HMS Sealark (1903)

HMS Sealark was a Royal Navy vessel used primarily for hydrographic survey work. She was originally a luxurious private steam yacht for a number of wealthy owners and in 1903 was acquired by the Royal Navy, serving until 1914. She was sold to James Patrick Steamships Ltd and converted to a merchant ship for the Australian coast and finally hulked in 1924.

History
Initially launched in 1878 as the private yacht Wanderer by Robert Steele and Co, Greenock for Charles Joseph Lambert, she was described as "the most luxurious private steam yacht ever built". She was registered as a yacht of the Royal Yacht Squadron and became known as RYS Wanderer and was based at Cowes, Isle of Wight. After undertaking a number of cruises around the world, she was sold to the Principe di Torlonia and renamed Vagus. In 1896 she returned to the British register at Cowes, and in 1900 American millionaire William Kissam Vanderbilt bought the ship renaming her Consuelo. However, by 1903 Consuelo was still registered at Cowes, owned by the Earl of Crawford.

In 1903, Consuelo was purchased by the Admiralty and initially commissioned as HMS Investigator. In 1904 after refitting as a survey vessel, at a cost of £20,000, she was renamed HMS Sealark and sailed from Portsmouth in September 1904 to serve on the China Station. In 1910, she sailed from Penang for the Australia Station. She undertook various hydrographic surveys around Australia and the South Pacific between 1910 and 1914. With the beginning of World War I, and the threat of German Empire expansion in the South Pacific, she sailed to Suva, Fiji with a cargo of coastal guns, for a gun emplacement on a hill in Suva.

After returning from Fiji via New Zealand to Sydney, she was paid off in 1914. In 1919, Australian shipowner Captain J. H. Patrick purchased her for £2500, converted her into a merchant ship at a cost of £15,000, initially renaming her Sealark III, and then Norwest. She plied the interstate trade for James Patrick Steamships Ltd until 1924, when the English, Scottish and Australian Bank seized her to repay debts owed. After James Patrick Steamships Ltd failed, the bank sold her to William Waugh Ltd., Balmain, Sydney for about £500. William Waugh dismantled her and converted her into a hulk.

Figurehead
The figurehead was presented to the Royal Australian Navy and was mounted at the Dockyard on Garden Island.