The “Lady Nelson” Entering Port Phillip.

Scarce c.19th hand coloured engraving of the Lady Nelson entering Port Phillip.

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.

She was designed incorporating Captain John Schank’s new sliding keel that enabled closer navigation in shallow waters. Grant 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.

References:
Ferguson, J. A. Bibliography of Australia Volumes 1-8, Canberra 1976 : 9829g.
Hughes-d’Aeth, T. Paper Nation : The Story of the Picturesque Atlas of Australia. Melbourne 2001.

Collections:
National Library Australia: Bib ID 1654251
National Gallery Australia: LEGACY ID 34588
Royal Collection Trust UK: RCIN 1046852
Getty Museum Los Angeles: Object name: 1218593
State Library New South Wales: RECORD IDENTIFIER 74VvDRQZXzWd
State Library Victoria: CCF 919.4 G19