[AUSTRALIA-WA] Princess Royal Harbour

Hydrographic charting of Australia History ( - )

Naval policy dictated that Admiralty charts be destroyed when superseded to avoid navigational error. It was during Rear Admiral John Washington’s period as the Admiralty’s hydrographer, 1855-1863, that a series of agreements were drawn up with the Australian colonies. These agreements provided boats and crews for use by officers lent from the Royal Navy to chart the coasts and shoal waters in the approaches to the rapidly developing towns, communication with which was seriously hampered by the the frequency of shipwrecks. It had been the discovery of gold and the consequent rush of miners and emigrants from not only England but California that added greatly the numbers of ships sailing to Australia’s east coast. This led to numerous petitions being made to Her Majesty’s Government to chart the eastern approaches to Australia to make for safer passage for shipping.

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Llewellyn Styles Dawson (1859 - 1921)

Llewellyn Styles Dawson (1848-1921) Served as a midshipman on the surveying ships, HMS Medina and HMS Hydra from 1836-1865 in the Mediterranean. Then he was stationed on the HMS Sylvia and HMS Serpent on the coasts of China and Japan. Promoted to Lieutenant in 1869, he successfully surveyed the waters of Yangtze. In 1872, he led the search expedition for Livingstone, but resigned after six months. In 1873 he was assigned to Moresby to explore the coasts of New Guinea and was in 1875 placed in command of HMS Renard and later the HMS Alacrity, to survey Fiji Islands. In 1881 he was selected to be in charge of the reorganised Marine Survey of India and was specially promoted to commander. He was reassigned to the command of HMS Sylvia in 1885 to survey the coasts of Africa, Spain, Turkey and Greece in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. By 1889 he was in command of the HMS Rambler at Thursday Island, and worked in the Torres Strait. His last naval appointment was in 1895, to survey the coasts of Western Australia. He retired as a captain in 1897 and died on December 8, 1921. His memoirs were published in 1885 'Memoirs of Hydrography'. Lieutenant and later Commander, Royal Navy.

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