Crawford Atchison Denman Pasco

TOP NAVAL MAN BURIED IN ST. KILDA CEMETERY

CRAWFORD PASCO, naval officer and police magistrate, was born in Plymouth on 17 January, 1818, the youngest son of Rear Admiral John Pasco.

John Pasco was flag lieutenant on Nelson’s ‘Victory’ at Trafalgar and signalled the famous message: ‘England expects every man will do his duty’.

Crawford Atchison Denman Pasco, Commander RN FRGS died in Australia on 18 February, 1898 and is buried at St Kilda Cemetery. Crawford was only 12 years old when he entered the British Navy. He served as a midshipman in Portugal, Peru and Chile and was aboard the Beagle when it surveyed the North and Western coastlines of Australia, filling in the gaps on Flinders’ charts. Later he continued his survey work on board the ‘Vansittart’ in Bass Strait.

Crawford Pasco was on sick leave from the Navy when he came to Victoria on the inaugural voyage of the steamship Chusan. Such were his navigational skills that he was roused from his sick bed to help take the ship through the treacherous Port Phillip heads – even though he hadn’t been through them before.

Pasco retired from the Navy and settled in Victoria. He was appointed Police Magistrate and helped to organise a greatly expanded water police force at Williamstown.

He was a foundation member of the Victorian Branch of the Geographical Society, and chairman of the Antarctic Exploration Committee. It is said he ‘feared God and the Melbourne Club’. Pasco Street, Williamstown, is named after Admiral John Pasco.