HMS Chatham (1788)

{{Short description|Royal Navy brig best known as Discovery's tender in the Vancouver Expedition}} {{other ships|HMS Chatham}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}} {{Use British English|date=December 2017}} {{Infobox ship |section1={{Infobox ship/image | image = {{CSS image crop |Image=The Discovery on the rocks.jpg |bSize=950 |cWidth=300 |cHeight=245 |oTop=180 |oLeft=590 }} | image_caption = The ''Chatham'' near Fife Sound in Queen Charlotte Strait (1792)<ref name=Stockdale /> }}

|section2={{Infobox ship/career | hide_header = | country = Great Britain | flag = 60px|Royal Navy Ensign | name = HMS ''Chatham'' | ordered = | builder = King, Dover | original_cost = | laid_down = | launched = 1788 | acquired = 12 February 1788 | commissioned = | decommissioned = | in_service = | out_of_service = | renamed = | struck = | reinstated = | honours = | captured = | fate = Sold in 1830 | notes = }}

|section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics | hide_header = | header_caption = | class = 4-gun survey brig | tons_burthen = 133 bm | length = {{convert|80|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} | beam = {{convert|22|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} | draught = | hold_depth = | sail_plan = Brig | propulsion = Sails | complement = 45 | armament =*Four 3-pdr guns *6 swivels | notes = }} }}

'''HMS ''Chatham''''' was a Royal Navy survey brig, built in 1788, that accompanied HMS ''Discovery'' on George Vancouver's exploration of the West Coast of North America in his 1791–1795 expedition.<ref name=naish>{{cite book |author=Naish, John |title=The Interwoven Lives of George Vancouver, Archibald Menzies, Joseph Whidbey and Peter Puget: The Vancouver Voyage of 1791–1795 |publisher=The Edward Mellen Press, Ltd. |year=1996| isbn = 0-7734-8857-X }}</ref>

==Purchase== ''Chatham'' was built by King, at Dover, as a merchant brig, and launched in early 1788. She was purchased for navy service as a tender on 12 February 1788.<ref name="Lyon">{{cite book |last1=Lyon |first1=David |last2=Winfield |first2=Rif |title=The sail & steam Navy list : all the ships of the Royal Navy, 1815-1889 |date=2004 |publisher=Chatham |location=London |isbn=1-86176-032-9 |page=83}}</ref>

==The Vancouver Expedition== {{main|Vancouver Expedition}} The first significant voyage by ''Chatham'' was Vancouver's five-year mission to the South Seas and Pacific Northwest coast of America. Her commander was Lieutenant William Robert Broughton, with 2nd Lieutenant James Hanson.<ref name=discovery>{{cite web |url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mymhiwe:@field(DOCID+@lit(mymhiwef897p9m4div13)) |title=Muster Table of His Majesties Sloop The Discovery |year=1791 |accessdate=15 December 2006|publisher=Admiralty Records in the Public Record Office, U.K.}}</ref>

In November 1791, while exploring the South Pacific, Broughton's crew were the first Europeans to sight the Chatham Islands, which they named after the John Pitt, Earl of Chatham, the First Lord of the Admiralty. Among the other achievements of ''Chatham''{{'s}} crew was the exploration of the Columbia River as far as the Columbia River Gorge, reaching present-day eastern Multnomah County east of Portland and north west of Mount Hood. A plaque erected by the State of Oregon along Interstate 84 commemorates the spot where Broughton landed in 1792.

In 1792, while near Fife Sound in Queen Charlotte Strait, the ship ran aground on rocks within a day, and about {{convert|2|mi|km}} away, from where ''Discovery'' had done the same.<ref name=Stockdale>{{cite book |author=Stockdale, John |title= Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and Round the World |publisher= |year=1801| isbn = }}</ref>

In November 1792 ''Chatham''{{'s}} commander was sent back to England with dispatches; Peter Puget was her commander through her return to England on 17 October 1794.

''Chatham'' was at Plymouth on 20 January 1795 and so shared in the proceeds of the detention of the Dutch naval vessels, East Indiamen, and other merchant vessels that were in port on the outbreak of war between Britain and the Netherlands.<ref>{{London Gazette|date=15 September 1801|issue=15407|page=1145}}</ref>

''Chatham'' had suffered severe wear on her long voyage, and was repaired at Deptford in 1797.

==Fate== ''Chatham'' continued in Royal Navy service until 1830, when she was sold in Jamaica.<ref name="Lyon" />

===The lost anchor=== In 2008, a scuba fisherman found a {{Convert|900|lb|kg|adj=on}} anchor off Whidbey Island in Washington that he and others believe was lost from HMS ''Chatham'' on 9 June 1792. Northwest historian Richard Blumenthal stated that, "They indeed found an anchor that fits the description of the anchor lost at that time".<ref>{{cite news|last1=Welch|first1=Craig|title=Anchor hauled up; is it 222-year-old relic from Vancouver's fleet?|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/anchor-found-off-whidbey-island-may-solve-200-year-old-mystery/|accessdate=2 Sep 2022|work=Seattle Times|date=10 June 2014}}</ref> In June 2014, the anchor was raised to be assessed to see if it is actually the sole remaining relic of Capt. George Vancouver's famed 1792 voyage into Puget Sound. After conservation and testing at Texas A&M's Center for Maritime Archaeology and Conservation, the weight of the anchor was put at {{convert|2,425|lbs|kg}}—about {{convert|1,000|lbs|kg}} heavier than anchors used in those years. An anchor weighing that much would have been used in the 1820s, not in 1792.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Lacitis|first1=Erik|title=Capt. George Vancouver's anchor? Salvagers hope so|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/puget-sound/capt-george-vancouvers-anchor-salvagers-hope-so/|accessdate=2 Sep 2022|work=Seattle Times|date=6 July 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Halverson|first1=Matthew|title=Anchor hauled up; is it 222-year-old relic from Vancouver's fleet?|url=https://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-city-life/2014/05/anchor-men-may-2014|accessdate=2 Sep 2022|work=SagaCity Media |date=1 May 2014}}</ref>

==Plans== <gallery widths=180> File:Chatham (1788) J0494.jpg|alt=drafted ship plan|Plan of the upper and lower decks with platforms, for the ''Chatham'' File:HMS Chatham (1758).jpg|alt=drafted ship plan|Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth, for the ''Chatham'' </gallery>

==Citations== {{reflist}}

==References== * {{Colledge: Ships RN|year=2006}}

==External links== {{Commons category}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110606104645/http://badc.nerc.ac.uk/data/corral/ships/chatham.html Digitised copies of the original logs of HMS Chatham], [http://badc.nerc.ac.uk British Atmospheric Data Centre]/The National Archives as part of [http://www.corral.org.uk/ the CORRAL project] * {{cite journal|last=Elliiot|first=T.C.|title=The Log of H. M. S. "Chatham"|journal=The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society|date=1 Dec 1917|volume=18|url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-20610082/page/n3/mode/2up?view=theater|accessdate=2 Sep 2022}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chatham, HMS}} Category:Survey vessels of the Royal Navy Category:Brigs of the Royal Navy Category:Exploration ships of the United Kingdom Category:1788 ships Category:Age of Discovery ships