James Grant (navigator)

James Grant
Born	1772 Forres, Scotland
Died	11 November 1833 St Servan, France
Allegiance	UK
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Rank	Midshipman (1794) Lieutenant (1800) Commander (1805)
Commands held	Lady Nelson Hired armed cutter Hawke Raven Thracian

James Grant (1772 – 11 November 1833) was a British Royal Navy officer and navigator in the early nineteenth century. He made several voyages to Australia and Tasmania, and was the first to map parts of the south coast of Australia.

Grant was baptized on 6 September 1772 at Forres, Morayshire, Scotland. He was educated at King's College, Aberdeen, under Dr. William Chalmers. He entered the Royal Navy as a captain's servant in August 1793 and was appointed a midshipman in May 1794. He passed his board for promotion to lieutenant and was promoted in 1800.

Thanks to his friendship with Captain John Schank, as a lieutenant he took command of Lady Nelson, a new vessel of 60 tons fitted with a centre-board (or "Schank") keel, towards the end of 1799 he sailed from the River Thames for Port Jackson on 18 March 1800. A brig of 60 tons, she carried a crew comprising the commanding officer, two mates and twelve seamen. His instructions were to proceed to Australia to prosecute "the discovery and survey of the unknown parts of the coast of New Holland", although it was always intended that he should hand the ship to Matthew Flinders and take command of HMS Supply. He sailed into Table Cape, South Africa on 8 July 1800. Here Grant received dispatches from the Duke of Portland advising him of the discovery of a strait between New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land. He was to sail through it on his way to Port Jackson, instead of sailing around Van Diemen's Land. Thus his was the first ship to sail through Bass Strait from west to east, charting the then unknown coastline. Lady Nelson entered the heads at Port Jackson at six in the evening of 16 December 1800 after a passage of seventy-one days from Cape Town.

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