HMS Discovery (1789)
History | |
---|---|
Great Britain | |
Name | HMS Discovery |
Builder | Randall, Gray & Brent,[2] Rotherhithe |
Launched | 1789 |
Acquired | November 1789 |
In service | 7 December 1789 |
Reclassified |
|
Honours and awards | Copenhagen 1801[1] |
Fate | Broken up by 15 February 1834 |
General characteristics [3] | |
Class and type | 10-gun survey ship |
Tons burthen | 33065⁄98 bm |
Length |
|
Beam | 28 ft 3+1⁄4 in (8.6 m) |
Depth of hold | 12 ft 4 in (3.8 m) |
Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
Complement |
|
Armament |
|
HMS Discovery was a
Early years
Discovery was launched in 1789 and purchased for the Navy in 1790.[2] She was named after the previous HMS Discovery, one of the ships on James Cook's third voyage to the Pacific Ocean. The earlier Discovery was the ship on which Vancouver had served as a midshipman.
Discovery was a
Discovery's first
Voyages of discovery
Southern hemisphere
On 1 April 1791, Discovery left England with
Northwest America
Over the course of the next four years, Vancouver surveyed the northern
- Joseph Baker, the first on the expedition to spot it
- Alleyne Fitzherbert, 1st Baron St Helens
- Puget Sound, after Discovery's lieutenant Peter Puget,[7] who explored its southern reaches.
- Mount Hood
- Mount Rainier
- Discovery Bay and Port Discovery.
Discovery's primary mission was to exert British sovereignty over this part of the Northwest Coast following the hand-over of the Spanish Fort San Miguel at Nootka Sound, although exploration in co-operation with the Spanish was seen as an important secondary objective. Exploration work was successful as relations with the Spanish went well; resupply in California was especially helpful. Vancouver and the Spanish commandant Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra were on such good terms that the original name of Vancouver Island was actually Vancouver and Quadra's Island.
In 1793, Discovery entered a bay on the northern end of the
It is remarkable that during Discovery's five-year voyage she lost only six sailors, all in accidents; none died from scurvy or violence.
Diplomatic role
Discovery was meant to bring a resolution to the disposition of control over Nootka Sound. But despite four years of dispatches with their home governments, Vancouver and Quadra failed to formally conclude an agreement.
Later years
Discovery put into
From there Vancouver and Discovery sailed in convoy with
After four years at sea, Discovery was in great need of a refit. She was laid up until 1798 when she was refitted as a bomb vessel and recommissioned under Commander John Dick.[3]
In October 1800 Commander John Conn replaced Dick.[3] Discovery participated in the Battle of Copenhagen in April 1801.[3] In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issuance of the Naval General Service medal with clasp "Copenhagen 1801" to all surviving claimants from the campaign.[12]
On 4 August 1801, Discovery served with
Later career and fate
Discovery was recommissioned in May 1803 under Commander John Joyce,[2] with Commander Charles Pickford replacing him in August.[3] Pickford continued in command until 1805.[2]
In 1807 Discovery was at Sheerness, serving as a hospital ship. She continued in this role until 1815.[2]
In 1818 Discovery was converted to a prison ship at Woolwich. In 1824 she moved to Deptford, where she continued to serve as a prison hulk until at least 1831.[2] She was broken up there in 1834.
Notable crew and passengers
Among the notable persons who served on Discovery's great voyage:
- Captain George Vancouver
- 1st Lieutenant Zachary Mudge - promoted to admiral in 1849
- 2nd Lieutenant Peter Puget - promoted to rear admiral in 1821
- 3rd Lieutenant Post captainin 1809
- Master Joseph Whidbey - later a naval engineer noted for the breakwater at Plymouth
- Thomas Manby - initially master's mate, promoted to lieutenant on Discovery
- William Robert Broughton - initially in command of Chatham, later a rear-admiral
- Archibald Menzies - naturalist and surgeon
- Thomas Pitt, 2nd Baron Camelford - sent back to England in disgrace.
- Robert Barrie - commissioner of the dockyard at Kingston, Upper Canada
See also
Notes
Citations
- ^ Britain's Navy
- ^ a b c d e f g "NMM, vessel ID 383539" (PDF). Warship Histories, vol v. National Maritime Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f Winfield (2008), p. 398.
- ^ "Muster Table of His Majesties Sloop The Discovery". Admiralty Records in the Public Record Office, U.K. 1791. Retrieved 15 December 2006.
- ISBN 0-7734-8857-X.
- ^ For People & Plants Quarterly journal Issue 55 published by Friends of Kings Park
- ISBN 0-933686-00-5.
- ^ van Eyck van Heslinga (1988), pp. 224–225.
- ^ "No. 18087". The London Gazette. 4 December 1824. p. 2024.
- ^ "No. 18091". The London Gazette. 18 December 1824. p. 2099.
- ^ Vancouver (1798), pp. 471–486.
- ^ "No. 20939". The London Gazette. 26 January 1849. pp. 239–240.
- ^ "No. 15397". The London Gazette. 15 August 1801. pp. 1005–1006.
References
- van Eyck van Heslinga, E.S. (1988). Van compagnie naar koopvaardij: de scheepvaartverbinding van de Bataafse Republiek met de koloniën in Azië 1795-1806. Hollandse Historische Reeks No. 9. (in Dutch). Amsterdam: Bataafsche Leeuw. OCLC 21905351.
- Vancouver, George (1798). A voyage of discovery to the north Pacific Ocean, and round the world: in which the coast of North-West America has been carefully examined and accurately surveyed: undertaken by His Majesty's command, principally with a view to ascertain the existence of any navigable communication between the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans; and performed in the years 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794, and 1795, in the Discovery sloop of war, and armed tender Chatham, under the command of Captain George Vancouver. G.G. and J. Robinson. OCLC 1084232705.
- Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.
External links
- Media related to HMS Discovery (ship, 1789) at Wikimedia Commons
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