1800

1800 ???	8-Mar	HMS San Fiorenzo, 5th rate, 38 guns, Capt G. N. Hardinge, RN, captured the French ship Pietmontaise, 40 guns, in a battle which lasted three clays. Capt Hardinge was killed in the battle. The victory gave the RN control of the Indian Ocean. HMS San Fiorenzo was the French ship Minerve, captured at Corsica in 1794.
1800	13-Jan	HMS Lady Nelson, brig, Lt James Grant, RN, sailed from England for NSW.
1800	13-Feb	A Spanish brig, the third prize taken by Australian privateers on the American coast, arrived at Port Jackson. The brig was taken by the whaling vessel Betsy in Chilean waters. A Court of Vice Admiralty condemned the vessel as a lawful prize.
1800	3-Mar	HMS Reliance, Capt Henry Waterhouse, RN, sailed from Port Jackson for England. The vessel had been surveyed as unfit for further service.
1800	18-Mar	HMS Lady Nelson, brig, Lt James Grant, RN, sailed from Portsmouth for Australia. The 60-tonne experimental vessel was known to her crew as HMS Tinderbox on account of her size.
1800	25-Sep	A battery of two guns was established on Garden Island to protect Sydney from a French attack. The garrison of 12 Marines was commanded by Henry Hacking.
1800	7-Oct	Lt James Grant, RN, HMS Lady Nelson, received instructions from the Admiralty to sail through Bass Strait from west to east and prove it was practical for navigation.
1800	19-Oct	The French expedition to explore the coasts of Australia, commanded by Capt Nicolas Baudin, sailed from France. The ships of the expedition were the 30-gun corvettes, La Gêographe and La Naturaliste.
1800	21-Oct	HMS Buffalo, carrying Capt John Hunter, RN former Governor of NSW, sailed from Port Jackson for England. In the ship’s cargo were two black swans and three emus. The birds arrived in England alive.
1800	7-Nov	HMS Porpoise, the former Spanish prize Infanta Amelia taken by HMS Argo, arrived in Port Jackson.
1800	3-Dec	Lt James Grant, RN, HMS Lady Nelson, brig, made his first landfall in Australia at Cape Banks, naming it and Mount Gambier.
1800	8-Dec	Lt James Grant, RN, HMS Lady Nelson, discovered a large bay on the south-east coast of Australia which he named King Bay in honour of Governor King. The bay was later renamed Port Philip.
1800	16-Dec	HMS Lady Nelson, brig, Lt James Grant, RN, arrived at Port Jackson. The brig was the first ship to pass from west to east through Bass Strait.
1800	31-Dec	HMS Lady Nelson arrived at Port Jackson. The vessel was an experimental brig designed for working in shallow waters. The seamen on the voyage were paid the exceptionally high rates for the times of £8 to £12 per month.
1801	25-Jan	Lt Matthew Flinders, RN, was appointed to command HMS Investigation at Sheerness.
1801	9-Mar	Lt John Murray, RN, HM colonial brig Lady Nelson, explored and took possession of Port Philip. He named the bay in honour of the colony’s first governor.
1801	13-Mar	Capt William Bligh, RN, was promoted in command of HMS Glatton, 54 guns, at Yarmouth.
1801	13-Apr	Capt William Bligh, RN, was appointed to command HMS Monarch, 74 guns, in recogni-tion of his gallant performance in the Battle of Copenhagen.
1801	21-May	Capt William Bligh, RN, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in recognition of his distinguished services to navigation and botany.
1801	30-May	Capt Nicolas Baudin, French ships Le Gèographe and Le Naturallste, arrived at Busselton, WA, and commenced his survey of the coast.
1801	9-Jun	Capt Philip Gidley King, RN, Governor of NSW, ordered Lt James Grant, RN, HM colonial brig Lady Nelson, to the Hunter River to collect samples of coal for shipment to England.
1801	17-Jun	Capt Emanuel Hamelin, French ship Naturaliste, discovered and named Heiresson Island.
1801	18-Jul	HMS Investigator, Lt Matthew Flinders, RN, sailed from Spithead for Australia.
1801	29-Aug	Surgeon George Bass, RN, arrived in Sydney in the brig Venus.
1801	5-Nov	Henry Hacking, former quartermaster of HMS Sirius, was appointed Pilot at Port Jackson.
1801	9-Nov	A Spanish brig taken off the South American coast was renamed the Anna Joseph in honour of Governor King’s wife.
1801	6-Dec	HMS Investigator, Lt Matthew Flinders, RN, made her first landfall on the south-west point of WA. Flinders surveyed the southern coast of Australia on his passage to Port Jackson.
1801	13-Dec	Lt Matthew Flinders, RN, HMS Investigator, sighted Cape Leeuwin, WA.
1802	4-Feb	Capt Matthew Flinders, RN, HMS Investigator, discovered the Franklin Islands, SA, and named them in honour of Sir John Franklin, RN, Governor of Tasmania. Franklin served in Investigator as a midshipman.
1802	14-Feb	Lt John Murray, RN, HM colonial brig Lady Nelson, discovered Port Philip.
1802	20-Feb	HMS Investigator, Lt Matthew Flinders RN, lost two officers and six sailors when the ship’s cutter foundered off the SA coast.
1802	23-Feb	Lt Matthew Flinders, RN, HMS Investigator, discovered Port Lincoln, SA. He named it after Lincolnshire, England.
1802	25-Feb	Cdr Matthew Flinders, RN, HMS Investigator, arrived at Port Lincoln and commenced the first survey of St Vincent Gulf, SA.
1802	22-Mar	Lt Matthew Flinders, RN, HMS Investigator, discovered Kangaroo Island off South Australia. A party was landed on the island and killed 11 kangaroos to supplement the ship’s provisions.
1802	22-Mar	The Russian slops Vostok and Mirney, Capt I. von Bellingshausen, were reported refitting at Port Jackson for a voyage to New Zealand.
1802	30-Mar	Cdr Matthew Flinders, RN, HMS Investigator, discovered Yorke Peninsula, SA, and named it in honour of the Rt Hon Charles Philip Yorke, later Lord Hardwicke, First Lord of the Admiralty.
1802	8-Apr	Cdr Matthew Flinders, RN, met Capt Nicolas Baudin of the French ship Le Geographe near Port Lincoln, SA. Flinders named the bay Encounter Bay.
1802	24-Apr	The French exploration vessel Le Naturaliste, Capt Emanuel Hamelin, arrived at Port Jackson.
1802	29-Apr	George III honoured the Marines with the ‘Royal’ prefix.
1802	8-May	HMS Investigator, Lt Matthew Flinders, RN, arrived at Port Jackson.
1802	20-Jun	The French ship Geographe, Capt Nicolas Baudin, arrived off Port Jackson with his crew down with scurvy. The ship was worked into port by the crew of HMS Investigator.
1802	21-Jul	Cdr Matthew Flinders, RN, sailed in HMS Investigator from Port Jackson to circumnavigate Australia.
1802	6-Aug	Lt 1. Murray, RN, HM colonial brig Lady Nelson, discovered Port Curtis.
1802	18-Oct	Lt Matthew Flinders, RN, HMS Investigator, discovered the passage through the Great Barrier Reef which now bears his name. Charts made by Flinders at this time were the first to bear the names Australia and Coral Sea.
1802	31-Oct	Lt Matthew Flinders, RN, HMS Investigator, discovered a new passage into the Gulf of Carpentaria.
1802	1-Dec	Cdr Matthew Flinders, RN, HMS Investigator, discovered and named the Wellesley Islands.
1802	15-Dec	Cdr Matthew Flinders, RN, HMS Investigator, discovered Pellew Island and named it in honour of Sir Edward PelIew, ‘a distinguished officer of the British Navy’
1803	5-Feb	Surgeon George Bass, RN, sailed from Port Jackson in the brig Venus. The ship vanished without trace en route to Chile.
1803	17-Feb	Cdr Matthew Flinders, RN, HMS Investigator, discovered a fleet of 60 Malayan proas fishing in the Gulf of Carpentaria. The vessels were of about 25 tonnes burden.
1803	11-Mar	Capt James Colnett, RN, HMS Glatton, was appointed Senior Officer of His Majesty’s Ships and Vessels in Port Jackson.
1803	17-Apr	Advertisement in the Sydney Gazette: ‘Stolen from His Majesty’s Dockyard on or about the evening of Sunday last the 10th of this present instant April — a new duck mainsail. This is therefore to give notice that if any person will give information to John Harris esq., whereby the said property may be recovered, and the delinquents brought to justice, the person so informing shall receive a reward of ten gallons of Spirits’.
1803	21-Apr	HMS Buffalo, stroreship, ex HMS Fremantle, Capt Wiliam Kent RN, sailed from Port Jackson to secure cattle from Bengal. Buffalo found a new route to India by Norfolk Island, the Solomon Islands and Java.
1803	9-Jun	HMS Investigator, Lt Matthew Flinders, RN, arrived in Port Jackson after circumnavigating Australia. The interpreter in the ship was Bungaree, who became the first Aboriginal to sail around his homeland.
1803	11-Aug	Lt Matthew Flinders, RN, HMS Porpoise, in company with the transports Bridgewater and Cato, sailed from Port Jackson for England.
1803	17-Aug	HMS Porpoise and the transport Cato were wrecked on Wreck Reef. Lt Matthew Flinders, RN, sailed an open boat to Port Jackson to obtain aid for the survivors.
1803	16-Sep	Capt Nicolas Baudin, French ship Le Gèographe, died at Mauritius.
1803	8-Oct	HM colonial schooner Cumberland, Lt Matthew Flinders, RN, rescued survivors of HMS Porpoise and the transport Cato, wrecked on Shipwreck Reef.
1803	18-Oct	Lt Tuckey, RN, HMS Cakutta, commenced a survey of Port Phillip.
1803	13-Nov	Henry Hacking, former quartermaster in HMS Sirius, was sentenced to seven years’ imprison-ment for stealing stores from HMS Porpoise.
1803	15-Dec	HM colonial schooner Cumberland, Cdr Matthew Flinders, RN, was seized by the Captain General of Mauritius, Charles Mathieu Decaen. Flinders was held prisoner for five and a half years. He was released on 19 June 1809 after the island was blockaded by a British squadron.
1804	5-Mar	Marines and seamen from HMS Calcutta, 54 guns, were despatched to Castle Hill near Sydney to put down a revolt by convicts.
1804	30-Mar	Lt Charles Menzies, Marines, founded the first settlement at Newcastle, NSW.
1804	1-Jun	Henry Hacking, former quartermaster in HMS Sirius and First Mate of HM colonial brig Lady Nelson, was appointed Coxswain to Governor Collins and Superintendent of Boats at Hobart.
1804	12-Sep	The Dutch vessel Swift was declared a legal prize by the Court of Vice Admiralty at Sydney and sold. Swift was captured by the British ship Policy, Capt C. S. Foster, in an action off Batavia. The ship was laid down as a French man-o’-war and was captured by HMS La Minerve in 1800. The ship was sold to American interests who later resold her to the Dutch East India Company.
1804	16-Oct	Boats from HMS Investigator, Lt Houston, RN, went to the rescue of the merchant ship Lady Barlow, which capsized in a gale in Port Jackson.
1804	4-Dec	HMS Buffalo, store ship, formerly HMS Fremantle, was blown up on a reef at Port Dalrymple, Tas. The ship was hauled off by the merchant vessel Integrity. A week later Buffalo assisted the foundation of the settlement at Port Dalrymple.
1804	5-Dec	The rank of Sub Lieutenant was established in the RN.
1805	25-Feb	Capt William Bligh, RN, HMS Warrior, 3rd rate, 74 guns, was charged before a court martial held in HMS San Joseph, of using indecent language to a junior officer. The court found the charges proved in part.
1805	29-Apr	Capt William Bligh, RN, was appointed Governor of NSW.
1805	21-Oct	HMS Victory’s band played ‘Rule Britannia’ and‘Britons Strike Home’ after prayers following the Battle of Trafalgar.
1806	13-Aug	Capt William Bligh, RN, Governor of NSW, questioned the RN’s right of occupation of Garden Island, Sydney.
1807	23-May	HMS Derwent, sloop, was launched at Ports-mouth, England. The vessel was employed on anti-slavery patrols on the Senegal coast.
1807	1-Jul	The Russian corvette Neva, Capt Leonti Hagemeister, sailed from Port Jackson to seek new territories in the Pacific for Russia.
1808	26-Jan	Capt William Bligh, RN, Governor of NSW was removed from office and arrested by mutinous officers of the NSW Corps led by Maj George Johnston.
1809	9-Apr	The Spanish prize Estremina, Ensigne Don Antonio del Campo, was escorted to Port Jackson by the colonial brig, HMS Lady Nelson. Estremina was captured by the brig Harrington off the coast of South America. The seizure of the vessel was the subject of litigation in the Court of Vice Admiralty in Sydney because of the doubt concerning whether Britain and Spain were still at war on the date of her capture.
1809	13-Jun	Cdr Matthew Flinders, RN, was released after being imprisoned by the French for five years and seven months on Mauritius.
1809	25-Jun	Jorgen Jorgenson, a former chief officer of HM colonial brig Lady Nelson, arrested the Governor of Iceland and declared Iceland free of Denmark. Jorgenson assumed the Governor’s office. The Danish adventurer some years before commanded a Danish man-o’-war in attacks on British ships.
1809	14-Aug	Jorgen Jorgenson, Captain of the Danish ship Admiral Juhl in an engagement with HMS Sappho in 1807, and the former Chief Officer of HM colonial brig Lady Nelson in Australia, was arrested by HMS Talbot in Reykjavik, Iceland.
1809	20-Aug	Sydney authorities were advised that the brig Harrington, piratically siezed by convicts in Port Jackson on 17 May 1808 had been taken by HMS Phoenix, frigate, in the Philippines.
1809	28-Dec	HMS Hindostan, 50-gun frigate, arrived in Port Jackson carrying the first military governor of NSW, Lachlan Macquarie.