HMS ‘Cordelia’ was a Racer-Class Screw Sloop, ordered from the ‘Pembroke Dockyard’, United Kingdom, on the 3rd April 1854.
The HMS ‘Cordelia’ was a laid down in October 1855 and ready to launch in 9 months. She was launched on a fine Summer’s evening by Mrs Smart, sister-in-law of Captain Robert Smart, the Captain Superintendent at the time. HMS ‘Cordelia’ was rigged and left for Devonport, Plymouth, United Kingdom, for completion. Powered by sails rigged as a Barque, and a 2 cylinder horizontal, single-expansion engine driving a single 10 ft (3.05 m) diameter screw achieving some 10 knots in speed. The ‘Barque’, or ‘Bark’s’ main identifying feature is the rigging of the sails. The rear mast sails are rigged in line with the ship whereas the main masts are rigged with square set sails running at right angles to the line of the ship, or keel . . .
Tonnage: 578
Displacement: 861 tons
Length: 151 ft 0 in (46.02 m)
Breadth: 29 ft 8 in (9.04 m)
Depth: 15 ft 10 in (4.83 m)
Armament: 11 x 32 pdr (15 kg) Guns
Timeline:
July 1856 → launched
11th April 1857 → commissioned for the East Indies Station under the command of Commander Charles Egerton Harcourt-Vernon. Interestingly, Point Vernon on Queensland’s Fraser Coast was named after Commander Vernon . . .
6th June 1857 → sailed
30th July to 10th August 1857 → at Simons Bay, South Africa
September / October 1857 → stopped off Kuria Muria – a group of 5 islands situate off the coast of Oman, in the Arabian Sea – due to a dispute over mining Guano (a highly prized organic fertiliser)
November / December 1857 → stopped in Bombay, (now Mumbai) India
January / February 1858 → back to Kuria Muria, Oman
March / April 1858 → back to Mumbai, India
29th May to 12th June 1858 → Trincomalee, Sri Lanka
28th July 1858 → arrived in Sydney, Australia
21st August 1858 → departed Sydney, Australia
September / December 1858 → stopped at Navigators’ Islands, Savaii, Samoa – to attend to capture and trial of the William Fox’ murderer
6th January 1859 → arrived in Sydney, Australia
15th February 1859 → departed Sydney, Australia
17th February to 20th February 1859 → stopped in Newcastle, Australia
21st February to 6th April 1859 → stopped in Sydney, Australia
18th April to 16th June 1859 → stopped in Sydney, Australia
June 1859 → stopped in Norfolk Island
8th July to 6th August 1859 → stopped in Sydney, Australia
August 1859 → stopped in New Caledonia
25th September to 12th October 1859 → stopped in Sydney, Australia
October / November 1859 → stopped in Fiji
August 1859 → stopped in New Caledonia
25th November to 3rd December 1859 → stopped in Sydney, Australia
December 1859 → travelled to Melbourne & Brisbane, Australia
January 1860 → stopped in Brisbane, Australia
19th February to 6th April 1860 → stopped in Sydney, Australia
In March 1860, the ‘First Taranaki War’ broke out between the Maori and New Zealand Government over land ownership and sovereignty, on New Zealand’s North Island. More than 3,500 imperial troops, plus volunteer and unprofessional soldiers were transported from Australia, to fight against the Maoris with the war ending in a ceasefire in the March of 1861 . . .
17th April 1860 → landed armed personnel at Taranaki, New Zealand
April / May 1860 → bombaded enemy positions at Warea, Taranaki, New Zealand
May 1860 to February 1861 → shuttled men, weapons, despatches & mail between Wellington, Taranaki, Manukau & Auckland, New Zealand. Acting Commander Francis Hume assumed command in the January of 1861
22nd March to 7th May 1861 → stopped in Sydney, Australia
22nd May 1861 → arrived in New Plymouth, New Zealand
23rd June 1861 → departed Auckland, New Zealand
15th to 20th July 1861 → stopped in Sydney, Australia
August / September 1861 → Saint Ysabel Island, Solomons to investigate a report of a white child being kidnapped by locals, which proved to be false
6th to 17th October 1861 → stopped at Auckland, New Zealand
31st October to 23rd November 1861 → stopped in Sydney, Australia
24th November 1861 → sailed for England
New Years Eve 1861 → rounded Cape Horn, Chile
4th to 15th January 1862 → stopped in Port Stanley, Falkland Islands
24th March 1862 → stopped arrived in Plymouth, United Kingdom
2nd April 1862 → HMS ‘Cordelia’ was ‘paid off’, i.e. decommissioned from service whereby the crew were no longer needed and therefore no longer had a job, unless, they were lucky enough to be assigned to another crew . . .
24th June 1864 to July 1868 → HMS ‘Cordelia’ was recommissioned under the command of Commander John Binney Scott to serve in the North American and West Indies Stations.
3rd March 1865 → Commander Thomas Alexis De Wahl assumed command due to Commander Scott becoming invalided
16th September 1867 → Commander Charles Parry assumed command
9th July 1868 → HMS ‘Cordelia’ was ‘paid off’, in Plymouth, United Kingdom
12th May 1870 → HMS ‘Cordelia’ was sold for breaking up at Plymouth, United Kingdom
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View other important events in the history of Australia’s Shipping . . .
