HMS Mermaid (1817)

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

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.

The cutter Mermaid
History
United Kingdom
Name	Mermaid
Builder	Thompson, Howrah[1]
Launched	1816
Fate	Sold 1817
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Mermaid
Acquired	1817 by purchase
Commissioned	16 October 1817
Fate	Sold 1823
United Kingdom
Name	Mermaid
Owner	Government of New South Wales
Acquired	1823 by purchase
Fate	Wrecked on 13 June 1829, Flora Reef, Queensland
General characteristics
Tons burthen	83,[2] 84,[1] or 85 (bm)
Length	56 ft (17 m)
Beam	18 ft 6 in (5.6 m)
Draught	8 ft 10 in (2.7 m)
Sail plan	Originally: single masted cutter rigged c. 1829: Two-masted schooner
Notes	Teak-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. These events led to the establishment of Brisbane and the Separation of Queensland.^[6][7]

In September 1825 Mermaid transported Edmund Lockyer to Moreton Bay so he could explore the upper reaches of the Brisbane River.^[8]

In August 1826 John Richardson travelled on Mermaid from Fort Dundas, on Melville Island, to Timor to obtain seeds.^[9]

Around 1829 the ship was rigged as a two-masted schooner.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[10]

Post-script

An underwater archaeology team led by the Australian National Maritime Museum in early 2009 rediscovered the wreck.^[11][12]

See also

• King Expedition of 1817