Built in 1779, the 24-gun British frigate
H.M.S. Pandora set out to capture Fletcher Christian and his
band of
Bounty mutineers. After finding and arresting most of the rebels in Tahiti, the
Pandora
spent four unsuccessful months combing the South Pacific for the rest. Anxious to return to
England, Captain Edwards attempted to find a new, more direct passage home. But, on August 29,
1791, the
Pandora was wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef between New Guinea and the
northeastern tip of Australia. Four prisoners and 31 of the crew went down with the ship. Edwards and 98 others
sailed 1,200 miles to a Dutch settlement in Timor in four of the ship's boats. Upon their return to England, the ten
remaining mutineers were court marshaled. Three were found guilty, and hung. By the time it was discovered in
1808, that Fletcher Christian and his men had taken refuge on remote Pitcairn Island, all but one were dead.
H.M.S. Pandora Links:
Queensland, Australia Museum: H.M.S. Pandora.
