File:View of the encampment in Careening bay where the Mermaid was repaired.png

English: VIEW OF THE ENCAMPMENT IN CAREENING BAY. WHERE THE MERMAID WAS REPAIRED.

From a sketch by P.P. King. Published May 1825, by John Murray, London.

Careening Bay, was named after events in 1820. Lieutenant Phillip Parker King, on his third trip charting the coast of Western Australia, got into trouble with His cutter The Mermaid which began taking on water calling for drastic action. Waiting for the right tidal conditions, Parker King landed her on the beach. Hence the name.

Fortunately for Parker King there his crew were able to salvage metal from nearby shipwrecks, which was melted down and used to make repairs. During the ten days that it took to complete the maintenance, the ship’s carpenter visited the local Boab tree and carved ‘HMC Mermaid 1820’ into the trunk. Nearly 200-years later, the lettering has grown to 12m high and is a tourist attraction. The Boab, a distinctive tree with a fat trunk and few leaves, was evidently as much a pull to visitors in days-gone-by as there is also an old Makassan Islamic prayer alcove at the rear of the tree.