PP King meets Malay trepang fleet
Artist
Geoffrey Chapman Ingleton
(Australian, 1908 - 1998)
Date1945 - 1950
Object number00017918
NameEtching
MediumInk on paper
DimensionsOverall: 505 x 405 mm, 250 g
ClassificationsArt
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionThis etching by Geoffrey Ingleton depicts HMCS MERMAID under the command of Philip Parker King encountering a Malay trepang (sea cucumber) fishing fleet in the Arafura Sea in 1818.HistoryPhillip Parker King (1793-1856), son of Philip Gidley King Governor of New South Wales between 1800-1806, was born on Norfolk Island in 1793. He was educated in England and joined the Royal Navy in 1807. King has been considered one of Australia's greatest maritime surveyors.
In 1814 King was assigned to survey the parts of the Australian coast not previously examined by Matthew Flinders, and sailed to New South Wales in 1817. King made four voyages between December 1817 and April 1822. The first three were in MERMAID, purchased by Governor Macquarie in 1817. The Admiralty instructed King to discover whether there was any river 'likely to lead to an interior navigation into this great continent'. The Colonial Office had also given instructions to collect information about topography, fauna, timber, minerals, climate, as well as 'information on the natives and the prospects of developing trade with them'.
The MERMAID was built of Indian teak in Calcutta in 1816 and after a re-fit for the expedition, sailed from Port Jackson on the 21 of December 1817, surveying Twofold Bay, King George Sound and Exmouth Gulf. From Port Walcott the survey party went to the north coast of Arnhem Land and explored it westward from Goulburn Island and the King River, around the Cobourg Peninsula and into Van Diemen's Gulf as far as the West Alligator River. The MERMAID visited Melville and Bathurst Islands, called at Timor and the Montebello Islands, and returned to Sydney Cove on 29 July 1818. During this voyage the botanist Cunningham collected specimens of over 300 species, including several new ones from Arnhem Land. The crew had many encounters with Aboriginal people and Makassan fishermen.
In December 1818 and January 1819 King surveyed the recently discovered Macquarie Harbour in Van Diemen's Land and sailed in May for Torres Strait. King took the explorer John Oxley as far as the Hastings River, and continued on to survey the coast between Cape Wessel and Admiralty Gulf. The MERMAID returned to Sydney on 12 January 1820.
The vessel had proven to be a most capable coastal survey ship and began its third voyage of exploration in July of 1820, with Cunningham the botanist again on board. It was King's intention to proceed with all speed along the east coast as before, to the north-west coast. However on the 20 July, while standing in at Port Bowen on the north-eastern coast, the MERMAID 'took the ground' and remained fast. With great effort by the crew, the ship was warped off into deeper water, where it was found that 'she had received considerable injury'.
The MERMAID was repaired and continued the voyage, however after constantly taking in water, King decided to return to Sydney. In a dramatic scene - immortalised in a painting by Conrad Martens held in the National Library of Australia - the leaky MERMAID was caught in a storm just short of Sydney, and after hitting a rock, limped in to the safety of Botany Bay, rounding Banks Headland during flashes of lightning.
On King's next voyage to the 'unknown north west coast' in 1821, he was forced to use a new ship, the BATHURST. The MERMAID had a short lived career as a supply ship, but was wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef in 1829. The wreck was rediscovered by an ANMM-led team in early 2009.
After being promoted to Commander, King spent five years surveying the coast of South America in charge of the vessels HMS ADVENTURE and HMS BEAGLE. In later life he held the position as Commissioner of the Australian Agricultural Company. Shortly before his death in 1856 he was appointed Rear Admiral on the retired list.
SignificanceGeoffrey Ingleton completed numerous etchings depicting famous events relating to Australian maritime history. In this work he celebrates the achievements of Phillip Parker King's surveying expeditions of the Australian coast in HMCS MERMAID.