIUS. ...
Australian Naval History on 11 February 1788
HMS SIRIUS landed a party on Garden Island, Sydney, to prepare a ship’s garden. Three sets of initials, ‘FM’, ‘IR’, and ‘WB’, were carved on a rock on the northern ...
Australian Naval History on 5 February 1788
Governor Arthur Phillip allocated Garden Island, Sydney, to HMS SIRIUS for use as a ship’s garden. ...