Martin Islet (New South Wales)

Martin Islet (34°29′S 150°56′E / 34.483°S 150.933°E / -34.483; 150.933^[1]) is a small island lying just off Red Point, Port Kembla in New South Wales, Australia.

William Martin

The Five Islands, of which Martin Islet is one, were named Martins Isles by Matthew Flinders and George Bass after Bass's navy servant William Martin.^[2] Martin was part of their three-man crew when they anchored by the island on 25 March 1796 in the Tom Thumb, having been swept a long way off-course on their way to Port Hacking.^[3][4]

Little is known of Martin's life. He was baptised on 4 March 1781 at Dartford. In 1794 aged 13 he was employed by the navy as a loblolly boy, meaning personal servant, to Bass who was the surgeon on board HMS Reliance for her voyage to Australia. Martin was still with Bass in 1799 at age 18 when Bass left the navy, but at that point record of him ends.

William Martin was born in Dartford, Kent UK on 31.12.1780 and he was baptised at the Holy Trinity Church, Dartford on the 04.02.1781. He is the son of John and Ann Martin. His original handwritten birth and baptism record is available online via Medway Council – Medway Archives Centre www.medway.gov.uk/archives

[Click on ‘Search for Archives’ / Click on ‘Parish records (Archdeaconry of Rochester) / Scroll down until you reach Dartford Holy Trinity parish records P110, and click. / Click on the blue cross / Click on the blue cross next to the words ‘Incumbent, registers, and services’ / Look down the list of registers until you find the type and date of register in which you are interested. For William Martin you need the third result down, Register of baptisms, births and burials P110/1/3 1778-1812. Click on this register. / You will see 5 pdfs next to the words ‘digitised version’. Click on the first pdf. / The entry for William Martin is on page 6 of the 28 pages.]

William Martin as the [medical] servant to George Bass RN surgeon, on 15.02.1795 sailed on HMS Reliance bound for Port Jackson, New South Wales, arriving on 08.09.1795. The commander was [Governor] John Hunter and the second commander was Henry Waterhouse.  Matthew Flinders was a midshipman and indigenous man, Wollarawarre Bennelong was a passenger returning home.

The Muster-Table records of HMS Reliance indicate that both George Bass and William Martin [then 18 years old] were discharged [at Port Jackson] from the navy on 26.05.1799.  On the 29.05.1799, George Bass sailed on the Nautilus to Macao, China and then from Bombay, India sailed on the East India Company Woodford to England arriving on 04.08.1800. It is not known if William Martin returned to England with George Bass.

The Muster-Table record also indicates that on 19.10.1799, William Martin and two others [John Walsh or Welsh on 30th Oct., and William Mullins on 23rd Oct.,] were each discharged, with a notation that each of the three sailors were counselled by “[Governor] Hunter for insolence”. It is not known if this record and the discharge and counselling actually took place in October, 1799. There is a possibility that it is a record made later in the book regarding an event that occurred in May, 1799.

No record of William Martin has been found post May and October, 1799.

References

5. The National Archives UK [Muster-Table Record HMS Reliance.

6. The Journey of Tom Thumb II Bass and Flinders explore the Illawarra Coast - March 1796. Written and illustrated by Christine Hill - 2016 - ISBN 9780994470515

7. The Lone Hand, 01.07.1913 - The Tom Thumb: Her voyages, by J. H. M. Abbott - State Library NSW https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/234029811

8. Matthew Flinders' Narrative of Tom Thumb's Cruise to Canoe Rivulet - Edited by Keith Bowden - 1985 - South Eastern Historical Association, Victoria, Australia. ISBN 0 9500915 10

This page was last edited on 13 February 2024, at 15:38