HMS Gorgon (1785)
| History | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Name: | HMS Gorgon |
| Namesake: | Gorgon |
| Ordered: | 19 June 1782 |
| Builder: | Perry & Hankey, Blackwall Yard |
| Laid down: | December 1782 |
| Launched: | 27 January 1785 |
| Completed: | 15 December 1787 at Portsmouth Dockyard |
| Honours and awards: |
Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Egypt" |
| Fate: | Broken up, February 1817 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen: | 896 54⁄94 tons bm (as designed) |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 38 ft 3 in (11.66 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 16 ft 10 in (5.13 m) |
| Sail plan: | Full-rigged ship |
| Complement: | 300 (294 from 1794) |
| Armament: |
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HMS Gorgon was a 44-gun fifth-rate two-decker ship of the Adventure class of 911 tons, launched at Blackwall Yard in 1785 and completed as a troopship. She was subsequently converted to a storeship. She also served as a guardship and a hospital ship at various times before being broken up in 1817.
Gorgon was fitted as a troopship at Portsmouth at a cost of £5,210, the work being completed on 15 December 1787. Lieutenant Charles Craven commissioned her in October 1787. She then was paid off one year later. One year after that, she was fitted for foreign service at an additional cost of £5,200 and recommissioned under Lieutenant William Harvey in October 1789.
Under Commander John Parker (c1749–1794), she went to New South Wales on 15 March 1791, along with the Third Fleet, arriving on 21 September 1791. She carried six months provisions for 900 people in the starving colony. She also carried about 30 convicts, and Philip Gidley King, who was returning to the colony to take up the post of lieutenant-governor of Norfolk Island. This voyage is described in a 1795 book by Mary Ann Parker, who travelled with her husband, the ship's captain.
On 18 December 1791 the Gorgon left Port Jackson, taking home the last company of the New South Wales Marine Corps, which had accompanied the First Fleet to guard the convicts and act as guard force for the new settlement. The marines leaving included Watkin Tench, Robert Ross, William Dawes, and Ralph Clark. Of the departure, Tench said, "we hailed it with rapture and exhilaration".
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