View of the Lady Nelson in the Thames, from a painting in the possession of the Victorian Government  ...

The objects for which the Lady Nelson's voyages were undertaken render her logbooks of more than ordinary interest. She was essentially an Australian discovery ship and during her successive commissions she was employed exclusively in Australian waters. The number of voyages that she made will perhaps never be accurately known, but her logbooks in existence testify to the important missions that she accomplished. The most notable are those which record early discoveries in Victoria: the explorat

The logbooks of the Lady Nelson bear witness to the leading part played by one small British ship in the discovery of a great continent. They show how closely, from the date of her first coming to Sydney in 1800 until her capture by pirates off the island of Baba in 1825, this little brig was identified with the colonisation and development of Australia. In entering upon her eventful colonial career, "the Lady Nelson did that which alone ought to immortalize her name—she was the first ship that