HMS Forward (1855)

HMS Forward was an Albacore class wooden screw gunboat launched in 1855 and sold in 1869. It was then captured by Mexican pirates and destroyed by USS Mohican in the Battle of Boca Teacapan.

The ship was built by W & H Pitcher at Northfleet and launched on 8 December 1855. It was fitted for service in British Columbia in 1859 and then sold off to Hill & Ready in Esquimault. As a commercial vessel, it went south to Mexico for oysters and was then seized near Mazatlan by a descendant of Columbus, Plácido Vega y Daza. Crewed by Mexicans, it preyed on shipping and coastal settlements in the Gulf of California. It was considered a pirate by the US Navy which pursued it with USS Mohican and destroyed it in the Battle of Boca Teacapan in 1870.