John Hayes

Voyage of 1793 and Exploration of Tasmania

In early 1793, Hayes undertook a privately backed commercial and exploratory voyage aboard the Duke of Clarence, accompanied by the Duchess, a smaller snow of 100 tons. The expedition was organised in Calcutta by a group of East India Company merchants—Udney, Frushard, and Laprimandaye—interested in the spice trade. Hayes, Captain Court, and a Mr. Robertson agreed to serve without pay, with only their living expenses covered. The expedition departed Calcutta on 6 February 1793.

Originally intending to sail to western New Guinea, the ships encountered unexpected southeast trade winds and altered course. On 24 April, they reached Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania), and Hayes landed the following day at Adventure Bay, unaware that the French expedition under Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux had departed from the same location only weeks earlier.

Hayes undertook extensive coastal surveys in southeastern Tasmania, naming features such as Risdon Cove, Ralphs Bay, and Court’s Island. He renamed the French Rivière du Nord the River Derwent, and further inland he identified what he called King George’s Plains. He also designated the estuary as Fletcher Hayes' Gulf.

His chart of Van Diemen’s Land, dedicated to John Shore, 1st Baron Teignmouth, chairman of the East India Company, bore a number of English place names. These included New Yorkshire (north of the Derwent), New Cumberland (west of what is now D'Entrecasteaux Channel), and The Honourable William Pitt’s Isle (now Bruny Island). D’Entrecasteaux Channel itself appeared on Hayes’s map as Seton’s Strait, named after another company merchant, while Betsey Island may have been named for a Bombay Marine vessel.

Though Hayes later realised many of his ‘discoveries’ had already been recorded by the French, his charts were still influential. Matthew Flinders used a copy during his circumnavigation of Tasmania in 1798–99, correcting terminology but preserving most names.

During the expedition, tensions emerged with Mr. Robertson, the supercargo, who challenged Hayes’s authority and attempted to assert ownership over the ships. Hayes confined him and reported the matter to Calcutta authorities.

Hayes continued his voyage on 9 June, departing for New Caledonia, again unknowingly retracing the path of d’Entrecasteaux. In correspondence, Hayes expressed pride in his discoveries, writing: “I have discovered a strait abounding with many fine harbours... On the west side... some fine plains extending to the foot of a large mountain... I called [them] King George’s Plains.” He recorded the location at 42°47′30″ S, 147°30′54″ E, noting the presence of white cockatoos and colourful stones akin to carnelian.

Although ultimately overshadowed by French explorers and British surveyors like Flinders and George Bass, Hayes's 1793 voyage was a significant early British exploration of southeastern Tasmania. His naming of Risdon Cove proved especially enduring: a decade later, it became the site of the first British settlement in Tasmania under Lieutenant John Bowen.