HMS Pandora (1779)

HMS Pandora was a 24-gun Porcupine-class sixth-rate post ship of the Royal Navy launched in May 1779. The vessel is best known for its role in hunting down the Bounty mutineers in 1790, which remains one of the best-known stories in the history of seafaring. Pandora was partially successful by capturing 14 of the mutineers, but wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef on the return voyage in 1791. HMS Pandora is considered to be one of the most significant shipwrecks in the Southern Hemisphere.

Design and construction

Pandora was a 24-gun, 9-pounder, Porcupine-class post ship. The class was designed by Surveyor of the Navy John Williams in 1776; it was an enlarged version of the Sphinx class, also designed by Williams. Ten ships of the class were ordered in total, with the first agreed on 25 June. Pandora was the ninth ship to be ordered, such occurring on 11 February 1778.

Contracted out to Adams & Barnard of Grove Street, Deptford Dockyard, she was laid down on 2 March and launched on 17 May 1779 with the following dimensions: 114 feet 7 inches (34.9 m) along the upper deck and 94 feet 9+1⁄2 inches (28.9 m) along the keel, with a beam of 32 feet 3 inches (9.8 m) and a depth in the hold of 10 feet 3 inches (3.1 m). The ship measured 52438⁄94 tons burthen, having cost £5,716 3s. 10d. to build. The fitting out process was completed at Deptford on 3 July, costing a further £5,909 13s. 10d.

Pandora had a crew complement of 160. She was armed with twenty-two 9-pounder long guns on her upper deck, which armament was supplemented with two 6-pounder long guns on the forecastle.