- Author
- A.N. Other
- Subjects
- Biographies and personal histories, Ship histories and stories, History - pre-Federation
- Tags
- RAN Ships
- None noted.
- Publication
- March 2012 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
Lort Stokes had completed a remarkable 18 years rising from Midshipman to Commander in this one ship. In 1846 he was promoted Captain and given command of the steam ship HMS Acheron in which he spent four years surveying New Zealand waters. He was promoted Rear Admiral in 1863 and reached full Admiral in 1877, he died at his home in Wales in June 1885.
Returning to our ‘Chip of the Old Block’ from Cape Horn. A rock fragment taken by Lieutenant Fitzroy was later presented to his old commander Captain King and was housed at the King property ‘Dunheved’, the house and property now subsumed by the outer Sydney suburb of St Marys. The specimen eventually passed to his son Philip who was with his father on the first voyage and had served under Fitzroy as a midshipman during the second voyage. On 12 December 1899 Philip King wrote to the then Director of the Australian Museum offering to donate his father’s memento and the specimen was accepted into the Museum’s keeping together with the original letter of authenticity.