HMS Discovery (1774)
| career |
|
|---|---|
| Surname: | HMS Discovery |
| Builder: | G. & N. Langborn |
| Building-costs: | £ 2,415 |
| Launch: | 1774 as a coal ship Diligence |
| Commissioning: | 1776 |
| Fate: | Wrecked in Chatham Dockyard in 1797 |
| General data | |
| Displacement: | 299 tons |
| Length: | 27.9 m / 91 ft 5 in |
| Width: | 8.4 m / 27 ft 5 in |
| Draft: | 3.5 m / 11 ft 5 in |
| Drive: | sail |
| Rigging: | brig |
| Crew: | approx. 70 crew members (55 seamen, 3 officers, 11 marines, 1 civilian) |
| Armament: | 8 cannons |
HMS Discovery was the name of the escort ship on James Cook's third voyage of discovery from 1776 to 1779.
Like the other James Cook ships, the Discovery was a coal transport ship built in Whitby . These ships were called collier in the parlance at the time . She was rigged like a brig . At the start of the expedition, the ship was under the command of Captain Charles Clerke . George Vancouver drove as a midshipman . After the death of James Cook, Captain Clerke took over his ship Resolution and John Gore was given command of the Discovery . When Clerke died in August 1779, Gore took command of the Resolution and Lieutenant James King led the Discovery back to Great Britain. She arrived there on October 4, 1780.
The Discovery was then used as a transport ship at the Woolwich shipyard until it was finally scrapped in October 1797 at the Chatham shipyard .
The HMS Discovery is the namesake of the space shuttle Discovery .