HMS Pandora 1791
Marker: recorded wreck position (Age of Sail).
Key facts
| Name | HMS Pandora | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1791 | English Wikipedia lead text (year following a loss verb, parsed) |
| Era | Age of Sail | derived from year |
| Ship type | post ship | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | Grounding or wreck on rocks | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Nationality / flag | United Kingdom | Wikidata P137 operator → P17 country |
| Operator | Royal Navy | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Sea / ocean | Great Barrier Reef | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | Australia | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 109 km from land |
| Position | -11.3710, 143.9833 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
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.
Diving & visiting
The wreck of the Pandora is located approximately 5 km north-west of Moulter Cay 11°23′S 143°59′E on the outer Great Barrier Reef, on the edge of the Coral Sea. It is one of the best preserved shipwrecks in Australian waters. Its discovery was made on 15 November 1977 by independent explorers Ben Cropp, Steve Domm and John Heyer.
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.
Location
- Recorded position: -11.3710, 143.9833 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: Great Barrier Reef
- Nearest coast: Australia
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article HMS Pandora (1779) (revision 1374741527), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Wreck site: discovery and archaeology”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
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