providenceProvidence
The HMS providenceProvidence was a 33 m long sloop purchased by the Royal Navy in 1791.1 William Broughton commanded the providenceProvidence from October 1793 until it sank in 1797.2
The providenceProvidence was commanded by Broughton to meet Captain Vancouver on the Northwest coast, but
Cook was gone by the time Broughton arrived.3 Broughton proceeded to Asia, where, for a period of four years, he surveyed the coast
of Asia, as well as areas among the Kurile Islands, Japan, Okinawa, and Formosa.4
On 16 May, 1797, the providenceProvidence struck a coral reef somewhere between Formosa and Okinawa and the crew was unable
to save the vessel.5 Broughton received a court martial for the loss of the ship, though he would be acquitted
later.6
- 1. J. J. Colledge, Ships of the Royal Navy: An Historical Index (New York, NY: A. M. Kelley, 1969), vol 1, 442.
- 2. J. K. Laughton, Broughton, William Robert Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.
- 3. Ibid.
- 4. Ibid.
- 5. Ibid.
- 6. Ibid.
Mentions of this vessel in the documents