Name/TitleOval mezzotint portrait of Captain Matthew Flinders R.N.
About this objectMatthew Flinders (1774-1814), navigator, hydrographer and scientist, was the first man to circumnavigate Australia. His charts were so accurate that some are still in use to this day.
After sailing with the famous Captain Bligh on PROVIDENCE, Flinders’ adventures brought him to Australia onboard RELIANCE. In 1796 he explored the coastline around Sydney in a tiny open boat called TOM THUMB. He next proved that Tasmania was an island by finding and sailing through Bass Strait.
His most successful voyage came between 1801 and 1803 when he charted the coastline of Australia, completing and linking together other partial surveys to give us the first complete picture of the island nation.
Flinders recorded his voyage in detail in "Journal on HMS Investigator, Volume 1, 1801-1802", and the sequel "Journal on HMS Investigator, Volume 2, 1802-1803".
Flinders was later shipwrecked on the Great Barrier Reef. Remarkably, he managed to navigate the ship’s cutter across the open sea back to Sydney, a distance of some 700 miles, and arranged for the rescue of the marooned crew on Wreck Reef.
MakerJoyce Gold - Engraver
Maker RoleEngraver
Edition1814
Date Made1814
Period19th century
Medium and MaterialsMezzotint. Paper and ink.
Place MadeLondon, United Kingdom
Inscription and MarksTitled: "Captain Matthew Flinders RN".
Measurements 228mm x 142 mm
Object TypeEuropean Portraits
Object numberSF000870
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