HMS Discovery (1789)
|
|
| career |
|
|---|---|
| Builder: | Randall & Brents, London |
| Launch: | 1789 |
| Fate: | Wrecked in 1834 |
| General data | |
| Classification: | Sloop |
| Displacement: | 337 tons |
| Length: | 29.26 m / 96 ft |
| Kiel: | 24.08 m / 79 ft |
| Width: | 8.32 m / 27 ft 3.75 in |
| Drive: | sail |
| Crew: | 100 men (1791) |
| Armament: | 10 cannons (four pounders) 10 rotating guns |
The HMS Discovery was a ship of the British Royal Navy that was built as a full ship in 1789 for the expedition under George Vancouver .
history
Vancouver's mission was to explore Canada's Pacific coast, negotiate with the Spanish to take over Nootka Sound and find a north-west passage . The HMS Discovery was classified as an unclassified warship (sloop-of-war) with 10 four-pounder cannons and 10 rotating guns . The sample roll for the trip included 154 men. In addition to George Vancouver, the crew also included Peter Puget , Archibald Menzies or Thomas Pitt and Widow's man . The Widow's man is a fictional seaman who was in the model role of many ships of the Royal Navy at that time and served to take care of the widows of various seamen.
On April 1, 1791, the HMS Discovery set out with the HMS Chatham , under the command of William Broughton , from Falmouth . She took the east route via Cape Town and landed on the south coast of Australia.
The ship spent the winter break of 1791/92 off Tahiti and landed on April 17, 1792 on the west coast of North America. After exploring along the coast, it went to Hawaii for the winter break of 1792/93 . During 1793 it explored the west coast of North America to the 56th parallel. During the winter break of 1793/94, the ship went to Hawaii again. In 1794 the explorations led it to the 60th parallel. A north-west passage could not be found and the negotiations on the Nootka Sound were unsuccessful. In 1795, the ship returned to London via Cape Horn , where it arrived on October 20, 1795.
In 1799 the HMS Discovery was converted into a Bombarde (mortar ship) and used in the naval battle of Copenhagen in 1801 . (Mortar ships were used to bombard fortifications on land.)
From 1818 it was used to transport prisoners and was finally broken up in 1834.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Unclassified ship types ( Memento from September 26, 2008 in the Internet Archive ).