HMS Discovery was a Royal Navy ship best known as the lead ship in George Vancouver's exploration of the west coast of North America in his 1791-1795 expedition.

Discovery was built at the Randall & Brents shipyard in London in 1789. Originally intended for a round-the-world voyage focussing on the South Seas whaling grounds, she was named after the previous HMS Discovery, one of the ships on James Cook's third voyage to the Pacific Ocean, on which Vancouver had served as a midshipman. She was ship-rigged, of 330 tons displacement, and had a standard complement of 100, including a widow's man.

The Voyage

Discovery was built for a voyage of exploration to the Southern whale fisheries. Her Captain was Henry Roberts and Vancouver his 1st Lieutenant.

However, the Nootka Crisis lead Roberts and Vancouver to be posted elsewhere. Discovery was used as a depot ship for processing victims of the press gang. When the Nootka Sound Convention ended the crisis, Vancouver was given command of Discovery and ordered to take possession of Nootka Sound, and related exploratory tasks.

In 1791, Discovery set out in company with HMS Chatham. They stopped at Cape Town, and then explored the south coast of Australia. In King George Sound, her naturalist and surgeon Archibald Menzies collected various plant species including the Banksia grandis the first recording of the Banksia genus in Western Australia.. Proceeding to Hawai'i, Discover helping impress Kamehameha I with the reach of British power; in 1795 he allied himself to Britain, according to Vancouver's report, although there is some dispute whether Kamehameha's side of the story would be the same.

Over the course of the next four years, Vancouver surveyed the northern Pacific Ocean coast in Discovery and wintered in Spanish California and Hawai'i. Vancouver named many features after friends and associates, including:

• Mt. Baker, named after 3rd Lieutenant Joseph Baker, the first on the expedition to spot it
• Mount St. Helens, named after Alleyne Fitzherbert, 1st Baron St Helens
• Puget Sound, after Discovery's lieutenant Peter Puget, who explored its southern reaches.

Discovery's primary mission was to assert British control of the Northwest Coast, with the hand-over of the Spanish Fort San Miguel at Nootka Sound; exploration in co-operation with the Spanish as an important secondary objective. The explorations were successful and relations with the Spanish went well; resupply in California were especially helpful. Vancouver and the overall Spanish commander Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra were on the most friendly terms until the latter's untimely death. Indeed, they initially gave the name Vancouver and Quadra's Island to what is today known as Vancouver Island.

However, Vancouver and Quadra had conflicting instructions about the disposition of Nootka Sound. Four years of dispatches with their home governments failed to bring a resolution, so in a purely formal sense, Discovery's mission failed. However, that mission is scarcely notable today and is greatly eclipsed by its successes.

It is remarkable that during Discovery's five-year voyage, only six sailors were lost, all in accidents; none died from scurvey or violence.

Afterwards

Among the notable persons who served on Discovery's great voyage:

• Captain George Vancouver
• 1st Lieutenant Zachary Mudge (promoted to admiral in 1849)
• 2nd Lieutenant Peter Puget (promoted to rear admiral in 1821)
• 3rd Lieutenant Joseph Baker (Post Captain in 1809)
• Master Joseph Whidbey (later a naval engineer noted for the breakwater at Plymouth)
• William Robert Broughton, initially in command of Chatham, later a Rear-Admiral
• Archibald Menzies, naturalist and surgeon
• Thomas Pitt, 2nd Baron Camelford, sent back to England in disgrace.

References

External links

• Ships of the World entry