HMS Pelorus (1808)

HMS Pelorus was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was built in Itchenor, England and launched on 25 June 1808. She saw action in the Napoleonic Wars and in the War of 1812. On anti-slavery patrol off West Africa, she captured four slavers and freed some 1350 slaves. She charted parts of Australia and New Zealand and participated in the first Opium War before becoming a merchantman and wrecking in 1844 while transporting opium to China.

Napoleonic Wars
 Pelorus was commissioned in July 1808 under Commander The Honourable James William King, and sailed for the Leeward Islands on 15 December. In January 1809 Commander Thomas Huskisson was appointed commander of Pelorus, but did not find out until May. Therefore he was not her commander at the capture of Martinique in February. (Some accounts have her under the command of Captain Francis Augustus Collier; however, he was commander of HMS Starr (1805).) Under Huskinson she then took part in enforcing the blockade of Guadeloupe. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Martinique" to any surviving crewmen from that campaign that wished to claim it.

On 16 October, Pelorus and HMS Hazard (1794) discovered a privateer schooner moored under the St Mary battery. Fire from Hazard and Pelorus destroyed the battery while boats from both ships boarded the privateer. Her crew had abandoned the vessel but fired from the shore where two field pieces joined them. Unable to move the prize, the British blew her up. The privateer was armed with one long 18-pounder on a pivot carriage and two swivels; the British estimated that she had had a crew of 80-100 men. The action cost the British 15 men dead and wounded, with Pelorus suffering two dead and six wounded, one mortally.

In February 1810 Pelorus participated in the capture of Guadeloupe. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Guadaloupe" to any surviving crewmen from that campaign that wished to claim them.

In 1810, under Commander Alexander Kennedy, Pelorus patrolled the Leeward Islands. In May, command transferred to Commander Joshua Rowley. In late December 1811 and early 1812, Pelorus was cruising off Plymouth. On 22 and 23 December 1811 she captured the Marianne and the Deux Freres. On 6 January 1812, she sent in a French chasse maree that she had taken.

On 5 April Rowley sailed her for the Mediterranean. In September 1812, Commander Robert Gambier took command of Pelorus.

By 1814, her captain was Commander Robert Stow. On 7 March boats from HMS Endymion (1797), HMS Rattler (1797), and a third British vessel, destroyed the American privateer Mars, of 15 guns and 70 men, off Sandy Hook. Some accounts name Pelorus as the third British vessel, but the prize money notices and most other accounts give the name of the third vessel as HMS Belvidera (1809).

Then by September, Pelorus was under the command of Commander John Gourly. A year later she was paid off at Plymouth where she underwent a Middling Repair before she was laid up.

Return to service
She was fitted for sea from April–August 1823, Commander William Hamley having recommissioned her in April. In 1824, she was at Cork on coast guard duties. On 19 May she captured the smuggling vessel Good Hope. On 9 October, she captured a small smuggling lugger, the Phoenix, which was carrying a cargo of tobacco and a small amount of tea. Over a period of three years, Hamley captured more smuggling-vessels than any other vessel. On 30 October 1823, a ship ran into Pelorus during the night, and then sailed on. The crash destroyed the bowsprit and sent the foremast over the side; both of which had to be cut away despite the heavy seas and otherwise bad weather. The crew rigged a jury-mast and bowsprit and Pelorus was able to get back to Plymouth. Had the ship struck Pelorus a few inches further aft the sloop would almost certainly have foundered.

Pelorus was paid off in July 1826. In all, Hamley had seized more than 62,000 weight of tobacco.

From July–October 1826, she underwent alteration from a brig-sloop to a ship-sloop via the addition of a third mast.

Mediterranean
Then in October, Commander Peter Richards recommissioned her. In January 1827, Pelorus was employed in the Mediterranean protecting British trade in the Archipelago, at Alexandria, and around the coasts of Syria and Caramania. Commander Michael Quinn took command from September 1828. In December 1829, she struck a rock at the entrance of Port Mahon, Minorca. HMS Isis (1819) came from Gibraltar to retrieve her officers and crew. By 9 May 1830, Pelorus was back in Portsmouth. From December 1830-December 1831, she underwent repairs and an alteration back to a brig.

Anti-slavery
In 1831, William Wilberforce's anti-slavery law was passed. In September, Captain Richard Meredith recommissioned Pelorus and she joined the West Africa Squadron. Here she patrolled the west coast of Africa to suppress the slave trade. On 9 May 1832, she was at Sierra Leone having brought in the Spanish slaving vessel Segunda Theresa, which was carrying 459 slaves.



On 16 June 1834, Lieutenant Philip de Sausmarez of Pelorus came before a court martial. The charge was that on 18 April 1832, while in command of the prize crew on the Segunda Theresa, Sausmarez had the boatswain's mate of HMS Lynx administer 24 lashes to Francis Brown for neglect of duty. Meredith preferred the charges because he had forbidden the lash in written orders. The court supported Suasmarez, who had been under arrest for 18 months before his exoneration.

On 30 June, boats from Pelorus captured the Spanish slaver Pepita. Unfortunately, at the time of her capture, the slaver had no slaves aboard. Under the terms of the treaty with Spain, vessels could only be seized when actually carrying slaves. The boarding party manufactured evidence by dropping three slaves aboard Pepita after boarding her. They then loaded 176 slaves that were on shore waiting to be loaded. Meredith accepted responsibility for the manufacturing of evidence. The Court in Sierra Leone therefore had to order Pepita returned to her master. Pepita's master then sued for damages. The Court found against Meredith and charged him £1092 in damages.

On 17 December, Pelorus captured the two-gun slaver Sutil. She had 307 slaves aboard, of whom 91 died of dysentery and disease before they could be freed in Sierra Leone.

On 5 January 1835, boats from Pelorus captured the Spanish polacca-bark Minerva, which armed with two 18-pounder and two 8-pounder guns. The boats had sailed 60 mi up the Calabar river and laid in ambush. Skillful handling resulted in the capture of the slaver with no casualties to the boarding party although the vessel's guns were double-shotted and the crew and the boarding party exchanged small arms fire. The vessel had a crew of 37 men, two of whom were cut down. The boarding party consisted of 22 men. The slaver had some 650 slaves aboard, and after her capture, the master arrived with 25 more. In sum, she had 676 aboard, of whom 206 died of disease before they could be freed in Sierra Leone.

On 26 September, Pelorous was paid off at Portsmouth. A bounty was paid on both Sutil and Minerva in June 1836.



Far East and Antipodes
On 31 January 1837, Pelorus was recommissioned under Captain Francis Harding who had taken commanded on 21 January. She then sailed for the Cape of Good Hope before returning to Portsmouth in June. Next, she sailed for western Australia and Van Diemen's Land, and in August to New Zealand to conduct a survey of the Marlborough Sounds region.

On 16 December, Pelorus — under Commander Harding — called at the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and stayed for six days. Captain John Clunies-Ross — the "King of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands" — had asked for a visit from a naval vessel to forestall a possible revolt by the inhabitants.

In mid September 1837, 'Pelorus' sailed to Rangoon to deliver an ultimatum to the mutinous King Tharyarwaddy from the Governor-General of India, Lord Auckland.

She may have returned to Rangoon in early 1838. In May–June, she visited Adelaide and Sydney. Later, she may have sailed with Rear Admiral Sir Frederick Maitland's squadron from Singapore to Canton to deal with a 'serious interruption on the part of the Chinese authorities to the continuation of the opium-trade with the British merchants'. If so, she was not with Maitland during his dealings with Admiral Kuan T'ien-p'ei.

On 22 August, Pelorus sailed into Port Underwood, New Zealand, and cast anchor in Oyster Cove. She was under the temporary command of Lt. Phillip Chetwode while Commander Harding was ill. From here, Chetwode surveyed and named Pelorus River and Pelorus Sound in New Zealand in honour of his ship. He also named the Chetwode Islands, off Pelorus Sound.

On 27 July 1839, Lt. Augustus Leopold Kuper was nominated acting commander of Pelorus.

Wrecked in New South Wales


On 25 November 1839, while anchored off Port Essington, Australia, a hurricane struck Pelorus, wrecking her. She lost 12 of her crew; a whaleboat from HMS Britomart (1820), under Captain Owen Stanley, rescued the survivors. According to Kuper, "Pelorus was buried 9 feet in the mud for 86 days."

Opium War
On 5 March 1840, Kuper was promoted to command of Alligator. On 26 December, Lieutenant Kuper was promoted to the rank of Commander, his commission being back-dated to when he took command of Pelorus.

After repairs, in late July 1840, Pelorus sailed from Sydney with HMS Herald (1822) to take part in the first Opium War. On 23 April 1841, she arrived at Singapore. One month later, Lieutenant W. W. Chambers, of HMS Wellesley (1815), was appointed and promoted to be acting commander of Pelorus. At the time, Wellesley was at Canton.

Disposal and final loss
On 6 July 1841, Pelorus was laid up at Singapore and Lieutenant Chambers returned to Britain. The officers and crew transferred to the steam paddle and sail survey cutter HMS Bentinck (1842), which Commodore Sir J.J.G. Bremer had just purchased and which went on to operations in China. An Admiralty Order of 16 October specified that Pelorus was to be sold, which took place in 1842.

The purchasers may have been Pybus Brothers. On 27 1843, under Captain Triggs, she arrived in Hong Kong with a load of opium.

Pelorus sank on 25 December 1844 when she struck a shoal in lat. 8°8'30"N, long. 115°30'E, off the coast of Borneo in the South China Sea. Captain Triggs took her gig and two passengers and sailed 100 mi to Singapore. From there he led the steamer Victoria to the wreck. Victoria was able to rescue 20 of the crew and save 70 chests of opium.