Francis Price Blackwood
Encyclopedia
Francis Price Blackwood (1809–1854) was a British
naval officer who while posted at several different locations during his time in the Royal Navy
, spent much of his time posted in colonial Australia
and was an instrumental pioneer of regions near Australia's east coast and nearby islands.
Born as the second son of Vice-Admiral Sir Henry Blackwood and his third wife, Harriet née Gore, Blackwood entered the navy at age twelve, but did not receive his first commission until 1828.
It was in 1833 that Blackwood was appointed to be in command of HMS Hyacinth
, a ship which would take him to Australia on his first visit and in which he would travel to the north-east coast to gather hydrographic data. In 1838 Blackwood received a promotion to the rank of captain
.
HMS Fly. He was appointed with the purpose of partaking in the initial hydrographic survey commissioned by the admiralty, which involved making explorations into and charting the waters of the Australian north-east coast.
Equipped with a wealth of costly instruments and housing two scientists (Joseph Jukes
, a geologist
, and John MacGillivray
,
a zoologist), the Fly departed from Falmouth, Cornwall
in 1842, with the accompaniment of the cutter Bramble (under the command of Lieutenant Charles Yule). Having stopped in Hobart
town between the months of August and October, it was not until December 1842 that the survey began, after the ships arrived in Sydney
.
Over the following three years, Fly traveled and chartered from Sandy Cape
to Whitsunday Island
, and also sailed past a range of other locations including both Swain Reefs and the Capricorn and Bunker Group
and the passage between these two. Fly also mapped and marked the outer lines of the Great Barrier Reef
. It was, in part, because of Blackwood and his comrades hydrographic and exploratory effort aboard the Fly that a beacon
was erected on Raine Island
in 1844 with the purpose of allowing surer and safer travel through the Great Barrier Reef and marking the best passage.
It was during this time that Bramble surveyed the Endeavour Strait
.
Later, in late 1844, Blackwood and Fly took a short voyage to Surabaya, but returned in April 1845 to chart a shipping route between Bramble Cay
and Endeavour Strait.
After this, Fly and Blackwood surveyed and chartered several other areas. This included a length of 100 mi (160.9 km) of the south-east coast of New Guinea
in the Gulf of Papua
where he discovered the Fly River
and named it after his ship. He also explored in the waters near Singapore
during this time.
It was after this call to Singapore that Fly returned to Sydney
and then, with Blackwood aboard, sailed for England in December 1845.
, Blackwood entered Jesus College, Cambridge
, and, on 12 October 1848, Blackwood married Jemima Sarah Strode. On 22 March 1854, Blackwood died. He is remembered as an important contributor to both hydrographic and cartographic knowledge of a great many locations. Many of the sailing directions and his findings are still apparent on present day charts.
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
naval officer who while posted at several different locations during his time in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, spent much of his time posted in colonial Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and was an instrumental pioneer of regions near Australia's east coast and nearby islands.
Born as the second son of Vice-Admiral Sir Henry Blackwood and his third wife, Harriet née Gore, Blackwood entered the navy at age twelve, but did not receive his first commission until 1828.
It was in 1833 that Blackwood was appointed to be in command of HMS Hyacinth
HMS Hyacinth (1829)
|HMS Hyacinth was an 18-gun Royal Navy sixth-rate sloop. She was launched in 1829 and surveyed the north-eastern coast of Australia under Francis Price Blackwood during the mid 1830s. She took part in the First Opium War, destroying, with HMS Volage, 29 Chinese junks...
, a ship which would take him to Australia on his first visit and in which he would travel to the north-east coast to gather hydrographic data. In 1838 Blackwood received a promotion to the rank of captain
Captain (naval)
Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....
.
Voyages of the Fly
Three years later, Blackwood was selected to command the sloopSloop-of-war
In the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. As the rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, this meant that the term sloop-of-war actually encompassed all the unrated combat vessels including the...
HMS Fly. He was appointed with the purpose of partaking in the initial hydrographic survey commissioned by the admiralty, which involved making explorations into and charting the waters of the Australian north-east coast.
Equipped with a wealth of costly instruments and housing two scientists (Joseph Jukes
Joseph Jukes
Joseph Beete Jukes , born to John and Sophia Jukes at Summer Hill, Birmingham, England, was a renowned geologist, author of several geological manuals and served as a naturalist on the expeditions of HMS Fly .Jukes was educated at Wolverhampton, King Edward's School, Birmingham and St John's...
, a geologist
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
, and John MacGillivray
John MacGillivray
John MacGillivray was a Scottish-naturalist, active in Australia between 1842 and 1867.MacGillivray was born in Aberdeen, the son of ornithologist William MacGillivray. He took part in three of the Royal Navy's surveying voyages in the Pacific...
,
a zoologist), the Fly departed from Falmouth, Cornwall
Falmouth, Cornwall
Falmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,635.Falmouth is the terminus of the A39, which begins some 200 miles away in Bath, Somerset....
in 1842, with the accompaniment of the cutter Bramble (under the command of Lieutenant Charles Yule). Having stopped in Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
town between the months of August and October, it was not until December 1842 that the survey began, after the ships arrived in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
.
Over the following three years, Fly traveled and chartered from Sandy Cape
Sandy Cape
Sandy Cape is the most northern point on Fraser Island off the coast of Queensland, Australia. The place was named by James Cook during his 1770 voyage up the eastern coast of Australia aboard the Endeavour...
to Whitsunday Island
Whitsunday Island
Whitsunday Island is the largest island in the Whitsunday group of islands located off the coast of Central Queensland, Australia. Whitsunday Island is located at...
, and also sailed past a range of other locations including both Swain Reefs and the Capricorn and Bunker Group
Capricorn and Bunker Group
The islands and reefs of the Capricorn and Bunker Group are situated astride the Tropic of Capricorn at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef, approximately 80 kilometres east of Gladstone, which is situated on the central coast of Queensland....
and the passage between these two. Fly also mapped and marked the outer lines of the Great Barrier Reef
Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world'slargest reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately...
. It was, in part, because of Blackwood and his comrades hydrographic and exploratory effort aboard the Fly that a beacon
Beacon
A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location.Beacons can also be combined with semaphoric or other indicators to provide important information, such as the status of an airport, by the colour and rotational pattern of its airport beacon, or of...
was erected on Raine Island
Raine Island
Raine Island is a vegetated coral cay that is 32 hectares in total area and is situated on the outer edges of the Great Barrier Reef, approximately north north west of Cairns, Queensland, Australia, and about 120 km east-north-east of Cape Grenville, Cape York Peninsula...
in 1844 with the purpose of allowing surer and safer travel through the Great Barrier Reef and marking the best passage.
It was during this time that Bramble surveyed the Endeavour Strait
Endeavour Strait
The Endeavour Strait is a strait running between the Australian mainland and Prince of Wales Island, in the extreme south of the Torres Strait...
.
Later, in late 1844, Blackwood and Fly took a short voyage to Surabaya, but returned in April 1845 to chart a shipping route between Bramble Cay
Bramble Cay
Bramble Cay, also called Naizab Kaur, Massaramcoer or Baramaki, and located at the northeastern edge of the Torres Strait Islands of Queensland and at the same time at the northern end of the Great Barrier Reef, is the northernmost point of land of Australia...
and Endeavour Strait.
After this, Fly and Blackwood surveyed and chartered several other areas. This included a length of 100 mi (160.9 km) of the south-east coast of New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
in the Gulf of Papua
Gulf of Papua
The Gulf of Papua is a 400 kilometer wide region on the south shore of New Guinea. Some of New Guinea's largest rivers, such as the Fly River, Turama River, Kikori River and Purari River, flow into the gulf, making it a large delta. While the western coast is characterized by swampy tidal...
where he discovered the Fly River
Fly River
The Fly at , is the second longest river, after the Sepik, in Papua New Guinea. The Fly is the largest river in Oceania, the largest in the world without a single dam in its catchment, and overall ranks as the twenty-fifth largest river in the world by volume of discharge...
and named it after his ship. He also explored in the waters near Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
during this time.
It was after this call to Singapore that Fly returned to Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
and then, with Blackwood aboard, sailed for England in December 1845.
The town of Blackwood, Victoria
The town of Blackwood in Victoria was named after Captain Francis Price Blackwood. Gold was discovered in Blackwood in 1854.Later life and death
A year after returning to EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Blackwood entered Jesus College, Cambridge
Jesus College, Cambridge
Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The College was founded in 1496 on the site of a Benedictine nunnery by John Alcock, then Bishop of Ely...
, and, on 12 October 1848, Blackwood married Jemima Sarah Strode. On 22 March 1854, Blackwood died. He is remembered as an important contributor to both hydrographic and cartographic knowledge of a great many locations. Many of the sailing directions and his findings are still apparent on present day charts.