A FINE 1:48 SCALE MODEL OF H.M.S. PANDORA, 1779

the 28in. planked and pinned hull copper sheathed below the waterline, ebonised wale, with finely carved figurehead of Pandora holding her box, open gun ports with brass guns in carriages, sweep ports, chainplates with deadeyes, planked decks with fittings including carronades on sides, swivel guns, metal anchors with bound wooden stocks, belaying rails with pins, stovepipe, belfry with brass bell, wale deck with gratings, shot racks, companionway, bilge pump, capstan, double helm, bound cutaway masts and other details, mounted to turned ebonised supports to simple stand, overall measurements -- 13 x 32in. (33 x 81.5cm.)

Pandora, launched in 1779, had been 'laid up in ordinary' from 1783 when she was fitted out, placed under the command of Captain Edward Edwards and dispatched by the Admiralty in August 1790 to apprehend mutineers following the mutiny aboard H.M.S. Bounty at Tonga, 28th April 1789. At Tahiti 14 mutineers were captured and manacled within 'Pandora's Box' - a specially-built roundhouse prison on the quarterdeck. Whilst searching for the remaining mutineers, Pandora ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef, 28th August 1791, foundering the next morning. Thirty-one crew and four mutineers were drowned apparently because their manacles could not be released. The wreck was discovered in 1977 and is considered one of the best-preserved wreck sites in Australian waters, partly because no contemporary attempt was made to salvage her.