- HMS Providence (1791)
HMS "Providence" was a sloop of the
Royal Navy , famous for being commanded byWilliam Bligh on his secondbreadfruit voyage between 1791 and 1794.The "Providence" was purchased on the stocks from Perry & Co, Blackwall in February 1791. She was launched on
23 April 1791 and commissioned under Bligh that month. She was coppered atWoolwich for the sum of £1,267, and then again atDeptford for £3,981.Rated as a
sixth rate , she sailed for the Pacific on2 August 1791 . Bligh completed a mission to collectbreadfruit trees and other botanical specimens from the Pacific, which he transported to theWest Indies . Specimens were given to the Royal Botanic Gardens in St. Vincent. "Providence" returned to Britain in February 1794, having been re-rated as a sloop on30 September 1793 . She underwent another refit at Woolwich and was recommissioned in October 1793 under the command of CommanderWilliam Robert Broughton . Broughton was ordered to rejoin theVancouver Expedition and departed Britain on15 February 1795 . Reaching Monterrey long after the expedition made its final departure, Robert decided (correctly) that Vancouver would not have left his surveying task unfinished and departed to chart the coast of east Asia.In the course of his explorations, he named
Caroline Island "Carolina" (which later became "Caroline ") "in compliment to the daughter of Sir P. Stephens of theAdmiralty ."cite journal | first = A.K. | last = Kepler | authorlink = | coauthors = C.B. Kepler | year = 1994 | month = February | title = The natural history of the Caroline Atoll, Southern Line Islands | journal = Atoll Research Bulletin | volume = 397–398|url = http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/duffy/arb/397-398/ ] . This name superseded that given byPedro Fernández de Quirós , a Portuguese explorer sailing on behalf of Spain; his account names the island "San Bernardo."cite journal | first = A.K. | last = Kepler | authorlink = | coauthors = C.B. Kepler | year = 1994 | month = February | title = The natural history of the Caroline Atoll, Southern Line Islands | journal = Atoll Research Bulletin | volume = 397–398 | url = http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/duffy/arb/397-398/ ]"Providence" voyaged to Asia as the crew surveyed the coast of Hokkaidō before wintering at
Macau . There Broughton purchased a small schooner which proved providential when, on16 May 1797 "Providence" was wrecked atMiyako-jima , south ofOkinawa . Broughton and his crew continued the mission in the schooner, exploring northeast Asia, and returned home in February 1799.References
*Colledge
* Winfield, Rif, "British Warships of the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates", pub Seaforth, 2007, ISBN 1-86176-295-X
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.