HMS Rattlesnake (1822)

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HMS Rattlesnake was a 28-gun sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy launched in 1822. She made a historic voyage of discovery to the Cape York and Torres Strait areas of northern Australia.

Launched at Chatham Dockyard on 26 March 1822, Rattlesnake was 114 feet (34.7 m) long and 32 feet (9.7 m) abeam. As a frigate she carried twenty 32-pounder carronades, six 18-pounder carronades and two 9-pounder long guns. She was converted to a survey ship in 1845 and broken up in 1860.

Captain on the voyage to northern Australia and New Guinea was Owen Stanley. Also aboard were John Thomson (Surgeon), Thomas Henry Huxley as Assistant Surgeon ('surgeon's mate', but in practice marine naturalist) and John MacGillivray as botanist.

HMS Rattlesnake was the ship that rescued Barbara Crawford Thompson, who had been shipwrecked on Prince of Wales Island, North Queensland, aged 16, living with the local Kaurareg people for the next five years, despite their reputation for being cannibals.^{[1] [2]}

For full account of the Australian voyage see: "The Ratlesnake" by Jordan Goodman, pub 2005 by Faber & Faber. ISBN 0-571-21073-2.

[edit] External links

• Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Volume 1, available at Project Gutenberg.
• Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Volume 2, available at Project Gutenberg.
• Images from the voyage of the Rattlesnake at the State Library of New South Wales