HMS Mermaid (1817)

HMS Mermaid was a cutter of the Royal Navy. She was built in Howrah, India in 1816.

Between December 1817 and December 1820 she was used by Phillip Parker King to survey parts of the Australian coast not already examined by Matthew Flinders. King circumnavigated the Australian mainland and conducted a survey of the Inner Route through the Great Barrier Reef.

In September 1823 Mermaid carried John Oxley as he explored the Queensland coast south of Port Curtis, discovering the Brisbane and Tweed rivers. At Moreton Bay he rescued Thomas Pamphlett and John Finnegan, who had been ship-wrecked earlier in the year.

In September 1825 Mermaid transported Edmund Lockyer to Moreton Bay so he could explore the upper reaches of the Brisbane River.

In August 1826 John Richardson travelled on the Mermaid from Port Essington, on Melville Island, to Timor to obtain seeds.

Mermaid was wrecked on the southern side of Flora Reef, Queensland on 13 June 1829. The wreck was re-discovered by an underwater archaeology team led by the Australian National Maritime Museum in early 2009.