Name/TitleColonial Cutter MERMAID off Port Jackson
About this objectMERMAID was commissioned on 16 October 1817 and was used in three of the four voyages made by Parker King between December 1817 and April 1822 on his task of ‘Exploring and Surveying the Coast of Australia’.
Philip Parker King was born on Norfolk Island in 1793 and has been described as one of the greatest early Australian marine surveyors. In HM Cutter MERMAID Parker King circumnavigated the Australian mainland and conducted the first reliable survey of the Great Barrier Reef Inner Route, opening it to commercial traffic. It was on this circumnavigation that Parker King named Careening Bay on the Kimberley coast, after bringing the HMC MERMAID in for repair. Parker King carved ‘H.M.C. MERMAID 1820′ into the trunk of a conspicuous Boab tree in Careening Bay, in October of the year. The Boab is still there today.
On its last voyage, the then HM Colonial Schooner MERMAID was sailing to Fort Wellington, Raffles Bay in what is now the Northern Territory, under Captain Nolbrow. HMCS MERMAID was wrecked on June 13, 1829 and subsequently sighted by HMS CROCODILE in 1830 on a reef 6 nautical miles due east of Frankland Reefs.
As part of a collaborative project, the Silentworld Foundation located the wreck site of MERMAID in 2009. Learn more here.
MakerIan Hansen - Artist
Maker RoleArtist
Date Made2009
Period21st century
Medium and MaterialsOil on canvas
Place MadeSydney, Australia
Object TypeMaritime Paintings
Object numberSF000717
Copyright Licence
Attribution - Non-commercial - No Derivatives (cc)
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The mug is decorated with an underglaze and a blue transfer print. On the body, it is titled ‘Emigrants to Australia’. This type of body and glaze was discontinued by 1840. Comparison of the handle shape and the profile of the foot, point to the attribution of manufacture by the Davenport Factory.
Delta was a ship-rigged vessel with two decks and three masts. It was built in Dordrecht, Netherlands in 1839 at the shipyard of Jan Schouten and registered in the same port. Its hull was constructed of oak and sheathed in ‘yellow metal’. Delta was owned by H. van der Sande at the time of its loss and was engaged as a cargo trader.
The Delta carried 29 crew and passengers, while sailing from Melbourne to Batavia in ballast when wrecked at Kenn Reefs on 30 May 1854 whilst under the command of Captain J.G. Kunst. This vessel loss supports the pattern of shipwrecks located on a well-travelled shipping route that was poorly charted until the mid-nineteenth century. The crew of the Delta could see four other shipwrecks at Kenn Reefs at the time of their vessel’s loss.
Important image of a ship associated with Matthew Flinders, that would shortly become one of the most famous early shipwrecks in eastern Australian waters. This is a fine ship’s portrait, by one of the great exponents of the art