HMS Pandora (1833) facts for kids

Pandora in 1861, painted by Thomas Lyde Hornbrook
Quick facts for kids History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Pandora
Ordered	11 December 1831
Builder	Woolwich Dockyard
Cost	£7,821
Laid down	August 1832
Launched	5 July 1833
Commissioned	1 June 1836
Reclassified	Converted to survey ship 1845.
Fate	Sold January 1862
General characteristics
Class and type	Pandora-class brig
Tons burthen	318 68⁄94 tons bm
Length	90 ft (27.4 m) (overall) 71 ft 3 in (21.7 m) (keel)
Beam	29 ft 3 in (8.9 m)
Depth of hold	13 ft 10 in (4.22 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Complement	50 (later 60)
Armament	2 × 32-pounder carronades 1 × 32-pounder gun

HMS Pandora was a 3-gun brig of the Royal Navy, in service from 1833 to 1862.

Map of the Cape of Good Hope with soundings made by Pandora in 1851

Between 1845 and 1848 Pandora, under the command of James Wood, was used as a tender to HMS Herald. During this time she was involved in survey work on the west Coast of the Americas from Colombia to Vancouver Island.

From 20 December 1850 to 5 June 1856 her captain was Commander Byron Drury, under whose command she spent four and a half years surveying the New Zealand coast.

• Soundings made off the Cape of Good Hope at the Agulhas Bank in 1851.
• Took part in the survey work of New Zealand, between 1851 and 1855. This work, together with that of HMS Acheron between 1848 and 1851, led to the publication of the New Zealand Pilot. . On 8 February 1853, Pandora ran aground at Manukau whilst departing for Onehunga.
• In December 1854, surveyed Sumner Bay, including the bar and mouth of the Avon-Heathcote Estuary for the Canterbury Provincial Council. Drury wrote a report and produced a detailed chart of the area, with soundings.

Thomas Kerr her Master.