HMS Providence
HMS Providence was a 33 m long sloop purchased by the Royal Navy in 1791.1 William Broughton commanded the Providence from October 1793 until it sank in 1797.2
The Providence 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 Providence 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