HMS Assistant
| career |
|
|---|---|
| Commissioning: | 1791? for the Royal Navy |
| Fate: | sold 1802 |
| General data | |
| Tonnage: | 110 long tons |
| Length: | 51 feet , 4.25 inches (15.65 m) calculated length on the keel |
| Width: | 29 feet, 1 inch (8.86 m) on bulkhead |
| Draft: | 19 feet, 8 inches (5.99 m) in load |
| Drive: | sail |
| Crew: | crew approx. 27 men |
| Armament: | 6 4-pounder cannons 8 rotating guns later 4 3-pounder guns 8 rotating guns |
The Assistant was a smaller British naval ship in service at the end of the 18th century. It is listed as an armed transporter with a mast , armed with six 4-pounder, later four 3-pounder cannons and eight rotating guns . The hull was covered with copper to protect it against the shipworm and fouling.
history
Her crew consisted of 27 men when she accompanied the HMS Providence during Captain William Bligh's second breadfruit expedition (1791-1793). She was under the command of Lieutenant Nathaniel Portlock . The expedition was supposed to bring breadfruit and other species from Tahiti to the West Indies .
The assistant was temporarily led by 1st Lieutenant Francis Bond and 3rd Lieutenant George Tobin when Portlock had to take over the representation of Bligh on the Providence because of his recurring disease (probably malaria).
After the breadfruit were on board, the two ships sailed past the Fiji Islands, through the Torres Strait and the Indian Ocean back into the Atlantic and from there to the Caribbean, where the plants were unloaded in Jamaica and St. Pitts. The Assistant arrived back in England in August 1793. Later she did service in the shipyard until she was sold in 1802.
literature
- William Bligh: The Log of Providence , London 1976.
- David Lyon: The Sailing Navy List , Conway Maritime Press, London, ISBN 0-85177-864-X
Web links
- Tobin, George, Journal of HMS Providence. Facsimile under a , b , c , d
- lareau.org (especially the documentation)
- library.puc.edu