James Grant (1772 – 11 November 1833) was a Scottish born

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

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

navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's primar ...

in the early nineteenth century. He served in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 1800-1801 and was the first to map parts of the south coast of Australia.

Early life

Grant was baptized on 6 September 1772 at Forres,

Morayshire Moray; ( gd, Moireibh ) or Morayshire, called Elginshire until 1919, is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland, bordering Nairnshire to the west, Inverness-shire to the south, and Banffshire to the east. It w ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. He was educated at King's College, Aberdeen, under Dr. William Chalmers. He entered the Royal Navy as a captain's servant in August 1793 and was appointed a

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Afr ...

in May 1794. He passed his board for promotion to lieutenant and was promoted in 1800.

Voyages of exploration

Thanks to his friendship with Captain

John Schank Admiral John Schank (6 February 1823) was an officer of the British Royal Navy known for his skill in ship construction and mechanical design. Biography He was the son of Alexander Schank of Castlerig, Fife, Scotland. He entered the Royal Navy w ...

, as a lieutenant he took command of , a new vessel of 60 tons fitted with a centre-board (or "Schank") keel, towards the end of 1799 he sailed from the River Thames for Port Jackson on 18 March 1800. A brig of 60 tons, she carried a crew comprising the commanding officer, two mates and twelve seamen. His instructions were to proceed to Australia to prosecute "the discovery and survey of the unknown parts of the coast of New Holland", although it was always intended that he should hand the ship to

Matthew Flinders Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British navigator and cartographer who led the first inshore circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland. He is also credited as being the first person to u ...

and take command of HMS ''Supply''. He sailed into Table Cape,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

on 8 July 1800. Here Grant received dispatches from the

Duke of Portland Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

advising him of the discovery of a strait between

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and

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 ...

. He was to sail through it on his way to Port Jackson, instead of sailing around Van Diemen's Land. Thus his was the first ship to sail through

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 ...

from west to east, charting the then unknown coastline. ''Lady Nelson'' entered the heads at Port Jackson at six in the evening of 16 December 1800 after a passage of seventy-one days from

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. When he arrived, it transpired that Flinders had returned to England and that ''Supply'' had been laid up as a hulk at

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, and Governor King reappointed him to the ''Lady Nelson''. He was ordered to return to the deep bay which he had sailed across in Bass Strait and make a general survey of the south coast. He left on 6 March 1801, got as far as

Western Port Western Port, (Boonwurrung: ''Warn Marin'') commonly but unofficially known as Western Port Bay, is a large tidal bay in southern Victoria, Australia, opening into Bass Strait. It is the second largest bay in the state. Geographically, it is do ...

where he conducted a survey. He was back at Sydney on 14 May 1801. On 10 June 1801 Grant sailed to the

Hunter River Hunter River may refer to: *Hunter River (New South Wales), Australia *Hunter River (Western Australia) *Hunter River, New Zealand *Hunter River (Prince Edward Island), Canada **Hunter River, Prince Edward Island, community on Hunter River, Canada ...

conveying Lieutenant Colonel Paterson, to consider the question of a settlement there and the probable extent of the coal deposits. After a particularly unpleasant period of disagreement with the officers of the

New South Wales Corps The New South Wales Corps (sometimes called The Rum Corps) was formed in England in 1789 as a permanent regiment of the British Army to relieve the New South Wales Marine Corps, who had accompanied the First Fleet to Australia, in fortifying the ...

in Sydney, Grant asked permission on 31 August 1801 to return to Europe, which was granted. King spoke very favourably of Grant's abilities as an officer and seaman, but it is evident that he was not satisfied with Grant's survey work on his voyage to Bass Strait, and Grant was himself conscious of his want of knowledge of nautical surveying. After his return Grant published in 1803 his ''Narrative of a Voyage of Discovery'' which was shortly afterwards translated into Dutch and German.

Later work

He reached the rank of commander in January 1805, and was given a pension in 1806 for wounds received in action while in command of hired armed cutter ''Hawke'' off the Dutch coast. Despite his wounds, he later commanded the sloops and .

Death

He died at

Saint-Servan Saint-Servan (often abbreviated as St. Servan; br, Sant-Servan) is a town of western France, in Brittany, situated 2 miles from the ferry port of Saint-Malo. It is renowned for its shops and restaurants. History In June 1758, during the Seven Ye ...

, France, on 11 November 1833.

Legacy

He was the first European to land on

Phillip Island Phillip Island (Boonwurrung: ''Corriong'', ''Worne'' or ''Millowl'') is an Australian island about south-southeast of Melbourne, Victoria. The island is named after Governor Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of New South Wales, by explorer ...

and

Churchill Island Churchill Island is a island in Western Port, Victoria, Australia. It is connected by a bridge to Phillip Island, which is in turn connected to the mainland by another bridge. It is the site of the first European garden in Victoria. It contain ...

. The south-west point of Phillip Island is named after him. He established a garden on

Grant in fiction

Grant's early career is the base for a character also named James Grant in

Patrick O'Brian Patrick O'Brian, Order of the British Empire, CBE (12 December 1914 – 2 January 2000), born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of sea novels set in the Royal Navy during t ...

's novel '' Desolation Island'', part of the Aubrey–Maturin series. In real life and in the fiction, Grant accomplished much at a young age sailing a sloop to New South Wales (a lieutenant could be captain of a sloop in the Royal Navy of that era) and writing a book about the voyage. In real life he was promoted to Commander; in fiction he is still a lieutenant in 1811, but wanting to be the captain.

Early life

Voyages of exploration

Later work

Death

Legacy

Grant in fiction

See also

References

Further reading