Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

Explorers of the Pacific: European and American Discoveries in Polynesia

John Watts

page 36

John Watts

1787 to 1788

Lieutenant John Watts, R.N., was a lieutenant on the Lady Penrhyn (340 tons) under Captain Sever. According to Watts, the ship was "a clumsy vessel and a heavy sailor." She was one of a fleet of eleven ships which sailed from the Isle of Wight on May 13, 1787, under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip, to found the earliest colony in Australia, New South Wales. This was the fleet which La Pérouse saw in Botany Bay on January 26, 1788, when it was weighing anchor to enter Port Jackson. After discharging her cargo of 102 female convicts at Port Jackson, the Lady Penrhyn sailed on May 5 for the further prosecution of the voyage. Though Captain Sever was in command of the ship, the three islands discovered are usually credited to Lieutenant Watts.

On May 31, 1788, were observed three of the four islands later known as the Kermadecs. Captain Sever went ashore on one of them which he named Macauleys Island after G. M. Macauley. The other two islands to the southward were named Curtis Isles, after Timothy and William Curtis. The smaller of these two islands was probably the small rocky islet which D'Entrecasteaux later named Esperance, after one of his ships, for his chart indicates that the name of Curtis Island was applied to the longer island.

Tahiti was reached on July 9 and refreshments were obtained for the ship. On July 23 she sailed for Macao. On August 8 the atoll of Tongareva was discovered and named Penrhyn Island, presumably after the ship. The Lady Penrhyn sailed out of Polynesia and arrived at Macao on October 19, 1788.