HMS Hecate's surveys from British Columbia to Torres Strait

Hecate served with the West Africa Squadron before being fitted for surveying. She mapped parts of the British Columbia coast, including the strait later bearing her name, and worked around Botany Bay, Moreton Bay, and Torres Strait. The itinerary shows how one converted paddle sloop could move from coercive patrol work into a long global information-gathering career. Some of her nineteenth-century data remained important when operations were planned in the Second World War, demonstrating how long hydrographic knowledge can remain useful.