First Name:
Admiral John R.N.
Details:
After being made a captain in 1783, he brought before the Admiralty his design for ships with a sliding keel which allowed navigation of shallow waters. His design was tested successfully and incorporated by the Admiralty into several larger vessels, most notably HMS Lady Nelson, which explored parts of Australia. HMS Cynthia, a 16-gun ship sloop launched in 1796, had three sliding keels. He attained the rank of admiral of the blue in 1821. He married Margaret Grant (1761-1843), sister of The Rt. Hon. Sir William Grant, Master of the Rolls. The Schanks lived at Barton House, Dawlish, which was afterwards left to his brother-in-law, Major John Grant (1766-1835). He died at Barton House, 1823. Mount Schank and Cape Schanck, Australia were named for the Admiral in December 1800 by Lieutenant (later Captain) James Grant during his exploratory mission of the region while commanding the Lady Nelson.
First Name:
Admiral John R.N.,
Source:
The Annual Biography and Obituary 1834
Details:
Rev. Drury He had excellent intellectual neighbours in the late Sir William Watson, a Mr. Swete of Oxton House, and the late Sir George Dallas, who resided for some few years at Dawlish; and few things interested him more of late years than passing an occasional hour with Sir William Grant, the retired Master of the Rolls, who chose his retirement at the same place, at the house of his brother-in-law, the venerable Admiral Schank, and afterwards of his sister, the admiral's widow, where he died.
First Name:
Admiral John R.N.,
Source:
1832. Records of My Life by the late John Taylor Esq.,
Details:
Here I must pause to pay a tribute of respect to my old and worthy friend Admiral Schank, who was a true British tar, of a hospitable spirit, and manly sincerity. He was married to a very amiable and intelligent lady, a sister of Sir William Grant, late Master of the Rolls. Admiral Schank had a high reputation in the navy, and was the inventor of a vessel named the Woolverine. For some years before his death he suffered by a gradual loss of sight, and at last became totally blind. He had consulted several surgeons, who told him that his disorder was a commencing cataract, and at length he consulted me. I told him with much regret that his disorder was not a cataract, which admitted of relief, but that I feared it would prove a gutta-serena. He however went to several parts of the kingdom, where persons resided who were reputed to be successful in treating disorders of the eye, but in vain; and after many a fruitless journey he said, " I wish I had depended on my friend Taylor's opinion at first, for I should then have saved myself from disappointment and the expense of at least three hundred pounds.
Source:
Annual Review published in 1805
Details:
Captain Schank agreed with him in opinion, and added, that if this deep keel was made moveable, and to be screwed upwards into a trunk or well formed within the vessel, so as that on necessity, they might draw little water, all these advantages might be obtained. On this suggestion a boat was built in 1774- at Boston in New England, which answered in every respect. Here the matter rested till 1789, when captain Schank improved upon his idea, and built at Deptford several vessels with' three sliding keels, or having the original sliding keel divided into three separate parts with considerable intervals between them; three of which vessels, the Trial cutter, the Cynthia sloop of war, and the Lady Nelson, the smallest of the three, are now in the service of government. To establish the utility of this asserted improvement was probably one of the objects of this expedition, and with, this view lieutenant Grant, an intimate friend of captain Schank, and a warm supporter of his invention, seems to have been appointed to the command of the Lady Nelson.
First Name:
Captain John, R.N.,
Source:
Memoirs of Hydrography. Entry for Lieutenant James Grant
Details:
The voyage of discovery of Lieutenant Grant, apparently undertaken with less than the usual amount of high patronage, has, in consequence, been greatly overlooked; it was singular in more respects than one. Captain Schank R.N., seems to have been in about the year 1800, a strong advocate for building small vessels in watertight compartments, and with sliding keels or centre boards. Under his direction the Lady Nelson of 60 tons was ordered to be so fitted, and the ultimate service allotted to her, was that of exploring the sea limits of the territory of New South Wales
Source:
The Ship Builders' complete guide etc
Details:
(Extract).......This plan has lately been put into execution by Captain Schank, with this difference only, that instead of the keels being fixed as proposed by Mr. Gordon, Captain Schank constructed them so as to slide down to a certain depth below the bottom, or to be drawn up within the ship as occasion might require. Captain Schank having communicated his plans to the Navy Board, two vessels were in consequence ordered to be built of 13 tons each, and similar in dimensions, one on the old construction, and the other flat-bottomed, with sliding keels. In 1790 a comparative trial in presence of the commissioners of the navy was made on the river Thames, each having the same quantity of sail; and although the vessel on the old construction had leeboards, a greater quantity of ballast, and two Thames pilots aboard, yet Captain Schank's vessel with three sliding keels beat the other vessel, to the astonishment of all present, one half of the whole distance sailed; and no doubt she would have beat her much more had she been furnished with a Thames pilot. This trial gave so much satisfaction, that a king's cutter of 120 tons was immediately ordered to be built on the same construction, and Captain Schank was requested to superintend its building. This vessel was launched at Plymouth in 1791, and named the Trial. The length of this vessel is 66 feet, breadth 21 feet and depth of the hold 7 feet: her bottom is quite flat and draws only six feet water, with all her guns, stores, &c., whereas all other vessels of her tonnage on the old construction draw 14 feet; so that she can go with safety into almost any harbour or creek. She has three sliding keels inclosed in a case or well; they are each 14 feet in length; the fore and the after keels are 3 feet broad each, and the middle keel is 6 feet broad. The keels are moveable by means of a winch, and may be let down 7 feet below the real keel; and they work equally well in a storm as in still water. Her hold is divided into several compartments, all water-tight, and so contrived, that should even a plank or two start at sea in different parts of the vessel, she may be navigated with the greatest security to any place
Surname:
Schank's Forest Pasture Plains
Source:
Annual Register - Account of 'Narrative of a Voyage of Discovery performed in His Majesty's Vessel the Lady Nelson, by Lieutenant Grant of the Royal Navy
Details:
On June 28, move six miles up the river: Mr. Barallier employed in doing survey; Colonel Paterson, Dr. Harris, and Mr. Lewin, an ingenious draftsman of natural history; go up the river to examine its course, and inspect the country: woods, abound with light timber; meet with the cabbage tree; fell it; eats better crude than drest (dressed) On. 4th July, Launch returns with a letter from Colonel Paterson, dated Schank's Forest, Pasture Plains, forty miles distant from the vessel. On the 7th, set off to join them with a recruit of provisions; river very serpentine, and about as broad as the Thames, at Kingston: the cedar on the banks bore evident marks of frequent immersion in the water, to the depth of forty or fifty feet; mount a beautiful ascent, richly clothed with grass; an extensive view of a fine campaign country; would make a very eligible settlement; call the eminence mount Egerton; hear the bugle horn; answer the signal; join the party.
