''Lady Elliot'' was a ship that was probably wrecked off the coast near

Cardwell, Queensland Cardwell is a coastal town and rural locality in the Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Cardwell had a population of 1,309 people. Geography The Bruce Highway National Highway 1 and the North Coast railwa ...

, Australia in 1816. It was a ship of 353 tons and had been constructed in

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

, India, completed in 1815. The ship was probably named after Anna Maria Elliot, the wife of

Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto, (; 23 April 175121 June 1814), known as Sir Gilbert Elliott, 4th Baronet until 1797, and The Lord Minto from 1797 to 1814, was a British diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Com ...

, a Scottish politician who was

Governor-General of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 1 ...

between 1807 and 1813. Anna Maria (later Lady Elliot) was the daughter of Sir

George Amyand Sir George Amyand, 1st Baronet (26 September 1720 – 16 August 1766) was a British Whig politician, physician and merchant. Origins He was the second son of Claudius Amyand, Surgeon-in-Ordinary to King George II, by his wife Mary Rabache, a ...

, 1st Baronet. An alternative story suggests that it was named after Margaret, wife of Gilbert's brother,

Hugh Elliot Hugh Elliot (6 April 1752 – 1 December 1830) was a British diplomat and then a colonial governor. Education and early career Hugh Elliot was born on 6April 1752, the second son of Sir Gilbert Elliot, and the younger brother of Gilbert E ...

, a diplomat and

Governor of Madras This is a list of the governors, agents, and presidents of colonial Madras, initially of the English East India Company, up to the end of British colonial rule in 1947. English Agents In 1639, the grant of Madras to the English was finalized ...

from September 1814 to June 1820. However, Hugh Elliot's wife was not a "Lady", as he was a career diplomat and did not inherit any titles of nobility. The ship was registered in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comm ...

and was under the command of Thomas Stewart. Sometime before 23 June 1816,

Lady Elliot Island Lady Elliot Island is the southernmost coral cay of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. The island lies north-east of Bundaberg and covers an area of approximately . It is part of the Capricorn and Bunker Group of islands and is owned by th ...

was officially discovered and named by Captain Thomas Stewart aboard ''Lady Elliot''. Note: Misspelt as Stuart in this pamphlet. The ship arrived in Sydney from Calcutta on 23 June 1816 with a cargo of mixed merchandise. The ship left Sydney sometime between 12 and 22 September for Batavia under the captaincy of Joshua Abbott. The ship was carrying a cargo of hats,

indigo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', ...

, sealskins,

turpentine Turpentine (which is also called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, terebenthene, terebinthine and (colloquially) turps) is a fluid obtained by the distillation of resin harvested from living trees, mainly pines. Mainly used as a special ...

, tar and

white lead White lead is the basic lead carbonate 2PbCO3·Pb(OH)2. It is a complex salt, containing both carbonate and hydroxide ions. White lead occurs naturally as a mineral, in which context it is known as hydrocerussite, a hydrate of cerussite. It was ...

. The ship apparently never reached Batavia and the wreck was not found until some years after. The crew of 54, who were mostly

Lascar A lascar was a sailor or militiaman from the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, the Arab world, British Somaliland, or other land east of the Cape of Good Hope, who was employed on European ships from the 16th century until the middle of t ...

s, probably drowned or perished on reaching shore. It was wrecked on a reef about south of

Cardwell Cardwell may refer to: Places Australia *Cardwell, Queensland United States *Cardwell, Missouri *Cardwell, Montana * Cardwell Hall, Kansas State University Canada *Cardwell Parish, New Brunswick People *Alvin B. Cardwell (1902–1992), America ...

North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its tropical northern part has been ...

(near Forrest Beach), which is now named

Lady Elliot Reef Forrest Beach is a small coastal locality in the Shire of Hinchinbrook, Queensland, Australia. In the , Forrest Beach had a population of 1,254 people. Allingham is the coastal town within the locality. Lady Elliot Reef lies close to the coast ...

. According to the

Australasian Underwater Cultural Heritage Database __NOTOC__ The Australasian Underwater Cultural Heritage Database (AUCHD) is an online, searchable database containing data on shipwrecks, aircraft that have been submerged underwater or wrecked on the shore, and other artefacts of cultural sign ...

, there are conflicting reports regarding the fate of the ''Lady Elliot''. According to Loney (''Wrecks on the Queensland Coast'', 1993, p. 31) the ''Lady Elliot'' left Sydney for Batavia (Jakarta) in late September 1816 but did not arrive. Wreckage at the mouth of a small creek at Cardwell was identified as the ''Lady Elliot'', and it was presumed that all on board were lost. Stone (''Encyclopedia of Australian Shipwrecks and other Maritime Incidents'', 2006, p. 510) supports Loney's version of events. According to Paterson (''Wreck-ollections: Ships and Shipwrecks in Queensland Waters (Volume 1)'', 2003, p. 90) despite the vessel being posted as missing at sea, it arrived at Batavia ( Jakarta) after 107 days at sea, as was reported in the ''Calcutta Gazette'' of 27 February 1817. Paterson states that the identification of wreckage at the mouth of a creek north of Cardwell was later found to be false, as the ''Lady Elliot'' was finally wrecked near the

Caroline Island Caroline Island (also known as Caroline Atoll or Millennium Island) is the easternmost of several uninhabited coral atolls comprising the southern Line Islands in the central Pacific Ocean nation of Kiribati. The atoll was first sighted by Eu ...

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Attribution 3.0 Australia (CC BY 3.0 AU)
licence. Research details compiled for the

Queensland Museum The Queensland Museum is the state museum of Queensland, dedicated to natural history, cultural heritage, science and human achievement. The museum currently operates from its headquarters and general museum in South Brisbane with specialist m ...

Wreck Register indicates the vessel was refloated, as a Dutch newspaper reference (''Javaasche Courant'') announced the vessel's arrival in Java in November 1816, i.e. after the supposed date of loss.

References

{{coord missing, Pacific Ocean Shipwrecks of Queensland History of New South Wales Individual sailing vessels Maritime incidents in 1816