Design and Art Australia Online

sketcher and naval officer, son of Captain Samuel George Pechell RN and Caroline, née Thoyts, entered the Royal Navy in 1833 and served as mate on HMS Conway . He was aboard when the ship called at Fremantle (WA) on 12 December 1838 and when it departed four days later. A watercolour view of Fremantle attributed to Pechell is in the West Australian Museum. It must, however, have been done later from rough sketches or memories of his 1838 visit since there are several topographical inconsistencies, including an extra jetty and an absent Round House. The fact that the view was also produced as a photolithograph – a technique dating from the late 1860s – suggests that it may have been worked up then. An inscription on the mount reads, 'Painted by Chas. Pechell R.N., Midshipman HMS Rattlesnake and Lieutenant HMS Pelorus between 1837-40’, but there is no record of either ship visiting Fremantle, nor of Pechell being on board them at any time. He subsequently served in the Pique and in the gunnery-ship Excellent and was commissioned lieutenant on 5 December 1844. He then served in North America and the West Indies on board the Persian until paid off at the beginning of 1848.

Writers:

Staff Writer

Date written:

1992

Last updated:

2011