[1] Destined for the navy, in which his grandfather Pieter Melvill van Carnbee (1743–1810) had been admiral, he had a taste for hydrography and cartography as a student in the college of Medemblik, and he showed his capacity as a surveyor on his first voyage to the Dutch Indies, in 1835.
With the assistance of documents collected by the old East India Company, he completed a map of Java in five sheets, accompanied by sailing directions, in Amsterdam, in 1842.
On his return to the Netherlands he was attached to the naval department with the charge of studying the history of the hydrography of the Dutch East Indies.
He also undertook, in connexion with P. F. von Siebold, the publication of the Moniteur des Indes, a valuable series of scientific papers, mainly from his own pen, on the foreign possessions of the Netherlands, which was continued for three years.
In 1850, Melvill returned to India as lieutenant of the first class and adjutant to Vice-Admiral van den Bosch; and after the premature death of this commander he was again appointed keeper of the charts at Batavia.