Crawford Atchison Denman Pasco (17 January 1818 – 28 February 1898) was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

officer and Australian

police magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

during the 19th century.

Career

There were two periods to his career, first as in the Royal Navy: *He joined aged 12 years, in 1830 and served on: * including the 1832 blockade of the

Scheldt The Scheldt (french: Escaut ; nl, Schelde ) is a river that flows through northern France, western Belgium, and the southwestern part of Netherlands, the Netherlands, with its mouth at the North Sea. Its name is derived from an adjective corr ...

during the Portuguese Civil War, and the 1833

Siege of Porto The siege of Porto is considered the period between July 1832 and August 1833 in which the troops of Dom Pedro remained besieged by the forces of Dom Miguel I of Portugal. The resistance of the city of Porto and the troops of Dom Pedro made t ...

on * and 1834–37 stationed chiefly off Peru and Chile * 1838 under Lieutenant

Owen Stanley Captain Owen Stanley FRS RN (13 June 1811 – 13 March 1850) was a British Royal Navy officer and surveyor. Life Stanley was born in Alderley, Cheshire, the son of Edward Stanley, rector of Alderley and later Bishop of Norwich. A brother w ...

and sailed to

Port Essington Port Essington is an inlet and historic site located on the Cobourg Peninsula in the Garig Gunak Barlu National Park in Australia's Northern Territory. It was the site of an early attempt at British settlement, but now exists only as a remote ...

to prepare a settlement * 1839 under John Clements Wickham, then under John Lort Stokes, engaged in surveying parts of Australia's northern and western coasts, discovering in particular the Adelaide River, the future port of Darwin and the Victoria River *Colonial cutter ''Vansittart'' 1842 for survey work in

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The strait provides the most direct waterwa ...

*1843 returned to England and appointed to sailed via America to the Far East, South Africa,

Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 before it became a sepa ...

and thence to

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

with two million dollars, reparation from the

Opium War The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of the ...

. He sailed for

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

, subdued a rebellious rajah in Borneo, and then visited the Philippines *the paddle-steamer surveying the

Canton River The Pearl River, also known by its Chinese name Zhujiang or Zhu Jiang in Mandarin pinyin or Chu Kiang and formerly often known as the , is an extensive river system in southern China. The name "Pearl River" is also often used as a catch-al ...

and then the Palawan Island area, with renewed contact with Borneo rebels *1851 returned to England on leave because of illness *retired from the navy he settled in Victoria He wrote in 1846 to the editor of the '' Hong Kong Register'' suggesting that the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P. & O. Co.) might extend its mail steamer services from Singapore to Australia. The letter was republished in the Sydney Morning Herald. and other Australian papers. In 1852 P. & O. Co. gave him free passage on the inaugural voyage to Australia of the . And later in Victoria, Australia: *1852 appointed a territorial magistrate, superintendent of water police and resident magistrate at Williamstown After repeated clashes with officers of the hulks, following a board of inquiry, in 1857 he was transferred to Swan Hill *later he was magistrate at Maryborough,

Port Albert Port Albert is a coastal town in Victoria, Australia, on the coast of Corner Inlet on the Yarram - Port Albert Road, south-east of Morwell, south-east of Melbourne, in the Shire of Wellington. At the , Port Albert had a population of 293. L ...

and

Alexandra Alexandra () is the feminine form of the given name Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; GEN , ; meaning 'man'). Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "prot ...

*with many other magistrates he was dismissed on 24 January 1878.

Retirement

Pasco retired in Melbourne and became a founder member of the Victorian branch of the

Royal Geographical Society of Australasia On 22 June 1883, the Geographical Society of Australasia started at a meeting in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. A branch was formed in Victoria in the same year. In July 1885, both the Queensland and the South Australian branches started. In ...

in 1884, he was chairman of the first Antarctic Exploration Committee. In 1885, he published ''Early exploration of Australia''. In 1897 he published ''A Roving Commission'', a vivid account of his naval life.

Family

Crawford Pasco (1818–1898) was the youngest son of

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

John Pasco Rear-Admiral John Pasco (1774–1853) served in the Royal Navy between 1784 and 1853, eventually rising to the rank of rear admiral. He acted as signal officer on board at the Battle of Trafalgar and notably advised on the wording of Nelson's fa ...

and his wife Rebecca, née Penfold. He was married twice, first to Mary Elizabeth Emmett, daughter of Henry James Emmett and Mary Elizabeth Thompson, née Townsend, After the death of his first wife he married Francis Emily Barker, daughter of Dr. Thomas Barker and Francis Alicia née Lauder of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. There were 8 and 3 offspring respectively from his marriages.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pasco, Crawford Atchison Denman 1818 births 1898 deaths Australian magistrates Military personnel from Plymouth, Devon English emigrants to Australia Royal Navy officers