The Discovery. Convict Ship (lying at De…

The ship depicted is the second ship to be named Discovery, it was a 10-gun sloop, while Cook’s ship was a collier and never used as a prison hulk.

In 1776 an act was passed to permit decommissioned ships to be converted to house prisoners. The ships were rendered inoperable or unseaworthy in some way. In 1798 the hulks held more than 1400 out of about 1900 people waiting for transportation to Australia. The title incorrectly states that this was Cook’s ship on his 3rd and final voyage, the ship depicted is the second ship named Discovery, a 10-gun sloop, while Cook’s ship was a collier and never used as a prison hulk. The reason for this confusion is that there were two ships named HMS Discovery, the first was the collier used by Cook on his third and final voyage launched in 1774, commissioned in 1776 and finally broken up at Chatham Dockyard in October 1797. The second Discovery was named after Cook’s ship, launched at Rotherhithe in 1789 and used by George Vancouver for his exploration of the west coast of north America in 1791-1795. She was then decommissioned and used as a convict hulk between 1820-1834, and then scrapped.

A fine etching by Edward William Cooke (1811-1880) from Fifty Plates of Shipping and Craft  which he drew and etched all the images.