HMS Porpoise (1799)
| History | |
|---|---|
.svg){kind=small} Spain
|
|
| Name: | Infanta Amelia |
| Builder: | Dockyard, Bilbao |
| Launched: | c.1799 |
| Captured: | 6 August 1799 |
 UK
|
|
| Name: | HMS Porpoise |
| Launched: | 6 August 1799 by capture |
| Fate: | Wrecked 17 August 1803 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | sloop |
| Tonnage: | 308 (bm) |
| Length: |
|
| Beam: | 27 ft 11 in (8.51 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 12 ft 3 in (3.73 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Schooner |
| Armament: | 10 x 6-pounder guns |
HMS Porpoise was a 12-gun sloop originally built in Bilbao, Spain, as the packet ship Infanta Amelia. On 6 August 1799 HMS Argo captured her off the coast of Portugal.Porpoise wrecked in 1803 on the North coast of what was then part of the Colony of New South Wales, now called Wreck Reefs, off the coast of Queensland, Australia.
Porpoise was commissioned in October 1799 under Lieutenant William Scott as a storeship for New South Wales. She sailed in April and arrived on 7 November 1800 in Port Jackson.
She carried a selection of useful European plants, arranged by Sir Joseph Banks, to replace those lost in HMS Guardian. George Suttor was engaged as gardener to prepare the plants and care for them on the voyage. In return he received free passage for himself and his family.
Governor Philip Gidley King appointed himself Captain of Porpoise on 6 November 1800, but left actual command in Scott's hands. Scott took her to Norfolk Island on at least two voyages and to Otaheite to bring back salt pork in exchange for arms, among other goods. King had an agreement with King Pōmare I under which Pōmare sought to monopolize the trade in salt pork.
In June 1803, Porpoise, with HMS Lady Nelson, under the command of Lieutenant George Courtoys, set out from Sydney for the Derwent River in Van Diemen's Land in order to establish the first European occupation of what is now Tasmania. Bad weather forced both vessels to return to Sydney.
...
Wikipedia