HM Brig The Lady Nelson 3
When the Lady Nelson arrived in Sydney, Governor King was not satisfied with the results of the surveying and mapping of the south coast and
that Port Phillip Bay had not been entered. Governor King was not impressed that Grant's navigation was inaccurate, sometimes to a degree or two. He ordered Grant to go back and do it again and take Ensign Barrallier, a competent surveyor, with him. John Murray joined the Lady Nelson as first mate. Murray had been master's mate on HMS Porpoise. A former ship's launch, the Bee, was fitted out to go with the Lady Nelson.
The Lady Nelson left Sydney Harbour on the eight of March, 1801. The Bee could not handle the seas and had to turn back to Port Jackson. On the tenth of March, the Lady Nelson arrived at Jervis Bay. The Lady Nelson anchored in four fathoms of water between an island and the mainland. The aboriginals of Jervis Bay were quite adept with their canoes and the sailors clipped their beards and caught fish for them in the net. They noticed she-oaks were common trees and that there were black cockatoos, kookaburras in the vicinity. Grant thought that Jervis Bay offered lots of potential as a port with shelter from all winds, and plenty of wood and water. The Lady Nelson left Jervis Bay on the 13th March, 1801.
On the 19th of March, the Lady Nelson met the ship Britannia, from England, bound for Sydney to refit, and then continued South, arrived at Wilson's Promontory on the 21st and sailed on to Western Port. Grant claimed that there was sufficient room for any number of sails to shelter in Western Port off Seal Island. Barrallier and Murray surveyed the area while others searched for new plants. They found water explored up the fresh water river they found. On Churchill's Island Grant made a garden and planted wheat , corn, rice, peas and potatoes. They finished the survey of Western Port Bay on the twenty second of April but the Lady Nelson was kept in the bay by bad weather until the 29th.
Grant then sailed towards Wilson's Promontory, surveying the coast as he went, but because of winter setting in, the Lady Nelson sailed back to Sydney and arrived back in Port Jackson on May fourteenth, 1801. Governor King was disappointed that Grant had not surveyed Port Phillip Bay and King Island as well as other duties he was given to do.
Lady Nelson Resources
The Lady Nelson part 4
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