HIXSON, FRANCIS (1833-1909), naval officer and public servant, was born on 8 January 1833 at Swanage, Dorset, England, son of William Hixson, master mariner, and his wife Annie, née Manwell. He joined the navy and in February 1848 as master's assistant in the Havannah, helped to survey parts of the Australian east coast, New Zealand and the South Seas and returned to England in December 1851. He then served in the Impregnable and in February 1852 joined the Herald in the expedition to survey and take possession of New Caledonia. They arrived to find the French already in occupation so they surveyed among the Fijian islands and along the Australian coast and went to Sydney. In 1855 Hixson became acting second master. In 1858 he won the silver medal of the Royal Humane Society for the rescue of a drowning seaman. Three months after the Herald's cruise ended ...

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Australian Dictionary of Biography