Shearston John (1 results)

Sydney : Thomas Richards, Government Printer, 1885. First edition. Octavo (212 x 142 mm), original printed pink wrappers (light stains); pp.78; title-page with off-setting, else contents clean and sound; [TOGETHER WITH] An albumen print photograph (c.1885) by Charles Bayliss of HMS Nelson alongside the ferry Brighton in Sydney Harbour, inscribed verso in period hand 'From Fort Denison. "Brighton" & "Nelson"'; 140 x 180 mm, fine condition, unmounted; the booklet and photograph are housed together in a custom-made protective box of red cloth with gilt-lettered leather title label. 'If a singular British warship could be called the harbinger of the formation of the Royal Australian Navy, that warship is HMS Nelson . Commodore Erskine arrived in HMS Nelson in Sydney Harbour on 8th January 1882, amid an impending Russian war scare and great jubilation from the citizens of Sydney. HMS Nelson had been built at Glasgow by John Elder and Co., in 1876 and is described as an armour-belted ship, twin screw, 12 guns . The ship?s company consisted of 33 officers, 8 Chief Petty Officers, 66 Petty Officers, 200 seamen, 37 other ratings, 19 Domestics, 42 Boys, 73 Engine Room Artificers (including 11 Leading Stokers and 45 Stokers), 77 Royal Marines, a total of 555 . the ship arrived at Port Moresby on the 2nd November 1884 and on the 6th, Commodore Erskine, in the presence of a large number of native chiefs, proclaimed the Protectorate over what was to become British New Guinea, later Papua.' (Naval Historical Society of Australia).