Brickwrecks: HMS PANDORA and the Hunt for HMS BOUNTY Mutineers
HMS PANDORA and the Hunt for HMS Bounty Mutineers
This month’s Warship Wednesday focussed on one of the ships to feature in Brickwrecks: Sunken Ships in LEGO® Bricks – HMS PANDORA. She was a 24-gun, sixth rate frigate and is the earliest recorded shipwreck on the Queensland coast.
Built – Adams, Barnard and Dudman, Grove Street Deptford
Keel Laid – 2nd March 1778
Launched – 17th May 1779
Size – 114ft 6ins long X 32ft 3ins wide
Ship’s Crew – 160 men
Early Career
The ship was deployed in North American waters during the American War of Independence and saw service as a convoy escort between England and Quebec. At the end of the war, the Admiralty placed PANDORA in Ordinary (mothballed) in 1783 at Chatham for seven years.
Tours of Duty:
- 1779 – Channel Service 1779
- After the American War of Independence (1775 – 1783), put into “Ordinary” (reserve) at Chatham
- Ordered by the Admiralty, in 1790, to pursue the Bounty mutineers for which she underwent alterations and received special equipment.
PANDORA at Chatham
On 22 September 1783, PANDORA arrived at Chatham to be stripped out and placed into Ordinary on the River Medway. She was docked on 11 July 1789 and re-coppered (copper sheathing removed and replaced) before being undocked on 19 October 1789.
Pandora was docked a second time on 26 July 1790 and fitted for sea – coppered 1 strake (hull plank) higher fore & aft. The ship was undocked on 29 July 1790.
PANDORA sailed from Chatham for Portsmouth on 6th October 1790.
HMS BOUNTY
BOUNTY left England in 1787 on a mission to collect and transport breadfruit plants from Tahiti to the West Indies.
On 28 April 1789, the crew of HMS BOUNTY, led by acting-Lieutenant Fletcher Christian, seized control of the ship. There is no clear explanation for the mutiny, but it is claimed that relations between Bligh and his crew deteriorated as the Captain became increasingly strict with his crew with harsh punishments, criticism, and abuse.
The mutiny resulted in the captain, Lieutenant William Bligh, and eighteen of his loyalists being set adrift from the ship. There were 25 men left onboard the ship. Captain Bligh returned to England in April 1790, which resulted in HMS PANDORA being dispatched to apprehend the mutineers.
In Pursuit of Mutineers
PANDORA was ordered to be brought back into service on 30 June 1790 and in early August 1790 she was dispatched to the South Pacific Ocean. Five months after learning of the mutiny on HMS BOUNTY, the First Lord of the Admiralty, John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham, decided to despatch PANDORA to recover the BOUNTY, capture the mutineers, and return them to England for trial.
Ahead of the voyage, PANDORA was refitted with four 18-pounder carronades and her nine-pounder guns were reduced to twenty.
PANDORA commenced her voyage in pursuit of the mutineers from Portsmouth on 7th November 1790.
Upon reaching Tahiti, 14 mutineers were captured and PANDORA went in pursuit of the rest.
Disaster Strikes
With no sight of the remaining mutineers, PANDORA was turned back around to return to England. The captured sailors were due to be court-martialled.
On 29 August 1791, HMS PANDORA ran aground on the outer Great Barrier Reef. She sand the following morning, claiming the lives of 35 men (31 crew and 4 mutineers).
When the ship was lost, she had 14 of the mutineers on board (4 were drowned).
The surviving crew and mutineers took to Pandora’s boats, identified as: Pinnace, containing 20 crew and 3 prisoners; Red Yawl, containing 23 crew and 2 prisoners; Launch, containing 25 crew and 2 prisoners; Blue Yawl, containing 20 crew and 3 prisoners.
ShipWreck
The shipwreck of HMS PANDORA was discovered on 15 November 1977, and is considered to be one of the best preserved wrecks in Australian waters.
The Queensland Museum excavated the wreck of HMS PANDORA on nine occasions between 1983 and 1999.
