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57-553: The bay was visited by European voyages of discovery in the second half of the 18th century for wood, water and supplies. As late as 1802, Governor King of New South Wales considered Tahiti "the only island that needs little or no precaution for the safety of those who visit it". The first European known to have visited Tahiti was Lieutenant Samuel Wallis , in Dolphin , who landed on 17 June 1767 in Matavai Bay. The first contacts with

114-599: 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 . Pandora ' s first service was in the Channel during the 1779 threatened invasion by the combined fleets of France and Spain. The ship was deployed in North American waters during the American War Of Independence and saw service as

171-583: A comfortable and respected life in the colony. King, who had probably arranged the marriage, also arranged for their two sons to be educated in England, where they became officers in the navy. Whilst in England King married Anna Josepha Coombe (his first cousin) on 11 March 1791 and returned shortly after on HMS Gorgon to take up his post as Lieutenant-Governor of Norfolk Island , at an annual salary of £250. King's first legitimate offspring, Phillip Parker King ,

228-541: A convoy escort between England and Quebec. On 18 July 1780, while under the command of Captain Anthony Parry, Pandora and Danae captured the American privateer Jack . Then on 2 September, the two British vessels captured the American privateer Terrible . On 14 January Pandora captured the brig Janie . Then on 11 March she captured the ship Mercury . Two days later Pandora and HMS  Bellisarius were off

285-559: A mission to convey breadfruit from the South Pacific to the Caribbean. Bligh had served as sailing master of Resolution during Cook's third voyage. Bounty reached Tahiti on 26 October 1788, after ten months at sea. Bligh and his crew spent five months in Tahiti. They established a nursery at Point Venus, collecting and preparing 1015 breadfruit plants to be transported. Bligh allowed

342-765: A period he allowed toleration of Catholics, permitting Fr James Dixon to say mass for Irish convicts. Although he directly profited from a number of commercial deals, cattle sales, and land grants, he was modest in his dealings compared with most of his subordinates. Most famously he quelled the Castle Hill Rebellion in March 1804. The increased animosity between King and the New South Wales Corps led to his resignation and replacement by William Bligh in 1806, and he returned to England. Here his health failed and he died on 3 September 1808. Although he worked hard for

399-466: A quarrel with Matthew Thompson, who was in turn killed by Polynesians, who considered Churchill their king. 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. Edwards then dispatched search parties to round up

456-615: A second attempt to convey breadfruit to the West Indies. He arrived at Matavai Bay on 9 April 1792 and stayed for three months collecting the breadfruit plants. Duff landed missionaries from the London Missionary Society at Matavai Bay on 5 March 1797 to establish a mission at Point Venus. 17°30′S 149°30′W  /  17.500°S 149.500°W  / -17.500; -149.500 Philip Gidley King Philip Gidley King (23 April 1758 – 3 September 1808)

513-680: Is evident that a substantial number of crew survived the cyclone that wrecked their ships Astrolabe and Boussole on Vanikoro's fringing reef. 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. 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). The remainder of

570-509: The Austral Islands . The disaffected men were living in Tahiti as ' 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 Island . By the time of Pandora ' s arrival, fourteen of the former Bounty men remained on Tahiti, Charles Churchill having been murdered in

627-641: The Pandora is located approximately 5 km north-west of Moulter Cay 11°23′S 143°59′E  /  11.383°S 143.983°E  / -11.383; 143.983 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

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684-507: The Sydney CBD is named in his honour. Philip Gidley King was born at Launceston , England on 23 April 1758, the son of draper Philip King, and grandson of Exeter attorney-at-law John Gidley. He joined the Royal Navy at the age of 12 as captain's servant, and was commissioned as a lieutenant in 1778. King served under Arthur Phillip who chose him as second lieutenant on HMS Sirius for

741-538: The Virginia Capes when they captured the sloop Louis , which had been sailing to Virginia with a cargo of cider and onions. Under Captain John Inglis Pandora captured more merchant vessels. The first was the brig Lively on 24 May 1782. 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). At

798-506: The East. King Street was named after Governor Phillip Gidley King. The top end of King Street has been home to the legal profession since Governor Macquaie established the Supreme Court next to St James’ Church. King Street was also closely positioned to newspaper buildings and to pubs, clubs and theatres. According to “Australian Bird Names: A Complete Guide” by Jeannie Gray & Ian Fraser,

855-687: The South-West Pacific in search of the Bounty and the remaining mutineers, without finding any traces of her or them. Pandora was wrecked in Torres Strait on the return voyage. The Vancouver Expedition , in Discovery and Chatham , visited Matavai Bay in from 29 December 1791 to 24 January 24, 1792. George Vancouver had previously visited Matavai Bay on Cook's second and third expeditions. From 1791 to 1793 Bligh, in Providence , in company with Assistant under Nathaniel Portlock , undertook

912-626: The Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island (1793) was made from one of his watercolors. The original sketch is among the Banks Papers held by the Mitchell Library, Sydney, along with several others, unsigned but clearly by the same artist. King Street is a street in Sydney’s central business district. It starts at King Street Wharf on Darling Harbour in the west and goes to Queens Square in

969-426: The bay on 13 April 1769. A sandy spit on the northeast end of Matavai Bay – named Point Venus by Cook – was chosen for the observatory. The location of the observatory would be known as "Fort Venus." Cook departed on 13 July 1769. Cook also visited Matavai Bay on 26 August-1 September 1773 and 22 April-14 May 1774 during his second voyage , and 23 August-29 September 1777 during his third voyage . Lady Penrhyn

1026-459: The continued illicit local distillation, increasingly difficult to control. He continued to face military arrogance and disobedience from the New South Wales Corps. He failed to receive support in England when he sent an accused officer John Macarthur back to face a court-martial. King had some successes. His regulations for prices, wages, hours of work, financial deals and the employment of convicts brought some relief to smallholders, and reduced

1083-630: The crew to live ashore and care for the potted breadfruit plants, and they became socialized to the customs and culture of the Tahitians. Bounty departed with her breadfruit cargo on 4 April 1789. Part of the crew mutinied on 28 April 1789. Pandora , under Captain Edward Edwards , was sent from England to search for the Bounty and the mutineers. Pandora reached Tahiti on 23 March 1791 and recovered 14 crew members from Bounty . On 8 May 1791 Pandora left Tahiti and subsequently spent three months in

1140-614: The end of the American war the Admiralty placed Pandora in ordinary (mothballed) in 1783 at Chatham for seven years. 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 HMS Bounty , the First Lord of the Admiralty, John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham , decided to despatch

1197-514: The expedition to establish a convict settlement in New South Wales. On arrival, in January 1788, King was selected to lead a small party of convicts and guards to set up a settlement at Norfolk Island, leaving Sydney on 14 February 1788 on board HMS Sirius. On 6 March 1788, King and his party landed with difficulty, owing to the lack of a suitable harbour, and set about building huts, clearing

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1254-417: The following day. These fourteen men were locked up in a makeshift prison cell, measuring eleven by eighteen feet (3.4 by 5.5 m), on the Pandora ' s quarterdeck , which they called " Pandora's Box ". 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

1311-649: The good of New South Wales and left it very much better than he found it, the abuse from the officers harmed his reputation, and illness and the hard conditions of his service eventually wore him down. Of all the members of the First Fleet, Philip Gidley King perhaps made the greatest contribution to the early years of the colony. King is also remembered for his art works, several of which survive. An engraving by William Blake , entitled A Native Family of New South Wales , and published in John Hunter's Historical Journal of

1368-449: The half blind 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. 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

1425-600: 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. 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

1482-519: 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 excavated

1539-639: The island was self-sufficient in grain, and surplus swine were being sent to Sydney. The number of people living off the government store was high, and few settlers wanted to leave. In February 1794 King was faced with unfounded allegations by members of the New South Wales Corps on the island that he was punishing them too severely and ex-convicts too lightly when disputes arose. As their conduct became mutinous, he sent twenty of them to Sydney for trial by court-martial. There Lieutenant-Governor Francis Grose censured King's actions and issued orders which gave

1596-445: The land, planting crops, and resisting the ravages of grubs, salt air and hurricanes. More convicts were sent, and these proved occasionally troublesome. Early in 1789 he prevented a mutiny when some of the convicts planned to take him and other officers prisoner, and escape on the next boat to arrive. Whilst commandant on Norfolk Island, King formed a relationship with the female convict Ann Inett —their first son, born on 8 January 1789,

1653-535: The military illegal authority over the civilian population. Grose later apologised, but conflict with the military continued to plague King. Suffering from gout , King returned to England in October 1796, and after regaining his health, and resuming his naval career, he was appointed to replace Captain John Hunter as the third Governor of New South Wales . King became governor on 28 September 1800. He set about changing

1710-410: The museum. 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. The vessel came to rest at a depth of between 30 and 33 metres (98 and 108 ft) on a gently sloping sandy bottom, slightly inclined to starboard; consequently more of the starboard side has been preserved than

1767-513: The name King’s Parrot was proposed by George Caley to honour Governor Philip Gidley King (Governor of New South Wales from 1800-1806). 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

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1824-452: The native Tahitians were difficult, since on the 24 and the 26 June 1767, canoes tried to take the ship and beach it. In retaliation, the English sailors opened fire on the canoes and on the crowds on the hills. In reaction to this powerful counter-attack, the inhabitants of the bay laid down offerings for the English, showing their wish for peace or to submit. Following this episode, Samuel Wallis

1881-451: The numbers 'on the stores'. He encouraged construction of barracks, wharves, bridges, houses, etc. Government flocks and herds greatly increased, and he encouraged experiments with vines, tobacco, cotton, hemp and indigo. Whaling and sealing became important sources of oil and skins, and coal mining began. He took an interest in education, establishing schools to teach convict boys to become skilled tradesmen. He encouraged smallpox vaccinations,

1938-539: The people of Fiji . 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. If they had done so, they would very probably have discovered early evidence of the fate of the French Pacific explorer La Perouse 's expedition which had disappeared in 1788. From later accounts about their fate it

1995-476: 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 these nine became the first Europeans to make contact with

2052-580: 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 350 m (12,000 cu ft) for any future excavations. 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 . An islet in Ducie Atoll, in

2109-779: 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 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

2166-534: 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 (aka Alexander Smith) – were dead, most having died under violent circumstances. The wreck of

2223-408: 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 , Charles Norman and 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. An eighth man,

2280-536: The ship and sickness among her crew compelled Lady Penrhyn to stop in Matavai Bay in July 1788, where the crew recovered and the ship was repaired. John Watts , who was acting as supercargo , had visited previously as a midshipman in Resolution on James Cook 's third voyage . The voyage is documented in the published journals of Watts and surgeon Arthur Bowes Smyth . In 1787, William Bligh took command of Bounty on

2337-457: The ship to recover the Bounty , capture the mutineers, and return them to England for trial. Pandora was refitted with four 18-pounder carronades 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 and manned by a crew of 134 men. With his crew was Thomas Hayward , who had been on the Bounty at

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2394-547: 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. They arrived in Kupang on 16 September 1791 after an arduous voyage across the Arafura Sea . Sixteen more died after surviving

2451-430: The system of administration, and appointed Major Joseph Foveaux as Lieutenant-Governor of Norfolk Island. His first task was to attack the misconduct of officers of the New South Wales Corps in their illicit trading in liquor, notably rum . He tried to discourage the importation of liquor, and began to construct a brewery. However, he found the refusal of convicts to work in their own time for other forms of payment, and

2508-471: 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 . 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 , one of

2565-431: 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 524 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. Pandora had

2622-444: 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. Peter Heywood and 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,

2679-508: The warm welcome he had received and the sweetness of the Tahitian customs. A primary objective of James Cook 's first voyage , in Endeavour , was to observe the 1769 Transit of Venus from the South Pacific. Tahiti was chosen for the observations based on Wallis's recent discoveries. Endeavour's third lieutenant was John Gore , who had served as master's mate on Dolphin . Cook anchored in

2736-510: 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. 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

2793-565: 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;

2850-525: Was a British politician who was the third Governor of New South Wales . When the First Fleet arrived in January 1788, King was detailed to colonise Norfolk Island for defence and foraging purposes. As Governor of New South Wales, he helped develop livestock farming, whaling and mining, built many schools and launched the colony's first newspaper. But conflicts with the military wore down his spirit, and they were able to force his resignation. King Street in

2907-433: Was a convict colony and always alert to the ebb and flow of the rebellious Irish political prisoners he established his own body guard. He gave opportunities to emancipists , considering that ex-convicts should not remain in disgrace forever. He appointed emancipists to positions of responsibility, regulated the position of assigned servants, and laid the foundation of the ' ticket of leave ' system for deserving prisoners. For

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2964-579: Was a convict transport in the First Fleet . Following her arrival in New South Wales , she was under contract to go to the "North West Coast of America to Trade for furrs & after that to proceed to China & barter the Furrs &ca for Teas or other such Goods..." She departed Sydney Cove on 5 May 1788 and sailed north with the intention of purchasing furs in Kamchatka for resale in China. The poor condition of

3021-497: Was a largened 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

3078-527: Was able to establish cordial relations with the female chieftain Oberea ( Purea ) and remained on the island until 27 July 1767. Wallis named the bay Port Royal. On 2 April 1768 Louis-Antoine de Bougainville , completing the first French circumnavigation in La Boudeuse and Étoile , landed in Matavai Bay. He stayed about ten days on the island, which he called “Nouvelle-Cythère“, or "New Cythera ", because of

3135-456: Was born there in December 1791, and four daughters followed. On his return to Norfolk Island, King found the population of nearly one thousand torn apart by discontent after the strict regime of Major Robert Ross . However, he set about enthusiastically to improve conditions. He encouraged settlers, drawn from ex-convicts and ex-marines, and he listened to their views on wages and prices. By 1794

3192-515: Was named Norfolk. (He went on to become the first Australian-born officer in the Royal Navy and the captain of the schooner Ballahoo .) Another son was born in 1790 and named Sydney. Following the wreck of Sirius at Norfolk Island in March 1790, King left and returned to England to report on the difficulties of the settlements at New South Wales . Ann Inett was left in Sydney with the boys; she later married another man in 1792, and went on to lead

3249-575: Was sympathetic to missionaries, strove to keep peace with the indigenous inhabitants, ordered the printing of Australia's first book, New South Wales General Standing Orders , and encouraged the first newspaper, the Sydney Gazette . Exploration led to the survey of Bass Strait and Western Port , and the discovery of Port Phillip , and settlements were established at Hobart and Port Dalrymple in Van Diemen's Land . While still aware that Sydney

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