Talk:Zenobia (1815 ship)

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Question[edit]

Having found my way there from the Torres Strait article (which I have just linked to this ship) I have just removed this section from HMS Zenobia (1807)":

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==Saumarez Reefs== [[File:Saumarez Reef1.jpg|right|thumb|250px|''Satellite view of Saumarez Reefs'']]
Lieutenant John Lihou, then Master of Zenobia, was on passage from Manila to South America and had chosen a route through Torres Strait. This was the first occasion a ship had navigated the Torres Strait from west to east. It was also the first occasion a ship traversed the Coral Sea from Torres Strait, south-eastward to the southward of New Caledonia. Lihou saw Sir James Saumarez' Shoal (now Saumarez Reefs) on 27 February 1823, and named the reef system after Vice-Admiral James Saumarez. On this same trip, Lihou discovered the Lihou Reef and Cays and Port Lihou. Zenobia left Sydney, New South Wales, in April.

Please note that this information appears to be incorrect and confuses two ships of the same name. The Zenobia captained by John Lihou was a 550-ton merchant vessel built at Calcutta. Port Lihou, on the southern shore of Prince of Wales Island, was originally named by Lihou as Port Yarborough. A description of Lihou's discovery of Port Yarborough is given in James Horsburgh's India Directory, vol. 1, 1841, and a brief account of Lihou's voyage through the Torres Strait, during which he lost four anchors and a rudder, is found in the Sydney Gazette of April 1823.

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I was about to add some of this info to this article and then tie it all up with the others, but thought I'd better run this past some knowledgeable ship editors, such as {Acad Ronin. There is this in the RNB: JOHN LIHOU, Esq. - nephew to Saumarez. A quick look at Lloyds shows Pelly's name for Zenobia in 1823 (and before and after). No mention of Lihou in the register over those years. Presumably because John Lihou was not a master or commander? Bio says "On the 12th May 1827, Mr. Lihou was promoted to the rank of commander", and was he only captain from 1833? (Ah, just checked Lloyd's, 1933 nothing, found him in 1834.)
Lihou Reef National Nature Reserve - says Lihou on HMS Zenobia, while Port Lihou Island refers to the merchant ship (uncited). Any thoughts, anyone? I just find it a bit odd that those places were named after him and not the captain, but perhaps he did the navigating? Laterthanyouthink (talk) 06:56, 6 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]