Princess Royal (sloop)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
|
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| Name: | Princess Royal |
| Launched: | 1778 |
| Captured: | By Spanish Navy, 1789 |
.svg){kind=small} Spain
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| Name: | Princesa Real |
| Acquired: | 1789 |
| Fate: | Damaged by a hurricane at Macau, 1791. Sold for salvage. |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen: | 65 (bm) |
| Length: | 43 ft (13 m) |
| Beam: | 16 ft (4.9 m) |
| Sail plan: | Sloop |
| Complement: | 15 crew |
| Armament: | 4 x 1 pound (0.5 kg) cannon + 8 swivel guns |
Princess Royal was a British merchant ship that sailed on fur trading ventures in the late 1780s, and was captured at Nootka Sound by Esteban José Martínez of Spain during the Nootka Crisis of 1789. Called the Princesa Real while under the Spanish Navy, the vessel was one of the important issues of negotiation during the first Nootka Convention and the difficulties in carrying out the agreements. The vessel also played an important role in both British and Spanish exploration of the Pacific Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands. In 1790, while under Spanish control, Princesa Real carried out the first detailed examination of the Strait of Juan de Fuca by non-indigenous peoples, finding, among other places, the San Juan Islands, Haro Strait (the entrance to the Strait of Georgia), Esquimalt Harbour near present-day Victoria, British Columbia, and Admiralty Inlet (the entrance to Puget Sound).
Lloyd's Register listed Princess Royal in 1789 as being a sloop of 60 tons (bm), surveyed in Leith, Scotland in 1778 and resurveyed in 1786; Class A1, Copper sheathed, single deck with beams; draft of 8 feet (2.4 m) when laden; owned by Etches & Co.
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