Norfolk (sloop)

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A replica of Norfolk

The Colonial sloop Norfolk was built on Norfolk Island in 1798. The 25 ton sloop was constructed from Norfolk Island Pine.

“The necessity of a vessel to keep up a more frequent intercourse with Norfolk Island, …having been much felt by the want of various stores …occasioned Captain Townson, the Commanding officer, to construct a small decked boat, sloop rigged, in which he sent His letters to this port…”[1][2]

In his book Geoffrey Ingleton states Norfolk “… started life as the longboat of HMS Sirius” This is unfounded, [as it is impossible to widen a boat] Ingleton used the above as his reference.[3] Governor Hunter quickly put the Norfolk under the command of Matthew Flinders to be used as a survey vessel. In 1798-99 the Norfolk was used by Flinders and Bass to circumnavigate Tasmania – proving the existence of Bass Strait. Flinders also took the Norfolk north to chart Cook’s Morton’s Bay (now Moreton Bay) and Hervey’s Bay (Hervey Bay).[4][5]

The Norfolk was then used to supply produce from the Winsor Area to Port Jackson, until 1800 when she was seized by convicts, at the mouth of the Hawkesbury River. Intending to sail her to Maluku, the convicts ran her aground at Stockton on the northern side of the mouth to the Hunter River, today the point is named Pirate Point.

In 1998-99 Bern Cuthbertson [1924-2013[6]] from Sandy Bay, Tasmania, re-enacted all of the Norfolk{’}s journeys in a replica of the Norfolk, constructed of Tasmania Huon and Celery Top pines. The replica Norfolk is now on display at The Bass and Flinders Centre in George Town on Tasmania’s Tamar River.[7]

Alternative sources: Claim a ship named Norfolk was wrecked in Tahiti. That was a larger ship, also named Norfolk.[8]

Affiliations

References

  1. ↑ Collins, David (1802), An account of the English colony in New South Wales ..., Vol 2, London: T. Cadell Jun. and W. Davies, p. 85, retrieved 20 January 2012  [Port Jackson 15 June 1798.]
  2. ↑ The Matthew Flinders Electronic Archive at the State Library of New South Wales.
  3. ↑ Geoffry C. Inglton "Matthew Flinders Navigator and Chartmaker 1986" ISBN 0-949104-01-9
  4. ↑ A Voyage to Terra Australis, with an accompanying Atlas. 2 vol. – London : G & W Nicol, 18. July 1814.
  5. ↑ The Early History of Tasmania, R.W.Giblin 1928
  6. ↑ Bern passed away 17 December 2013
  7. ↑ http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1157394
  8. ↑ The Journal of Daniel Pain 1794–97 ISBN 0-908120-49-4

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