View source for HMS Pandora (1779)

{{Short description|Shipwreck in Queensland, Australia}}
{{for|other Royal Navy ships of this name|HMS Pandora}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2017}}
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{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=HMS Pandora.jpg
|Ship caption=HMS ''Pandora'' foundering on 29 August 1791
}}
{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country=Great&nbsp;Britain
|Ship flag=[[File:Naval Ensign of Great Britain (1707-1800).svg|62px]]
|Ship name= HMS ''Pandora''
|Ship ordered=11 February 1778
|Ship awarded=
|Ship builder=Adams & Barnard, Grove Street shipyard, [[Deptford]]
|Ship laid down=2 March 1778
|Ship launched=17 May 1779
|Ship completed=3 July 1779 at [[Deptford Dockyard]]
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=May 1779
|Ship recommissioned=
|Ship decommissioned=
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship renamed=
|Ship reclassified=
|Ship struck=
|Ship homeport=
|Ship captured=
|Ship fate=Wrecked on 28 August 1791 in the [[Torres Strait]].
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Header caption=
|Ship class=24-gun {{sclass|Porcupine|post ship|0}} [[sixth-rate]] [[post ship]]
|Ship type=
|Ship tonnage=
|Ship displacement=
|Ship tons burthen=524 ([[Builder's Old Measurement|bm]])
|Ship length=*{{convert|114|ft|7|in|m|abbr=on}} (overall)
* {{convert|94|ft|9.5|in|m|abbr=on}} (keel)
|Ship beam={{convert|32|ft|3|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draught=*{{convert|7|ft|4|in|m|abbr=on}}
* {{convert|11|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship hold depth={{convert|10|ft|3|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship propulsion=
|Ship sail plan=[[Full-rigged ship]]
|Ship speed=
|Ship range=
|Ship boats=
|Ship capacity=
|Ship troops=
|Ship complement=160
|Ship crew=
|Ship armament=*''As built'':
* Upper deck: 22 × 9 pdrs
* Quarterdeck: 2 × 6 pdrs
|Ship notes=
}}
|}

'''HMS ''Pandora''''' was a 24-gun {{sclass|Porcupine|post ship|0}} [[sixth-rate]] [[post ship]] of the [[Royal Navy]] launched in May 1779.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The 24-gun frigate 'Pandora' 1779|last1=McKay|first1=John|last2=Coleman, Ron|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|year=1992|location=London}}</ref> The vessel is best known for its role in hunting down the {{HMS|Bounty||2}} mutineers in 1790, which remains one of the best-known stories in the history of [[seafaring]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Find out about HMS Pandora |url=http://www.qm.qld.gov.au/Find+out+about/Histories+of+Queensland/Transport+Maritime+History/HMS+Pandora#.WgESrdqGOUk |access-date=27 July 2022 |website=Queensland Museum |archive-date=24 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171024160002/http://www.qm.qld.gov.au/Find+out+about/Histories+of+Queensland/Transport+Maritime+History/HMS+Pandora#.WgESrdqGOUk |url-status=live }}</ref> ''Pandora'' was partially successful by capturing 14 of the mutineers, but wrecked on the [[Great Barrier Reef]] on the return voyage in 1791.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Encyclopaedia of Underwater and Maritime Archaeology|last=Gesner|first=Peter|publisher=British Museum Press|year=1997|isbn=0714121290|editor-last=Delgado|editor-first=James P.|location=London|pages=305|chapter=HMS Pandora}}</ref> HMS ''Pandora'' is considered to be one of the most significant shipwrecks in the Southern Hemisphere.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.qm.qld.gov.au/Find+out+about/Histories+of+Queensland/Transport+Maritime+History/HMS+Pandora|title=Queensland Museum HMS Pandora|access-date=5 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171024160002/http://www.qm.qld.gov.au/Find+out+about/Histories+of+Queensland/Transport+Maritime+History/HMS+Pandora|archive-date=24 October 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

==Design and construction==
''Pandora'' was a 24-gun, 9-pounder, {{sclass|Porcupine|post ship|0}} [[post ship]]. The class was designed by [[Surveyor of the Navy]] [[John Williams (Surveyor of the Navy)|John Williams]] in 1776; it was an enlarged version of the {{sclass|Sphinx|post ship|4}}, also designed by Williams. Ten ships of the class were ordered in total, with the first agreed on 25 June.{{sfnp|Winfield|2007|p=670}} ''Pandora'' was the ninth ship to be ordered, such occurring on 11 February 1778.{{sfnp|Winfield|2007|p=674}}

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: {{convert|114|ft|7|in|m|1}} along the upper deck and {{convert|94|ft|9+1/2|in|m|1}} along the [[keel#structural keels|keel]], with a [[beam (nautical)|beam]] of {{convert|32|ft|3|in|m|1}} and a depth in the hold of {{convert|10|ft|3|in|m|1}}. The ship measured 524{{small|{{Fraction|38|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.{{sfnp|Winfield|2007|p=674}}

''Pandora'' had a [[Ship's company|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]].{{sfnp|Winfield|2007|p=671}}

==Early service==
''Pandora''{{'}}s first service was in the Channel during the [[Armada of 1779|1779 threatened invasion]] by the combined fleets of France and Spain. The ship was deployed in North American waters during the [[American Revolutionary War|American War Of Independence]] and saw service as a convoy escort between England and Quebec. On 18 July 1780, while under the command of Captain Anthony Parry, ''Pandora'' and {{HMS|Danae|1779|2}} captured the American [[privateer]] ''Jack''.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=12156|page=2|date=23 January 1781}}</ref> Then on 2 September, the two British vessels captured the American privateer ''Terrible''.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=12229|page=2|date=29 September 1781}}</ref> On 14 January ''Pandora'' captured the [[brig]] ''Janie''. Then on 11 March she captured the ship ''Mercury''.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=12290|pages=2–3|date=23 April 1782}}</ref> Two days later ''Pandora'' and {{HMS|Bellisarius|1781|6}} were off the [[Virginia Capes]] when they captured the [[sloop]] ''Louis'', which had been sailing to Virginia with a cargo of cider and onions.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=12306|page=5|date=18 June 1782 }}</ref> Under Captain John Inglis ''Pandora'' captured more merchant vessels. The first was the brig ''Lively'' on 24 May 1782.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=12618|page=66|date=1 February 1785}}</ref> More followed: the ship ''Mercury'' and the sloops ''Port Royal'' and ''Superb'' (22 November 1782), the brig ''Nestor'' (3 February 1783), and the ship ''Financier'' (29 March).<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=12476|page=3|date=16 September 1783}}</ref> At the end of the American war the Admiralty placed ''Pandora'' [[Reserve Fleet (United Kingdom)|in ordinary]] (mothballed) in 1783 at Chatham for seven years.

== Voyage in search of the ''Bounty'' ==
''Pandora'' was ordered to be brought back into service on 30 June 1790 when war between Great Britain and Spain seemed likely due to the [[Nootka Crisis]]. However, in early August 1790, five months after learning of the [[Mutiny on the Bounty|mutiny on HMS ''Bounty'']], the First Lord of the Admiralty, [[John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham]], decided to despatch the ship to recover the ''Bounty'', capture the mutineers, and return them to England for trial.<ref>HMS Pandora's Logbook (Adm. MS 180) entry for Wednesday 11 August 1790 </ref> ''Pandora'' was refitted with four 18-pounder [[carronade]]s and her nine-pounder guns were reduced to twenty in number.

''Pandora'' sailed from [[the Solent]] on 7 November 1790, commanded by Captain [[Edward Edwards (Royal Navy officer)|Edward Edwards]] and manned by a crew of 134 men. With his crew was [[Thomas Hayward (Royal Navy officer)|Thomas Hayward]], who had been on the ''Bounty'' at the time of the mutiny, and left with Bligh in the open boat. At Tahiti they were also assisted by John Brown, who had been left on the island by a British merchant ship, ''The Mercury''.{{sfn|Alexander|2004|p=9}}

Unknown to Edwards, twelve of the mutineers, together with four crew who had stayed loyal to [[William Bligh]], had by then already elected to return to [[Tahiti]], after a failed attempt to establish a colony (Fort St George) under [[Fletcher Christian]]'s leadership on [[Tubuai (Austral Islands)|Tubuai]], one of the [[Austral Islands]]. The disaffected men were living in Tahiti as '[[Beachcombing|beachcombers]]', many of them having fathered children with local women. Fletcher Christian's group of mutineers and their Polynesian followers had sailed off and eventually established their settlement on the then uncharted [[Pitcairn Islands|Pitcairn Island]]. By the time of ''Pandora''{{'}}s arrival, fourteen of the former ''Bounty'' men remained on Tahiti, Charles Churchill having been murdered in a quarrel with Matthew Thompson, who was in turn killed by Polynesians, who considered Churchill their king.{{sfn|Alexander|2004|p=8}}

''Pandora'' reached Tahiti on 23 March 1791 via [[Cape Horn]]. Three men came out and surrendered to Edwards shortly after ''Pandora''{{'}}s arrival. These were Joseph Coleman, the ''Bounty''{{'}}s armourer, and midshipmen [[Peter Heywood]] and George Stewart.{{sfn|Alexander|2004|p=9}} Edwards then dispatched search parties to round up the remainder. Able Seaman Richard Skinner was apprehended the day after ''Pandora''{{'}}s arrival. By now alerted to Edwards' presence, the other ''Bounty'' men fled to the mountains while [[James Morrison (mutineer)|James Morrison]], Charles Norman and [[Thomas Ellison (mutineer)|Thomas Ellison]], tried to reach the ''Pandora'' to surrender in the escape boat they had built. All were eventually captured, and brought back to ''Pandora'' on 29 March.{{sfn|Alexander|2004|p=10}} An eighth man, the half blind [[Michael Byrne (sailor)|Michael Byrne]], who had been fiddler aboard ''Bounty'', had also come aboard by this time. It was not recorded whether he had been captured or had handed himself in.{{sfn|Alexander|2004|p=10}} Edwards conducted further searches over the next week and a half, and on Saturday two more men were brought aboard ''Pandora'', Henry Hilbrant and Thomas McIntosh. The remaining four men, Thomas Burkett, John Millward, John Sumner and [[William Muspratt]], were brought in the following day.{{sfn|Alexander|2004|p=11}} These fourteen men were locked up in a makeshift prison cell, measuring {{convert|11|by|18|ft|m|spell=in}}, on the ''Pandora''{{'}}s [[quarterdeck]], which they called "[[Pandora's Box]]".{{sfn|Alexander|2004|p=12}}

On 8 May 1791, ''Pandora'' left Tahiti and subsequently spent three months visiting islands in the South-West Pacific in search of the ''Bounty'' and the remaining mutineers, without finding any traces of the pirated vessel. During this part of the voyage fourteen crew went missing in two of the ship's boats. Nine of them were on the ''Matavy'', a [[schooner]] built by ''Bounty'' crew members and called by them ''Resolution''. It had been commandeered to serve as a [[ship's tender]] but lost sight of ''Pandora'' near [[Tutuila]] at night. By chance, during their voyage to [[Batavia, Dutch East Indies|Batavia]] these nine became the first Europeans to make contact with the people of [[Fiji]].{{sfn|Maxton|2020|p=3}}<ref>See the journal of Renouard, Midshipman David Thomas: Voyage of the Pandora's tender (1791) reprinted in: Maxton, 2020:143–156</ref><ref>{{cite book |author-link= Richard Hough |last= Hough |first= Richard |title= Captain Bligh and Mr Christian: The Men and the Mutiny ''[republished in 1984 by Corgi as ''The Bounty'']'' |publisher= Hutchinsons |location= London |year= 1972 |isbn=978-0-09-112860-9 |pages=226–227}}</ref> At Tubai a ''Bounty'' anchor was recovered by ''Pandora''.<ref>
{{cite web
|url=http://library.puc.edu/pitcairn/bounty/pandora-encyclopedia.shtml
|title=HMS ''Pandora'' Encyclopedia
|work=Pitcairn Islands Study Center
|publisher=[[Pacific Union College]]
|access-date=2012-10-31
}}</ref><!--end of refn--> Apart from a few spars discovered at [[Palmerston Island]], no traces of the fugitive vessel were found.{{sfn|Alexander|2003|pp=15–18}} Edwards continued the search until August, when he turned west and headed for the Dutch East Indies.{{sfn|Hough|1972|pp=227–229}} Ironically, a set of islands the Pandora sailed to but did not land at were the [[Pitcairn Islands]]; had he checked his charts and found that this uncharted island was at the correct latitude but wrong longitude for Pitcairn Island, ironically he could very well have fulfilled his mission of taking into custody the last nine Bounty mutineers.

In the meantime the ''Pandora'' visited [[Tokelau]], [[Samoa]], [[Tonga]] and [[Rotuma]]. They also passed [[Vanikoro]] Island, which Edwards named Pitt's Island; but they did not stop to explore the island and investigate obvious signs of habitation.  When passing [[Vanikoro]], [[Santa Cruz Islands]] in the [[Pacific Ocean]] on 13 August 1791, smoke signals were observed rising from the island. If they had done so, they would very probably have discovered early evidence of the fate of the French Pacific explorer [[Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse|La Perouse]]'s expedition which had disappeared in 1788.However Edwards, who was only interested in prisoners, reasoned that mutineers fearful of discovery would not be advertising their whereabouts, so he ignored the smoke and sailed on. Sven Wahlroos, in his 1989 book, ''Mutiny and Romance in the South Seas'', suggests that the smoke signals were almost certainly a distress message sent by survivors of the Lapérouse expedition, which later evidence indicated were still alive on Vanikoro at that time; three years after the {{ship|French ship|Astrolabe|1781|2}} and {{ship|French ship|Boussole|1782|2}} had foundered in 1788.<ref>Wahlroos, Sven. ''Mutiny and Romance in the South Seas'', Salem House Publishers, c/o Harper & Row, New York, NY, 1989</ref>

== Wrecked ==
Heading west, making for the [[Torres Strait]], the ship ran aground on 29 August 1791 on the outer [[Great Barrier Reef]]. ''Pandora'' sank the next morning, claiming the lives of 35 men – 31 crew and 4 of the mutineers.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gesner|first=Peter|date=June 2016|title='For condign punishment': a punitive voyage of the south pacific in the eighteenth century (ch. 2 Pandora Project Stage 2: four more seasons of excavation at the Pandora historic shipwreck)|url=http://www.network.qm.qld.gov.au/About+Us/Publications/Memoirs+of+the+Queensland+Museum/891+MQM-C+Vol+9#.WgaAglWGOUk|journal=Memoirs of the Queensland Museum – Culture|volume=9|pages=39|access-date=13 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170116144224/http://www.network.qm.qld.gov.au/About+Us/Publications/Memoirs+of+the+Queensland+Museum/891+MQM-C+Vol+9#.WgaAglWGOUk|archive-date=16 January 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The four prisoners lost were George Stewart; John Sumner; Richard Skinner; and Henry Hillbrandt (according to one history they drowned because their hands were still manacled; James Morrison's hands were also manacled  but he survived).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/14424/14424-h/14424-h.htm|title=The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Mutiny of the Bounty, by Sir John Barrow.|website=www.gutenberg.org|access-date=9 October 2021|archive-date=9 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009045444/https://www.gutenberg.org/files/14424/14424-h/14424-h.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.527553|title=The True Story Of The Mutiny In The Bounty|date=9 October 1936|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> According to 
Morrison account Stewart and Sumner were killed by a gangway; Skinner was out of Pandora Box but still manacled while Hillbrant was both manacled and trapped in Pandora's Box; in fact if had not been for the action of  James Moulter {Boatswain mate} opening up the scuttle hatch all the remaining Prisioners [with the exception of three released] and the Armor's Mate Joseph Hodges would have gone down with the ship<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/mutineersofbount00belcrich/page/84/mode/2up|title=The mutineers of the Bounty and their descendants in Pitcairn and Norfolk islands|date=1871|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>The remainder of the ship's company (89 crew and 10 prisoners, 7 of whom were released from their cell as the ship sank) assembled on a small treeless sand cay.  After two nights on the island they sailed for [[Timor]] in four open boats, making a stop on [[Muralag]] (Prince of Wales Island) in the [[Torres Strait]] seeking fresh water.<ref>{{Cite book| title = Footprints Along the Cape York Sandbeaches | last = Sharp | first = Nonie | year = 1992 | publisher = [[Aboriginal Studies Press]] | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=qqdhSYPN9gQC&pg=PA71
| isbn = 978-0-855-75230-9 | page=109}}</ref> They arrived in [[Kupang]] on 16 September 1791 after an arduous voyage across the [[Arafura Sea]]. Sixteen more died after surviving the wreck, many having fallen ill during their sojourn in Batavia. Eventually only 78 of the 134 men who had been on board upon departure returned home.

Captain Edwards and his officers were exonerated for the loss of the ''Pandora'' after a [[court martial]]. No attempt was made by the colonial authorities in [[New South Wales]] to salvage material from the wreck. The ten surviving prisoners were also tried; the various courts martial held acquitted four of those of mutiny and convicted six, of whom three – Millward, Burkitt and Ellison – were executed on 29 October 1792 on board the [[man-of-war]] ''Brunswick'' at Portsmouth.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=July 1792|title=Historical Chronicle|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=USc2AAAAMAAJ|journal=Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure|volume=91|pages=395|via=Google Books|access-date=11 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171111095041/https://books.google.com.au/books?id=USc2AAAAMAAJ|archive-date=11 November 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> [[Peter Heywood]] and [[James Morrison (mutineer)|James Morrison]] received a [[Royal pardon]], while [[William Muspratt]] was acquitted on a [[legal technicality]].

Descendants of the nine mutineers not discovered by ''Pandora'' still live on Pitcairn Island, the refuge Fletcher Christian founded in January 1790 and where they burnt and scuttled the ''Bounty'' a few weeks after arrival. Their hiding place was not discovered until 1808 when the New England sealer ''Topaz'' (Captain [[Mayhew Folger]]) happened on the tiny uncharted island. By then, all of the mutineers – except [[John Adams (mutineer)|John Adams]] (aka Alexander Smith) – were dead, most having died under violent circumstances.

==Wreck site: discovery and archaeology==
{{more citations needed|section|date=August 2020}}
The wreck of the ''Pandora'' is located approximately 5&nbsp;km north-west of Moulter Cay {{coord|11|23|S|143|59|E|display=inline,title}} on the outer Great Barrier Reef, on the edge of the [[Coral Sea]]. It is one of the best preserved shipwrecks in Australian waters.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Australian Shipwrecks And Other maritime Incidents|last=Stone|first=Peter|publisher=Oceans Enterprises|year=2006|isbn=0958665753|location=Yarram, Vic.|page=701}}</ref> Its discovery was made on 15 November 1977 by independent explorers [[Ben Cropp]], Steve Domm  and [[John Heyer]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|title=This rugged coast|last=Cropp|first=Ben|publisher=Adelaide : Rigby|year=1980|pages=74–88|chapter=We discover H.M.S. Pandora}}</ref>

[[John Heyer]],  an Australian documentary film maker, had predicted the position of the wreck based on his research in the [[National Maritime Museum]], Greenwich. His discovery expedition was launched with the help of Steve Domm, a boat owner and naturalist, and the [[Royal Australian Air Force]]. Using the [[Magnetic anomaly detector|built-in sensors]] of the [[Royal Australian Air Force]] [[P-2V Neptune]], the [[magnetic anomaly]] caused by the wreck was detected and flares were laid down near the coordinates predicted by Heyer.

[[Ben Cropp]], an Australian television film maker, gained knowledge of Heyer's expedition and decided to launch his own search with the intention of following Heyer by boat; in this way Cropp found the ''Pandora'' wreck just before Heyer's boat did. The wreck was actually sighted by a diver called Ron Bell on Cropp's boat. After the wreck site was located it was immediately declared a protected site under the Australian ''[[Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976]]'', and in 1978 Cropp and Steve Domm shared the $10,000 reward for finding the wreck.

The [[Queensland Museum]] [[Excavation (archaeology)|excavated]] the wreck on nine occasions between 1983 and 1999, according to a research design devised by marine archaeologists at the West Australian and Queensland museums.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gesner |first=Peter |date=2016 |title="Pandora Project Stage 2: 4 more seasons of excavation at the Pandora historic shipwreck". |url=https://www.museum.qld.gov.au/collections-and-research/memoirs/culture-9 |journal=Memoirs of the Queensland Museum – Culture |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230926212312/https://www.museum.qld.gov.au/collections-and-research/memoirs/culture-9 |archive-date=26 September 2023 |access-date=29 March 2024 |url-status=live }}</ref> Archaeologists, historians and scholars at the [[Museum of Tropical Queensland]], Townsville, continue to piece together the ''Pandora'' story, using archaeological and extant historical evidence. A large collection of artefacts is on display at the museum.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Queensland Museum Tropics Townsville |url=https://www.museum.qld.gov.au/tropics/whats-on/pandora-gallery |access-date=29 March 2024 |website=Pandora Gallery |archive-date=29 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329004538/https://www.museum.qld.gov.au/tropics/whats-on/pandora-gallery |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the course of the nine seasons of excavation during the 1980s and 1990s, the museum's marine archaeological teams established that approximately 30% of the hull is still intact.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gesner |first=Peter |date=2000 |title=HMS Pandora Project  – A Report on Stage  1: Five Seasons of Evacuation  |journal=Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, Cultural Heritage Series |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=22}}</ref> The vessel came to rest at a depth of between {{convert|30|and|33|m}} on a gently sloping sandy bottom, slightly inclined to starboard; consequently more of the starboard side has been preserved than the port side of the hull. Approximately one third of the seabed in which the wreck is buried has been excavated by the Queensland Museum, leaving approximately {{cvt|350|m3}} for any future excavations.

{{wide image|HMS Pandora Voyage 1791.jpg|2400px|Voyage of HMS ''Pandora'' in 1791}}

==Legacy==
A pub in [[Restronguet Creek]], [[Mylor Bridge]], [[Cornwall]], that dates to the 13th century was re-named "The Pandora Inn" in honour of HMS ''Pandora''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pandorainn.com/about/our-history/|title=History of Pandora Inn|access-date=30 June 2020|archive-date=6 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806183402/http://www.pandorainn.com/about/our-history/|url-status=live}}</ref>

An islet in [[Ducie Island|Ducie]] Atoll, in the Pitcairn Islands, is named after the ship, while another is named after its captain.

== In popular culture ==
HMS ''Pandora'' was digitally reconstructed and is featured as one of the sailable ships in the video game ''Ahoy''. <ref>{{cite web |url=https://ahoy.gg/journal/journal-7/ |title=Phoebus (HMS Pandora) |access-date=3 February 2025 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Citations==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite magazine |last=Alexander |first=Caroline  |title=Wreck of the Pandora |magazine=New Yorker |date=4 August 2003 |volume=79 |issue=21 |page=44 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2003/08/04/wreck-of-the-pandora}} 
* {{cite book | last=Alexander | first=Caroline | title=The Bounty The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty | year=2004 | publisher=Penguin Books |location=London |isbn=0142004693 | oclc=1148005691 | url=https://archive.org/details/bounty00caro }}
* [https://www.museum.qld.gov.au/collections-and-research/memoirs/culture-2 Campbell, Janet; Gesner, Peter (2000). "Illustrated catalogue of artefacts from the HMS 'Pandora' wrecksite excavations 1977-1995". ''Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, Culture'' Volume 2 part 1: 53–159.] {{ISSN|1440-4788}}
* {{cite book|last=Conway|first= Christiane |year=2005|title= Letters from the Isle of Man – The Bounty-Correspondence of Nessy and Peter Heywood. Onchan, Isle of Man: The Manx Experience |publisher= Manx Experience |isbn=978-1-873120-77-4}}
* {{Cite book|title=Voyage Of H.M.S. 'Pandora': Despatched to Arrest the Mutineers of the 'Bounty' in the South Seas, 1790-1791|first1=Edward|last1=Edwards|first2=George|last2=Hamilton.|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22834|access-date=2021-11-08|location=[[London]]|date=1915|others=Commentary by Basil Thomson|publisher=Francis Edwards}}
* Edwards, Edward. ''Admiral E. Ewards commanding HMS Pandora, concerning the mutiny of the Bounty and the voyage of HMS Pandora 1789–1791''. Admiralty Library, London, 19uu
* {{cite book | last1 = Hamilton| first1 = George| title = A Voyage Round the World in His Majesty's Frigate Pandora| publisher = Printed by and for W. Phorson, B. Law and Son | year = 1793| location = London | pages = 164}}
* [https://www.museum.qld.gov.au/collections-and-research/memoirs/culture-2 Gesner, Peter (2000) "HMS Pandora project – a report on stage 1: five seasons of excavation" ''Memoirs of the Queensland Museum – Culture'' Volume 2 part 1 pp. 1–52]
* {{cite book|title=HMS Pandora, an archaeological perspective|last=Gesner|first=Peter|publisher=Queensland Museum|year=2000|isbn=978-0-7242-4482-9|edition=2nd revised|location=Brisbane}}
* {{cite journal |last=Gesner |first=Peter |year=2016 |title=Pandora Project Stage 2: 4 more seasons of excavation at the Pandora historic shipwreck |url=https://www.museum.qld.gov.au/collections-and-research/memoirs/culture-9 |journal=Memoirs of the Queensland Museum – Culture |volume=9}}
* {{cite book|last=Henderson|first= Graeme |authorlink=Graeme Henderson|chapter=Chapter 5 {{!}} The loss of HMS Pandora in 1791 |pages=67–80|title=Swallowed by the Sea: the story of Australia's shipwrecks|publisher= Canberra: National Library of Australia|year= 2016|isbn=9780642278944}}
* Log of HMS Pandora. IN: Mss 180 (Papers of Edward Edwards), Admiralty Library, Naval Historical Branch, Portsmouth, UK.
* {{cite magazine|last=Marden|first=Luis|date=October 1985|title=Wreck of H.M.S. [Pandora]: Tragic Sequel to [Bounty]|magazine=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]]|volume=168|issue=4|issn=0027-9358|oclc=643483454|pages=423–451}}
* {{cite book | last=Maxton | first=Donald A. | title=Chasing the Bounty : The Voyages of the Pandora and Matavy | year=2020 | isbn=978-1-4766-7938-9 | oclc=1127952968 |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |publisher=McFarland & Company }}
* Nutley, David M. ''Pandora report : Evaluation of the NSW Heritage Office involvement in the Queensland Museum's 1998 HMS Pandora expedition.'' NSW Heritage Office, Sydney, 1998
* {{cite book|last=Rawson|first= Geoffrey |year=1963|title= Pandora's last voyage|location= London|publisher= Longmans}}
* Steptoe, Dayman (1998)''The human skeletal material from HMS Pandora.'' Thesis, Dept of Anatomical Sciences, University of Queensland, 1998.
* Walker, Belinda H. (2007) ''Pandora's Cat''. Moorooka, Qld. : Boolarong [children's story] ISBN 9781921054747.
* {{cite book |last=Winfield |first=Rif|title=British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates |location=London |publisher=Pen & Sword |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-84415-700-6}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category-inline}}
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/archaeology/marine_wreck_01.shtml#two 'Pandora's Bounty' ''Wreck Detectives'', BBC ]
* [https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/39310453 In Pursuit of the Bounty] [videorecording]. [United States] : New Dominion Pictures in association with the Archaeological Institute of America, c.1995.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070830031635/http://www.heritage.nsw.gov.au/heritagensw/aug98/9_art.htm Maritime Archaeology – HMS ''Pandora'']
* [http://www.qm.qld.gov.au/Find+out+about/Histories+of+Queensland/Transport+Maritime+History/HMS+Pandora#.WgESrdqGOUk Find Out about … HMS Pandora. Queensland Museum].
* [http://www.pandorawreckancestors.net 'Dead Man Secrets'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230601151752/http://pandorawreckancestors.net/ |date=1 June 2023 }} [blog regarding genealogical research to find DNA matches to identify human  skeletal remains found in the wreck]
* [http://librivox.org/voyage-round-theworld-in-his-mayestys-frigate-pandora-by-george-hamilton/ Audio recording] of ship surgeon George Hamilton's eyewitness account ''Voyage Round the World in His Majesty's Frigate Pandora'' at [http://librivox.org librivox]
* Queensland Museum. ''Expedition leader's Chronicle'' [daily journal entries by expedition leader and team members during field work [https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/19990901130000/http://www.qmuseum.qld.gov.au/culture/pandora/pan1.html 1997]{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, [https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/19990901130000/http://www.qmuseum.qld.gov.au/culture/pandora/pan1_7.html 1998] {{cbignore|bot=medic}}and [https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/19990901130000/http://amol.org.au/pandora/pandora_index.html 1999]{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, [https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20001005104354/http://www.qmuseum.qld.gov.au/culture/pandora/pan1_7_1.html archived at the National Library of Australia's web archive, Pandora]{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
* Museum of Tropical Queensland. [http://www.mtq.qm.qld.gov.au/Find+out+about/Histories+of+Queensland/Transport+Maritime+History/HMS+Pandora#.WJLmEBt96Ul HMS Pandora]  
* [http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2013/11/20/3895141.htm?site=conversations Maritime archaeologist Peter Gesner leads Pandora warship research] [conversation with Richard Fidler, ABC Radio National, 20 November 2013]   
* [http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/1998/11/27/17463.htm DNA recovered from shipwrecked bones] ABC News 27 November 1998   
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006ygrp/episodes/guide Pandora's Secrets (Season 1 Episode 3, Journeys to the Bottom of the Sea Series BBC, 2000)]   
* [http://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/permalink/f/fhnkog/slq_digitool401174 Who was Harry? Q150 Digital Story] [regarding one of the skeletons found on the wreck of HMS Pandora] [http://www.slq.qld.gov.au State Library of Queensland]
* [https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/37797119 HMS Pandora : in the wake of the Bounty] [documentary film] Balgowlah, N.S.W. : David Flatman Productions, 1993.
* {{cite magazine|last=Marden|first= Luis|authorlink=Luis Marden|title=Wreck of H. M. S [Pandora]: Tragic Sequel to [Bounty] Mutiny|magazine= National Geographic Magazine|date= October 1985|pages= 423+}}
* [https://www.museum.qld.gov.au/museum-of-tropical-queensland/whats-on/pandora-gallery Pandora Gallery] (permanent exhibition). [[Museum of Tropical Queensland]].
{{Porcupine class post ship}}
{{Australian historic shipwrecks with a protected zone|state=collapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pandora (1779)}}
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1791]]
[[Category:Mutiny on the Bounty]]
[[Category:Porcupine-class post ships]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks in the Coral Sea]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the Torres Strait]]
[[Category:Archaeology of shipwrecks]]
[[Category:1779 ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in Deptford]]
[[Category:1791 in Australia]]
[[Category:Australian Shipwrecks with protected zone]]