Lady Nelson in the Bay of Islands
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Lady Nelson in the Bay of Islands shows a British survey vessel escorted by three Māori waka, arriving on a diplomatic mission to New Zealand.
The Lady Nelson was an unlikely hero. When she departed Portsmouth in 1800, she was considered so small and unseaworthy that many of her crew deserted rather than sail her. Yet this tiny 126-ton armed survey vessel became significant in charting the coasts of Australia and New Zealand during the early colonial period.
In 1806, Governor King of New South Wales gave the Lady Nelson an important mission: to return Tippahee, a prominent Māori chief of the Bay of Islands, "to his own dominions". Tippahee had made a formal visit to Sydney, staying at Government House - but on the journey aboard a whaler he had been severely mistreated.
The painting depicts the moment of arrival on 25 April 1806: "the Lady Nelson, escorted by three canoes bore up between two islands in the Bay of Islands and came to under the Island of Matuapo in two fathoms."
The painting is based on archive research of the subject, including reference to the National Maritime Museum model of Lady Nelson. Signed GS lower right, dated 25 lower left.
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