|
CADELL, FRANCIS (1822-1879),
Australian explorer, son of H. F. Cadell, was bom at Cockenzie, near
Prestonpans, February 1822, and, after a somewhat brief education in
Edinburgh and Germany, became in his fourteenth year a midshipman in the
service of the East India Company. The vessel in which he sailed being
afterwards chartered by government as a transport, the lad took an active
part in the first Chinese war, 1840-1841, being present at the siege of
Canton, the capture of Amoy, Ningpo, &c., and winning honours as well as
prize-money. When only twenty-two he obtained the command of a ship. He
devoted the intervals between his voyages to obtaining a practical knowledge
of shipbuilding and of the construction of the marine steam-engine in the
shipbuilding yards of the Tyne and the workshops of the Clyde. On paying a
visit to Australia in 1848, his attention being directed to the navigation
of the Murray, a subject then uppermost in the colonial mind, he carefully
examined the mouth of that river and satisfied himself of the practicability
of the scheme. Sir Henry Young, then governor of South Australia, offered a
bonus of 4,000Z. for the first two iron steamers, of not less than 40
horse-power and of not more than 2 ft. draught of water when loaded, that
should successfully navigate the Murray from the town of Goolwa to the
junction of the Darling river. Cadell, returning to Australia in 1850, and
being encouraged by Sir Henry Young, set about determining the question of
the opening up of the Murray. He started from Melbourne with a canvas boat
carried on a packhorse, and, arriving at Swan Hill station, on the Upper
Murray, launched his bark upon the waters of the great stream, and, with
four gold-diggers as his companions, commenced a voyage of many hundred
miles. His examination of the river convinced him that there would be little
difficulty in navigating it with steamers, and his representations on this
subject on his arrival in Adelaide led to the formation of the Murray Steam
Navigation Company, chiefly promoted by himself and Mr. William Younghusband,
for some years chief secretary of South Australia. The first steamship of
the company’s fleet was called the Lady Augusta, after the wife of the
governor. On her voyage up the Murray, 25 Aug. 1853, accompanied by the
Eureka barge, she was commanded by Cadell, and had as visitors Sir Henry and
Lady Young. The Lady Augusta reached Swan Hill on 17 Sept., a distance of
1,300 miles from her starting-point, and returned thence with the first
cargo of wool that had been floated on the Murray. At a banquet given to Sir
Henry Young in Adelaide, a gold candelabrum of the value of 900 guineas,
with a commemorative inscription, was handed to Cadell. At the same time
three gold medals were struck by order of the legislature of South
Australia, and one of them given to Cadell {Illustrated London News, 24 Feb.
1855, p. 173, and 11 Aug. 1855, p. 176). He continued for some time to run
his vessel on the Murray, a higher point on the river being attained at each
successive trip. His company then purchased two other steamers, the Albury
and the Gundagai. In one of these, in October 1855, he reached the town of
Albury, on the Upper Murray, a point 1,740 miles from the Goolwa. In 1856 he
explored the Edward river, which, branching out of the Murray, rejoins it
lower down after a course of 600 miles. During 1858 he succeeded, after a
month’s voyage, in reaching the town of Gundagai, on the Murrumbidgee river,
a spot distant 2,000 miles from the sea and in the very heart of New South
Wales. In the following year he proceeded up the Darling river as far as
Mount Murchison. Largely as Cadell’s labours contributed to the development
of the resources of the colony of Australia, he himself derived very little
substantial reward from them. The sums granted in aid of his explorations
were utterly inadequate to cover the expenses incurred, and in his eagerness
to serve the public his attention was distracted from commercial pursuits.
The Murray Steam Navigation Company, never a commercial success, was
dissolved, and its founder, having lost all his money, retired into the bush
and began life again as a settler on a small station near Mount Murchison,
on the Darling.
In November 1867, when exploring in South Australia, he discovered the mouth
of the river Roper and a tract of fine pastoral country, in latitude 14° S.
The concurrence of bad seasons and misfortunes induced him at last to
undertake a trading voyage to the Spice Islands. In his schooner, the Gem,
fitted with auxiliary steam-power, he was on a passage from Amboyna to the
Kei Islands, when he was murdered by his crew, who afterwards sank the
vessel. This tragic event, which put an end to the career of one of the most
enterprising and honourable of men, took place in the month of June 1879.
You can borrow a book about him for 14 days on
the Internet Archive at:
https://archive.org/details/incomparablecapt00nich |
