HMAS Encounter
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 Portside view HMAS Encounter |
|
| Career Australia |  |
|---|---|
| Builder: | HM Dockyard |
| Laid down: | 28 January 1901 |
| Launched: | 18 June 1902 |
| Decommissioned: | 30 September 1920 |
| Status: | Named Penguin and converted to accommodation 1923-1932, scuttled in 1932. Now used as dive wreck |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 5,880 tons |
| Length: | 376 feet |
| Beam: | 56 feet |
| Draught: | 20 feet 8 inches |
| Propulsion: | 12,500 horsepower |
| Speed: | 21 knots |
| Complement: | |
| Armament: | 11 x 6 inch guns, 9 x 12 pounder guns, 8 x 3 pounder guns, 2 x 18 inch torpedo tubes |
| Motto: | "Show the Flag" |
| Badge: |  |
HMAS Encounter was a second-class protected cruiser laid down for the Royal Navy by HM Dockyard at Devonport in Plymouth 28 January 1901, launched on 18 June 1902, completed 21 November 1905 and transferred to the Royal Australian Navy 27 July 1915.
[edit] Operational History
In July 1916, during a visit by to an unnamed island off the coast of Western Australia, two bronze cannons were discovered by HMAS Encounter officers Commander C.W. Stevens and Surgeon Lieutenant W. Roberts. The latter described:
Approximately 25 paces from the water’s edge, we saw the two carronades protruding, through the sand 2/3rds of each being exposed so that they were easily lifted out. They were ... 6 feet apart and certainly had the appearance of leading marks ... a large number of the ship's company landed and next day, shifted sand over practically the whole area for a considerable depth. The only other object found was a small portion of a brass bound chest. You can imagine the disappointment of the matelots who had visions of buried treasure.[1]
Since these guns were erroneously thought to be carronades, the place was named "Carronade Island".[2][3]
HMAS Encounter paid off on 30 September 1920, was renamed Penguin on 1 January 1923, and served as an accommodation ship until scuttled on 14 September 1932 off Sydney. She now lies at a depth of around 74 meters and is dived regularly.
[edit] References
- ^ Surgeon Commander Roberts (18 August 1933). Letter from Surgeon Commander Roberts, 18 August 1933 (PDF). reproduced in "The Carronade Island Guns and Southeast Asian gun founding" by Jeremy Green page 2. Department of Maritime Archaeology, Western Australian Museum. Retrieved on 2 January, 2007.
- ^ Maritime Archaeology Department of the Western Australian Maritime Museum "An investigation of one of the two bronze guns from Carronade Island, Western Australia"
- ^ Green, Jeremy N. The Carronade Island guns and Australia's early visitors. Great circle, Vol.4, no.1 (1982), p.73-83.
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