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The Pandora
HMS Pandora, a Barnard built 24 gun frigate, was sent in pursuit of Fletcher Christian's Bounty mutineers. In 1791 when homeward bound and with 14 mutineers successfully captured, she struck part of the Great Barrier Reef.. Unlike the majority of historic ships which ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef, the Pandora did not break up. Refloated by her crew, she later sank in the Torres Strait virtually intact and settled into the sea bed. Covered by sand, the bulk of the artefacts remained more or less undisturbed in thier original setting inside the ship.
In 1977 the wreck was discovered in an extremely well preserved state, and since 1983 the Queensland Museum has led eight expeditions to the site. Thier web site illustrates HMS Pandora and the Museum's excavations
Full details in Building Britain's Wooden Walls "The Barnard Dynasty c.1697-1851"
by John E. Barnard
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- Hardcover Illustrated throughout, 112 pages (September 12, 1997)
- Language: English
- ISBN: 0904614638
- Category(ies): Reference -> History
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HMS Pandora Specifications of the 24 Gun Frigate
Length 114' 3'' (35m)
Length of keel 94' 3" (29m)
Breadth 32' 2" (9.8)
Draught 15' (4.5m)
Tonnage 513
Armaments:20 x 6 pound cannon
4 x 18 pound carronades
12 x half-pound swivel guns
The Mutiny on the Bounty and the subsequent adventures and suffering of Lt William Bligh and his eighteen crewmen, set adrift in a 23ft. open boat in the far Pacific by master's-mate Fletcher Christian, is one of the best known stories in maritime history Their forty-one day journey of 3600 miles to the VOC settlement of Coupmang on the island of Timor has been the subject of a number of films.
The equally exciting and dramatic story of the frigate Pandora has received little publicity in the northern hemisphere, although in Australia, in maritime circles, she is regarded in much the same way as the Mary Rose in this country In the year 1790 the Admiralty issued the following instructions to Capt Edwards, commander of the Pandora:
"whereas the ship you command has been fitted out for the express purpose of proceeding to the South Seas in order to ......... recover the Armed Vessel Bounty and to bring in confinement to England Fletcher Christian and his associates ........ you are hereby and directed to put to sea and proceed as expeditiously as possible to the South Seas and shape your course around Cape Horn and steer for Matavai Bay on the Northside of Tahiti."
The Pandora sailed from Portsmouth on 7 November 1790 with a compliment of 132 men. Her four ship's boats - cutters - had been replaced by yawls. She arrived at Matavai Bay, via Tenerife, Rio de Janerio and Cape Horn, on 23 March 1791. Four of the Bounty men instantly came aboard and surrendered; next day three more followed suit. Within a week fourteen mutineers were retaken. Fletcher Christian, together with eight associates, was then living on Pitcairn Island. It was a quirk of fate that, on the voyage from Cape Horn to Tahiti, Capt Edwards, in the Pandora, missed Pitcairn by only a day's sail. A four month's search over a wide area failed to find the nine missing men. In early August 1791 Capt Edwards turned for home and on 26th of that month the Pandora was in sight of the Barrier Reef off the Murray Islands. Seeking a passage through the dangerous and uncharted waters of the Torres Straits the Pandora struck an isolated outcrop of submerged reef. She had grounded close to lowtide but, as the tide changed she beat over the reef and anchored in relatively sheltered water. Unhappily the damage to her hull in the course of her grounding proved irreparable and she eventually sank in seventeen fathoms. Thirty crew members and four Bounty prisoners drowned. The survivors, eighty nine crew and ten prisoners, in the four ships boats, found refuge on a conveniently adjacent sand cay. Stranded as he was, with no hope of rescue, Capt Edwards had little option but to attempt to sail to the nearest centre of civilisation - the VOC settlement at Coupang on the island of Timor some 1100 miles distant. The crew had fortunately been able to salvage provisions from the stricken vessel. Three days were spent on the sand cay making preparations for the voyage. On a final visit to the Pandora the ship's cat was found clinging to the rigging. The party departed from the sand cay on 1 September 1791. Good progress was made through the Torres Strait and in twenty-four hours a landfall was made near Cape York where luckily fresh water was found. In eleven days the Arafura Sea was crossed and the men arrived at Coupang on 16 September 1791.
The Bounty mutineers were housed in a 'cage' which Capt Edwards, a strict disciplinarian, had ordered to be built on the Pandora's quarter-deck. Nicknamed 'Pandora's box' it was some 11ft in length with a width of 18ft, in the roof was a 20in. square trapdoor secured by a bar. The ankles of the mutineers were secured by bilboes and their wrists were manacled. Once in England, the prisoners faced a six day trial in September 1792. The courts martial sentenced six of the ten to hang but only three of the sentences were carried out, two of the six being pardoned and one discharged on a technicality. The remaining four were acquitted.
The wreck of the Pandora lay undisturbed for some 186 years. It was not until November 1977, using sophisticated equipment, including a RAAF Neptune aircraft, that her whereabouts was finally established. An archaeological assessment survey, carried out in 1979, rated the site, not only as a first class wreck, but one which was thought could prove to be the best preserved in Australian waters. The site was brought within the protection of the Australian Historic Shipwrecks Act which, off the Queensland coast, was administered by the Queensland Museum.
A first season of major excavation began in October 1983, the main object being to ascertain the orientation and exact extent of the buried hull and to collect a representative sample of ship's fittings, stores and crew's possessions. The season was encouraging in that 256 artefacts were recovered including a gold and silver fob watch, together with a large number of medical implements and other delicate items. Among the first of the weighty artefacts to be raised was one of the Pandora's twenty-four cannon. The season's work indicated that the Pandora was a rich storehouse and that further excavation would provide the largest collection of artefacts ever recovered from an eighteenth century shipwreck in Australian waters.
A second season commenced in November 1984. Two hundred and eighty-three artefacts were excavated. One being a complete fireplace from an officer's cabin and another the iron Brodie stove from the Pandora's galley The predominant artefacts were ships fastenings, such as bolts and nails, and fittings, such as gunport hinges and glass window frames.
More excavation were done involving larger teams which recovered a large numbers of artefact.
More detailed accounts of the Pandora from build to the wreck is covered in John's book.
To commorate the event Norfolk island have brought the following stamps:-
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