Hecate establishes the converted-survey-ship pattern

HMS Hecate began as an armed paddle sloop and saw Mediterranean service before being refitted for Pacific survey operations. Her work included the British Columbia coast, Hecate Strait, Botany Bay, the Brisbane River, and Torres Strait. She became an important precedent: for much of the following period, smaller warships were adapted for hydrographic work rather than designed solely for it. Their extra requirements were practical spaces for sounding gear, records, drawing, and the personnel who converted observations into usable charts. Hecate makes the conversion pattern concrete without treating survey ships as a wholly separate line of purpose-built vessels.