HMS Pandora
Outer Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia
What happened
In 1790, the Royal Navy sent HMS Pandora to the Pacific to catch the mutineers from HMS Bounty. In 1791, the crew found 14 of them on Tahiti and kept them locked in a small cell on deck called 'Pandora's Box'. On the way home in August 1791, the ship struck the Great Barrier Reef and sank the next morning.
Why it matters
Pandora is one of the most important shipwrecks in the Pacific, and it is closely linked to the famous Bounty mutiny. Its remains show what life was like aboard a Royal Navy ship in the 1700s.
What came next
Survivors sailed four small open boats to Timor, more than 1,000 km away. The wreck lay undiscovered for 186 years until it was found in 1977, and its objects are now displayed at the Museum of Tropical Queensland in Townsville.
Did you know?
On the way, Pandora's crew saw smoke signals on the island of Vanikoro but sailed on; the smoke may have come from survivors of a lost French expedition.
Timeline
- 1790Pandora sails from England to hunt for the Bounty mutineers.
- 1791The crew captures 14 mutineers on Tahiti.
- 29 August 1791Pandora strikes the Great Barrier Reef and sinks the next morning.
- 16 September 1791The survivors reach Kupang, Timor, in open boats.
- 15 November 1977Divers find the wreck.
- 1983 to 1999The Queensland Museum excavates the wreck nine times.