The “Lady Nelson” Entering Port Phillip.

Colonial engraving of the Lady Nelson entering Port Phillip.

The Lady Nelson was designed incorporating Captain John Schank’s new sliding keel that enabled closer navigation in shallow waters. Lieutenant James Grant was given the command of the Lady Nelson with instructions to sail her to Sydney and hand her over to Matthew Flinders. He left Portsmouth on 17 March 1800 and while at Cape Town, Grant received additional orders to search for and sail through the recently discovered Bass Strait from the west. He made landfall on the Victorian coast near Mt Schank and proceeded to chart the coast in an easterly direction to Wilson’s Promontory. In doing so he became the first to sail Bass Strait from west to east, creating a new shipping route to the east coast, eliminating the existing southern route around Van Diemen’s Land.