Pandora : An Archaeological Perspective

The story of the Pandora is the tragic but little known sequel to the infamous Mutiny on the Bounty. Sent to the South Pacific to recapture the Bounty mutineers, the Pandora sank on 29 August 1791 after running aground in the treacherous and unchartered waters of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Thirty-one crew and four mutineers perished. In the almost two hundred years that followed, the Pandora lay undisturbed and largely forgotten, but her discovery in 1977 began an exciting new era in Australian maritime archaeology. The Pandora, the oldest known wreck on the east coast of Australia, is a rich storehouse which offers tantalising insights into our seafaring past. In this book, Peter Gesner briefly recounts the historical background to the ship's last voyage and details the wreck's discovery and subsequent excavation by Queensland Museum archaeologists.