Commodore Sir John Hayes (bapt. 11 February 1768 – 3 July 1831) was an English officer of the

Bombay Marine The Royal Indian Navy (RIN) was the naval force of British India and the Dominion of India. Along with the Presidency armies, later the Indian Army, and from 1932 the Royal Indian Air Force, it was one of the Armed Forces of British India. ...

of the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

. Hayes was born in

Bridekirk Bridekirk is a village and civil parish in the Allerdale district in the county of Cumbria, England. It is around north of the Derwent river and about the same distance from the nearest large town of Cockermouth just south of the river. Brideki ...

, Cumberland, England, the son of Fletcher Hayes and Elizabeth Martin. On 7 December 1781, at age 13, he joined the Bombay Marine as a midshipman on the ''Bombay''. On 6 February 1793, he sailed from

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commer ...

on a private trading voyage with two chartered ships, the ''Duke of Clarence'' of 250 tons ( bm) and 14 guns and the ''Duchess'', an armed

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughou ...

of 100 tons (bm). The goal was to collect

nutmeg Nutmeg is the seed or ground spice of several species of the genus ''Myristica''. ''Myristica fragrans'' (fragrant nutmeg or true nutmeg) is a dark-leaved evergreen tree cultivated for two spices derived from its fruit: nutmeg, from its seed, an ...

from

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torres ...

. However, on passing

Timor Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western part. The Indonesian part, ...

, due to adverse winds he decided to navigate around the south coast of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

and resupply with wood and water at Adventure Bay in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. He spent some time exploring the area of the River Derwent, unaware that it had already been charted by

Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux Antoine Raymond Joseph de Bruni, chevalier d'Entrecasteaux () (8 November 1737 – 21 July 1793) was a French naval officer, explorer and colonial governor. He is perhaps best known for his exploration of the Australian coast in 1792, while ...

. He (re)named many geographic features, generally using the names of officers in the East India Company or his shipmates. Some of these names survive to the present day, including the River Derwent itself and

Risdon Cove Risdon Cove is a cove located on the east bank of the Derwent River, approximately north of Hobart, Tasmania. It was the site of the first British settlement in Van Diemen's Land, now Tasmania, the island state of Australia. The cove was na ...

. Leaving Tasmania on 9 June, he arrived at

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

on 28 June and explored the coast until leaving for New Guinea on 3 July. He was the first European to land on

Rossel Island Rossel Island (named after de Rossel, a senior officer on the French expedition of d'Entrecasteaux, 1791-1793; also known as Yela) is the easternmost island of the Louisiade Archipelago, within the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. Tree Isl ...

. He died in the

Coco Islands The Coco Islands ( my, ကိုကိုးကျွန်း) are a small group of islands in the northeastern Bay of Bengal. They are part of the Yangon Region of Myanmar. The islands are located south of the city of Yangon. Coco Island ...

, in the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line bet ...

, while en route to

, aged 63. His only son, Captain Fletcher Fulton Compton Hayes, was killed in

Awadh Awadh (), known in British historical texts as Avadh or Oudh, is a region in the modern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which was before independence known as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. It is synonymous with the Kośāla region of ...

during the

Indian Rebellion of 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the for ...

References

1768 births 1831 deaths British East India Company Marine personnel British explorers Explorers of Australia Knights Bachelor Royal Navy personnel of the American Revolutionary War British military personnel of the Third Anglo-Mysore War Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars British military personnel of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars British military personnel of the First Anglo-Burmese War People from Bridekirk {{UK-explorer-stub