Descubierta and Atrevida

Drawing of the corvettes Descubierta and Atrevida
The corvettes Descubierta and Atrevida; drawing by Fernando Brambila.
History
Spanish Navy EnsignSpain
NameDescubierta and Atrevida
BuilderTómas Muñoz, La Carraca shipyard, Cadiz
Launched8 April 1789
General characteristics
Typecorvette
Tons burthen306 toneladas
Length33.3 m (109 ft 3 in)
Beam8.7 m (28 ft 7 in)
Depth of hold4.3 m (14 ft 1 in)
PropulsionSail (three masts, ship rig)
Complement104
Armament14 × 6-pounder (2.7 kg) cannon, 2 × 4-pounder (1.8 kg) cannon
This map shows the route of Malaspina's ship Descubierta with the return to Spain from Tonga omitted. The route of Bustamante's Atrevida was mostly the same, but deviated in some places.

Descubierta and Atrevida were twin corvettes of the Spanish Navy, custom-designed as identical special exploration and scientific research vessels. They were built at the same time for the Malaspina Expedition.[1] Under the command of Alejandro Malaspina (Descubierta) and José de Bustamante y Guerra (Atrevida) the two vessels sailed from Spain to the Pacific Ocean, conducting a thorough examination of the internal politics of the American Spanish Empire and the Philippines. They explored the coast of Alaska and worked to reinforce Spain's claim to the Pacific Northwest in the aftermath of the Nootka Crisis. After crossing the Pacific Ocean, the colonial government in the Philippines was examined. Exploration and diplomatic reconnaissance followed, with stops in Qing dynasty-era China, New Zealand, Australia, and Tonga.

Under Malaspina's supervision and according to his specifications, the Descubierta and Atrevida were constructed at the La Carraca shipyard in Cadiz by the shipbuilder Tómas Muñoz . Both vessels were 33.3 m (109 ft) long with a beam of 8.7 m (29 ft), a depth of hold of 4.3 m (14 ft), and a tonnage of 306 toneladas.[2] The complement of both the Descubierta and the Atrevida was 104. Their armament consisted of fourteen 6-pounder and two 4-pounder cannons.[3] They were launched together on 8 April 1789.[4]

  1. ^ Harbron, John D. (1988). Trafalgar and the Spanish Navy. Naval Institute Press. pp. 43, 133. ISBN 978-0-87021-695-4.
  2. ^ The Spanish word toneladas is a unit of capacity of a ship's hold, roughly equivalent to English terms ton, tonnage, or tons burthen. The exact size of a tonelada varied but was usually somewhat smaller than the English ton. For older ships it is difficult if not impossible to convert between English tons and Spanish toneladas. See Glossary of Spanish Names, Blue Water Ventures Archived 2011-05-02 at the Wayback Machine. The tonelada was eventually standardized to 100 cubic feet (2.8 m3) (See Kendrick, John (1990). The Voyage of Sutil and Mexicana, 1792: The last Spanish exploration of the Northwest Coast of America. Spokane, Washington: The Arthur H. Clark Company. p. 247. ISBN 0-87062-203-X.).
  3. ^ Paine, Lincoln P. (2000). Ships of Discovery and Exploration. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 37–38. ISBN 0618382704.
  4. ^ Kendrick, John (1999). Alejandro Malaspina: Portrait of a Visionary. McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 37. ISBN 0-7735-2652-8.