HMS Investigator (1801)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Investigator.

20th-century drawing of HMS Investigator.
History
Great Britain
NameFram
BuilderUnknown, at Monkwearmouth, Sunderland[1]
Launched1795[1]
FateSold 1798
NotesCollier
Great Britain
NameHMS Xenophon
Acquired1798[2]
RenamedHMS Investigator (1801)[3]
FateSold 1810
United Kingdom
NameXenophon
Acquired1810 by purchase
FateBroken up about 1872[4]
General characteristics [5]
Tons burthen
  • HMS:33368⁄94 (bm)
  • 1840:352 (bm)[6]
  • Hulk:367[4]
Length
  • HMS
    • 100 ft 4 in (30.6 m) (overall)
    • 77 ft 8 in (23.7 m) (keel)
  • Hulk: 101 ft 5 in (30.9 m) (overall)[4]
Beam
  • HMS: 28 ft 5 in (8.7 m)
  • Hulk: 28 ft 2 in (8.6 m)[4]
Draught15 ft (4.6 m)
Depth of hold
  • HMS:11 ft 0 in (3.4 m)
  • Hulk:18 ft 9 in (5.7 m)[4]
PropulsionSails
Sail planSloop
Complement80
Armament
  • As sloop: 18 × 32-pounder carronades + 2 × 18-pounder carronades
  • As discovery vessel: 6 × 12-pounder carronades + 2 × 18-pounder carronades + 2 × long 6-pounder cannon + 2 × 1⁄2-pounder swivel guns[7]
Matthew Flinders, commander of HMS Investigator.

HMS Investigator was the mercantile Fram, launched in 1795, which the Royal Navy purchased in 1798 and renamed HMS Xenophon, and then in 1801 converted to a survey ship under the name HMS Investigator. In 1802, under the command of Matthew Flinders, she was the first ship to circumnavigate Australia. The Navy sold her in 1810 and she returned to mercantile service under the name Xenophon. She was probably broken up c.1872.

  1. ^ a b Essay: Flinders and the voyage of the Investigator 1801–1803, The Flinders papers
  2. ^ [1], The Flinders papers
  3. ^ [2], The Flinders papers
  4. ^ a b c d e Register of British Ships, Melbourne
  5. ^ Winfield (2008), p. 269.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference LR1840 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Australia Circumnavigated The Hakluyt Society (2015), p.115.