Francis Cadell (explorer)

Francis William Cadell (9 February 1822 – 1879) was a European explorer of Australia, most remembered for opening the Murray River up for transport by steamship and for his activities as a slave trader.

Cadell was born in Cockenzie, Haddingtonshire, Scotland, the second son of Hew Francis Cadell (ca.1791 – 27 April 1873), mine-owner and shipbuilder of a notable Scottish family. Educated in Edinburgh and at Cuxhaven, Germany, he joined the East Indiaman Minerva at the age of 14, and sailed in her to the first China war in 1839, later claiming a part in the siege of Canton. Soon after he was given a ship by his father.

Cadell went to South America, had experience of river navigation on the Amazon River.

He first arrived in Australia in January 1849 as captain of the schooner Royal Sovereign, visiting Adelaide, Circular Head and Sydney., sailing in ballast for Singapore in June.

In 1850 the South Australian government had offered a bonus of £4000 to be equally divided between the owners of the first two iron steamers that should successfully navigate the Murray from Goolwa to the junction of the Darling River. When Cadell returned to Australia in 1852, he arrived at Port Adelaide in command of the clipper Queen of Sheba. The government's bonus for the navigation of the Murray River had not been claimed and Cadell stayed in Adelaide, formulating a design for a suitable steamboat in partnership with his father's agent, William Younghusband.

Cadell gave orders for the construction of a steamer in Chowne's Yard, Sydney. While it was being built, explored the Murray in a canvas boat named Forerunner, in which, with four men, he travelled 1,300 miles (2,100 km) from Swan Hill downstream. The canvas boat was conveyed overland from Melbourne to Swan Hill.

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