1790

1790	14-Feb	Lt Ralph Clark, Royal Marines, was despatched by Capt Phillip, RN, to ‘come to terms’ with hostile Aborigines on the Lane Cove River. Clark’s success enabled the colony to spread to the north-west of Sydney.
1790	21-Feb	HMS Guardian, Capt Edward Riou, RN, arrived at Cape Town after sustaining heavy damage in a collision with an iceberg.
1790	6-Mar	HM ships Sirius and Supply, Capt John Hunter, RN, sailed from Port Jackson to Norfolk Island. The ships carried 186 convicts who were transferred because of the dwindling food stock at Port Jackson.
1790	19-Mar	HMS Sirius was wrecked at Sydney Cove, Norfolk Island. Capt John Hunter and the crew landed safely and most of the ship’s guns and stores were salvaged.
1790	17-Apr	Lt Philip Gidley King, RN, sailed from Port Jackson for England in HMS Supply with despatches for the British Government.
1790	19-Sep	Lt Philip Gidley King, RN, arrived at Port Louis, Mauritius. He reported the presence of the French ships La Nymphe, 38 guns, La Medusa, 38 guns, La Thetis, 38 guns, and a great number of French and American merchant ships.
1790	22-Oct	A court martial held in HMS Royal William at Spithead found Lt William Bligh, RN, had no case to answer for the loss of HMS Bounty.
1791	11-Mar	A report was made on the state of HM armed tender Supply, Lt H. L. Ball, Commander, Port Jackson, NSW. The report read: ‘The main deck decayed, and to be made new fore and aft. The head of the main piece of the main mast decayed, and will be required to be shifted in a very short time. The large cutter and jolly boats very much worn, and not fit to repair. Several of the timber heads forward and abaft decayed and wanting to be replaced. The knees of the main deck beams wanting to be new bolted. Several of the chain plates wanting to be shifted. It is my opinion His Majesty’s armed tender Supply will want, in the course of another year, a total repair and which cannot be done in this country conveniently’. Despite the condition of the ship Lt Ball sailed her back to England.
1791	23-Mar	HMS Pandora, 24-gun frigate, Capt Edward Edwards, RN, arrived at Tahiti to search for the Bounty mutineers.
1791	27-Mar	The chartered Dutch snow, Waaksamheyd, sailed from Port Jackson to return the crew of HMS Sirius to England.
1791	29-Mar	A party of convicts, which included William and Mary Bryant and their children, absconded from Sydney in a stolen Government boat. The intrepid Bryant sailed the cutter to Koepang, Timor, and on the voyage discovered a new passage through Torres Strait. The escapees were apprehended by Capt Edward Edwards, RN, of HMS Pandora, who also arrived in the port after a famous open boat voyage following the loss of Pandora. William Bryant died before he reached England.
1791	20-Apr	Lt William Bradley, RN, was appointed Commissioner for the Trial of Pirates at Sydney, NSW.
1791	4-May	The chartered Dutch snow Waaksamheyd, Capt John Hunter, RN, passed through the Solomon Islands on passage to England. At this time the true location of the island group was not known.
1791	8-May	HMS Pandora, Capt Edward Edwards, RN, sailed from Tahiti in company with the schooner Resolution, built by mutineers of HMS Bounty. Fourteen of the mutineers were imprisoned in a box-like cabin on Pandora’s deck.
1791	10-May	Capt John Hunter, RN, chartered Dutch snow Waaksamheyd, discovered a group of islands 100 klms east of the Solomons which he named in honour of Admiral Keith Stewart.
1791	18-May	The chartered Dutch snow, Waaksamheyd, Capt John Hunter, RN, discovered a passage between Buka and Bougainville islands. Control of this passage was to be savagely contested by US and Japanese ships in the Battle of the Solomons in 1942-43.
1791	21-May	Lt Ralph Clark, Marines, recorded in his journal that an estimated 170,000 mutton birds were taken on Norfolk Island in 1790 to supplement the rations of the colony. The convicts called the mutton bird ‘the bird of providence’.
1791	14-Jul	Capt John Hunter, RN, chartered Dutch snow Waaksamheyd, discovered a group of islands near Yap and named them Philip Islands in honour of Governor Arthur Philip, RN.
1791	15-Jul	Surgeon George Hamilton, RN, HMS Pandora, claimed he found pieces of RA Comte de La Pêrouse’s uniform on an island near Vanikoro. Pandora sighted smoke on Vanikoro where La Pêrouse’s ships were wrecked, but Capt Edwards did not investigate.
1791	2-Aug	Capt William Bligh, RN, was appointed to command HM ships Providence and Assistant for a second ‘bread fruit’ voyage to Tahiti.
1791	28-Aug	HMS Pandora, Capt Edward Edwards, RN, ran aground on rocks off Murray Island on the Great Barrier Reef. Ninety-nine survivors were taken off in the ship’s boats but Capt Edwards refused to release the Bounty mutineers imprisoned in a box on the wrecked ship’s deck. The box became known in history as Pandora’s Box. Thirty-five lives were lost in the wrecking.
1791	17-Sep	Capt Edward Edwards, RN, and survivors of HMS Pandora, arrived at Koepang, Timor, after an open boat voyage rivalling that of Bligh. In the Dutch port Edwards found the party of William Bryant, who had escaped from Port Jackson in an open boat. Bryant, accompanied by his wife and children and seven other convicts, lived on coconuts for much of their voyage. Capt Edwards arrested the escapees and took them back to England for trial.
1791	21-Sep	Capt Philip Gidley King, RN, Governor Elect of NSW, arrived in Port Jackson in HMS Gorgon. The 44-gun, 5th rate ship of the line was the first true warship to visit the colony.
1791	25-Sep	Capt George Vancouver, RN, HM ships Discovery, sloop, and the armed tender HMS Chatham, explored 300 miles of the WA coast and discovered and named King George Sound.
1791	27-Sep	Capt John Hunter, RN, of the chartered Dutch snow Waaksamheyd, arrived at Batavia from Port Jackson after a voyage of 27 weeks.
1791	28-Sep	Capt d’Entrecasteaux, French ships La Rêcherche and L ‘Esperance, sailed from Brest on an expedition to find survivors of RA Comte de La Perouse’s expedition.
1791	21-Oct	HMS Gorgon, 44 guns, Capt John Parker, RN, arrived at Port Jackson. The ship brought stores for HMS Supply and the Marines.
1791	4-Nov	Cdr Phillip Gidley King, RN, was appointed Leut Governor of Norfolk Island.
1791	7-Nov	Capt Edward Edwards, RN, arrived at Batavia in an open boat with survivors from HMS Pandora. The schooner Resolution, which sailed in company with Pandora on the first leg of the voyage from Tahiti, had arrived at Semarang, Java, a week before.
1791	8-Nov	Lt Bowen, RN, naval agent in the transport Atlantic, discovered and named Jervis Bay.
1791	22-Nov	Capt John Hunter, RN, in command of the chartered Dutch snow Waaksamheyd, met Cdr William Bligh, RN, HM ships Providence and Assistance, at Cape Town. Bligh was sailing to Tahiti on the second bread fruit expedition.
1791	25-Nov	HMS Supply, Lt Henry Lidgbird Ball, RN, sailed from Port Jackson for England. Supply’s cargo contained the first live kangaroo to be exported from Australia.
1791	13-Dec	RA Philip Parker King was born at Norfolk Island. He was the first Australian to reach flag rank in the RN.
1791	19-Dec	Surgeon George Bass, RN, in an 8.5m whale-boat, discovered Twofold Bay on the south coast of NSW.
1792	4-Jan	Surgeon George Bass, RN, in an 8.5-m whale boat, discovered Westernport, Vic.
1792	20-Apr	HMS Supply, Lt Henry Lidgbird Ball, RN, arrived off The Lizard, England. The ship had been condemned as unfit for further service in Sydney yet her passage of four months and 27 days was one of the fastest made up to that time.
1792	21-May	Cdr Bruny d’Entrecasteaux, French ships La Rècherche and L’Esperance discovered the Huon River, Tas, and named it after the commander of L’Esperance, Lt Huon de Kermadec.
1792	19-Jul	HM ships Providence and Assistant, Capt William Bligh, RN, sailed from Tahiti for the West Indies.
1792	24-Jul	Capt Antoine d’Entrecasteaux, French store ships Rècherche and Esperance, sailed through St Georges Channel on passage to Amboina.
1792	2-Sep	Lt G. Tobin, RN, in the cutter from HMS Assistant, fought a running battle with native canoes off Darnley Island.
1792	11-Sep	HM ships Providence and Assistant, Cdr William Bligh, RN, were attacked by an armada of native war canoes in the lee of an island in Torres Strait. Bligh named the island Warrior Island. A midshipman in HMS Providence on this voyage was Matthew Flinders.
1792	16-Sep	Cdr William Bligh, RN, HMS Providence, claimed all the islands in the Torres Strait for Britain. He named the islands Clarence Archipelago.
1792	26-Oct	Lt John McCluer, RN, HM ships Panther and Endeavour, commenced a survey of the New Guinea coast. The surveys were made at the request of the British East Indies Company.
1792	29-Oct	HMS Bounty mutineers Thomas Burkitt, John Millward and Thomas Ellison were hanged aboard HMS Brunswick at Portsmouth, England. Charles Norman, Joseph Coleman, Thomas McIntosh and Michael Byrn were acquitted and Peter Heywood and James Morrison were recommended to His Majesty’s Royal Mercy and escaped the hangman’s noose.
1792	9-Dec	Capt d’Entrecasteaux, French ships La Rècherche and L ‘Esperance, arrived at Esperance Bay, WA, for refitting.
1793	13-Mar	The Spanish ships Descuvierta and Atrevida, Cdre Don Alexandro Malaspina, arrived at Port Jackson on an expedition of discovery in the Pacific.
1793	10-Apr	HMS Daedalus, store ship, arrived at Port Jackson from England. The ship was carrying part of the cargo recovered from HMS Guardian, damaged in a collision with an iceberg south of Cape Town.
1793	12-Apr	HMS Chatham, armed tender, Lt James Hansen, RN, arrived at Port Jackson. The tender brought cattle for the colony. On passage to join the expedition led by Capt Vancouver, Lt Hansen discovered Chatham Island south-east of New Zealand.
1793	24-Jun	Cdr Antoine d’Entrecasteaux, French ships Rècherche and Esperance, arrived in the Huon Gulf and passed through Dampier Strait. D’Entrecasteaux was searching for Comte de La Pêrouse’s expedition.
1793	29-Jun	Cdr Antoine d’Entrecasteaux, French ships Rêcherche and Esperance, entered Dampier Strait between New Guinea and New Britain and confirmed the observations of William Dampier on the passage.
1793	29-Jul	Capt Antoine d’Entrecasteaux, French navigator, died in his ship Rêcherche.
1794	25-Feb	Capt George Vancouver, RN, Commander of the RN Squadron in the North Pacific, made a treaty with the paramount chiefs of Hawaii, transferring sovereignty of the islands to the British crown. Vancouver introduced cattle, goats and geese to the islands.
1794	1-Jun	‘The glorious First of June.’ Matthew Flinders, RN, served in HMS Bellerophon under Capt Thomas Pasley, RN.
1794	17-Oct	The American brig Mercury arrived in Port Jackson from the Falkland Islands. The brig was searching for new seal fisheries.
1794	21-Oct	Capt John Hayes, transports Duke of Clarence and Duchess reported to the Admiralty on a settlement he had established at Restoration Bay, New Guinea, earlier that year.
1795	15-Feb	Lt Matthew Flinders, RN, sailed from Plymouth in HMS Reliance, discovery vessel. The surgeon in the ship was George Bass, RN.
1795	30-Apr	Lt William Bligh, RN, was appointed in command of HMS Calcutta, 4th rate.
1795	25-Jul	A new form of signalling called semaphore was introduced into the RN. The system was devised by the Rev. Lord George Murray.
1795	26-Aug	HMS Providence, 28-gun sloop, Capt Broughton, RN, arrived in Port Jackson with four escaped convicts on board. The ship had taken the convicts while sheltering in Port Stephens during rough weather.
1795	7-Sep	Capt John Hunter, RN, arrived in HMS Supply to become the second Governor of NSW.
1795	7-Sep	Surgeon George Bass, RN, arrived in Port Jackson in HMS Reliance.
1795	19-Oct	Lt William Bligh, RN, HMS Calcutta, put down a mutiny in HMS Defiance at Leith, Scotland.
1795	26-Oct	The 2.7rn sailing dinghy Tom Thumb sailed from Port Jackson to explore the coast south of the port and Georges River. The crew of the boat were Lt Matthew Flinders, RN, Surgeon George Bass, RN, and a boy, William Martin.
1796	7-Jan	Capt William Bligh, RN, was appointed to command HMS Director, 64-gun ship of the line.
1796	18-Feb	The American sealing vessel Otter, Capt Cox, slipped out of Port Jackson after embarking the convict Thomas Muir.
1796	25-Mar	The second Tom Thumb, a 3m boat crewed by Lt Matthew Flinders, RN, and Surgeon George Bass, RN, explored the coast south of Port Jackson to Red Point.
1796	13-Sep	The Governor of NSW, Capt John Hunter, RN, appointed Thomas Moore Master Boat Builder of His Majesty’s Dockyard at Sydney.
1797	17-May	Mutiny broke out in HMS Director, Capt William Bligh, RN, at The Nore, England.
1797	19-May	Capt William Bligh, RN, was removed from command of HMS Director by mutineers at The Nore.
1797	19-Aug	While pursuing a boat stolen by convicts, Lt John Shortland RN, HMS Reliance, discovered the Hunter River and ‘abundant supplies of coal conveniently placed for shipping’.
1797	18-Oct	Capt William Bligh, RN, HMS Director, arrived at Yarmouth escorting the 64-gun Dutch ship Egalité, a prize taken in the Battle of Camperdown.
1797	3-Dec	Surgeon George Bass, RN sailed from Port Jackson in a whaleboat on a 1200-mile voyage of exploration. Bass discovered the Shoalhaven River, Twofold Bay, Wilsons Promontory and the strait which now bears his name.
1798	10-Jan	The Governor of NSW, Capt John Hunter, RN, reported that the colonial vessel Cumberland had been piratically seized by convicts in Broken Bay on 5 September.
1798	24-Jan	Henry Hacking, former quartermaster in HMS Sirius, led an expedition to the west of Sydney to locate the colony’s lost herd of cattle. During the expedition, Hacking discovered the first natural deposits of salt in Australia and identified the lyrebird.
1798	18-Feb	Lt Matthew Flinders, RN, HM colonial schooner Frances, landed on Preservation Island, Bass Strait. He recorded in his journal: ‘the wild geese were more numerous on Preservation Island than on any other that we landed upon, they were always shy’.
1798	28-May	Admiral Horatio Nelson ordered ships of the Mediterranean Fleet to provide a bay in the bows for the sick.
1798	7-Oct	Lt Matthew Flinders, RN, and Surgeon George Bass, RN, sailed from Port Jackson in HM colonial sloop Norfolk to circumnavigate Tasmania. Flinders named Mount Heemskirk and Mount Zeehan during the voyage, in honour of Tasman’s ships.
1798	16-Oct	HMS Kangaroo, a 16-gun brig sloop, engaged the French ship Loire off Blacksod Bay, Ireland.
1798	11-Dec	Lt Matthew Flinders, RN, HM colonial sloop Norfolk, sighted and named Mounts Heemskirk and Zeehan, Tas. Flinders recorded in his journal: ‘Seen by Tasman to the north west on his discovering this land, Nov. 24, 1642, and I have therefore named the first Mount Heemskirk and the latter Mount Zeehan after his two ships’.
1798	21-Dec	Cdr John Clements Wickham, RN, navigator, was born at Leith, Scotland. Wickham served under Capt P. P. King, RN, in HMS Adventure between 1826 and 1830 and continued the surveys after King departed.
1798	25-Dec	Lt Matthew Flinders, RN, HMS Norfolk, celebrated Christmas Day on the Derwent River.
1799	6-Jan	Lt Matthew Flinders, RN, HMS Norfolk, sloop, arrived off the Furneaux Islands, thus completing the first circumnavigation of Tasmania.
1799	31-Mar	The transport Hillsborough reported sighting HM ships Reasonable, Deadless, Diamond, Camel, Woolage and Asmel with a captured French 44-gun frigate at Cape Town.
1799	10-Apr	Henry Hacking, a former quartermaster of HMS Sirius, was despatched to Coal River (Newcastle) in command of a punitive expedition to punish natives who had attacked miners and burnt boats. Hacking was confronted by a large band of natives whom he attacked, wounding three, and driving the rest into the bush.
1799	3-May	HMS Buffalo, storeship, Mr William Rowan, arrived at Port Jackson and transferred command to Lt William Kent, RN. The figure-head of the ship was a kangaroo.
1799	27-May	Surgeon George Bass, RN, sailed in HMS Reliance for England.
1799	16-Jul	Lt Matthew Flinders, RN, HM colonial ship Norfolk, was attacked by natives at Moreton Bay, Qld. In the encounter two of the natives were wounded.
1799	23-Jul	HM colonial sloop, Norfolk, Lt Matthew Flinders, RN, was careened and repaired at Moreton Bay, Qld. Norfolk was aptly named. The vessel was built of Norfolk pine at Norfolk Island. The 25-tonne sloop was designed to be propelled by sweeps as well as by sails.
1799	26-Jul	The following ships were at anchor in Port Jackson: HM ships Buffalo, sloop of war, Reliance, sloop of war, Supply, hulk, the whalers Albiori and Britannia, and the Spanish prize, Hunter.
1799	30-Jul	Lt Matthew Flinders, RN, discovered and named Moreton Island, Qld.
1799	12-Oct	The Board of Admiralty issued the first signal book to the RN.
1799	2-Nov	The Spanish prize ship Plumier arrived in Port Jackson. The vessel was captured off the coast of Chile. A court of Vice Admiralty condemned her as a lawful prize.
1799	20-Dec	HMS Lady Nelson, brig, Lt Grant, RN, was captured by the Spanish while on passage to Australia. Boats from HM ships Lady Charlotte and Emerald recaptured the brig in a daring cutting-out operation in Gibraltar Bay.