Philip Parker King
Admiral
Phillip Parker King,
R.N. F.R.S. (
13 December 1793-
1856) was an early explorer of the
Australian coast.
He was born on
Norfolk Island, to
Philip Gidley King and
Anna Josepha King and named for his father's mentor,
Arthur Phillip. Sent to
England for education in
1796, he joined the
Royal Navy in
1807, and was promoted to
lieutenant in
1814.
He was assigned to survey the parts of the Australian coast not already examined by
Matthew Flinders, and made four voyages between December
1817 and April
1822. The first three trips were in the
cutter HMS Mermaid, but the vessel was grounded in
1820, and the fourth trip was undertaken in the
sloop HMS Bathurst. He also sailed to
Bass Strait and
Tasmania for measurements.
He had been promoted to
commander in July
1821, and in April
1823 returned to England. He subsequently commanded the survey vessel
HMS Adventure, and in company with
HMS Beagle, spent five years surveying the complex coasts around the
Strait of Magellan. The result was presented at a meeting of the
Royal Geographical Society in
1831.
He was honored on the 2-pound
postage stamp of Australia in 1963.
*
King expedition of 1817*
The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea (Oxford, 1976) p. 450
*
NSW state papers holdings for Phillip Parker King*
NRA records for King*
Free ebook of Phillip Parker King at
Project Gutenberg
