HMS Pelorus

HISTORY,CONTINUED
During 1838-39, the HMS Pelorus sailed throughout the Australia-New Zealand area in order to explore, protect the British settlements, tour whaling stations and subdue the native populations.

Some shipping records exist:
On May 30, 1838, she came from Calcutta to Antechamber Bay with no passengers.
On May 31 she arrived at Adelaide.
From June 3 to 9, she sailed from Port Adelaide to Nepean Bay and back, with passengers including Governor Hindmarsh.

One local news story in the Perth Gazette places the Pelorus and Darwin's vessel, the Beagle, in Port Essington at the same time, with both ships' companies attending the same merry party given in their honor by the settlers. (Darwin, however, was home in England: his five-year adventure as a naturalist aboard the Beagle had ended in 1836.)

On November 25, 1839 a powerful hurricane hit southern Australia. The barometric pressure read 965 millibars. HMS Pelorus parted her cables and was wrecked off Port Essington with a loss of 12 lives. The survivors were aided by HMS Britomart.
(See paintings by Owen Stanley in the Gallery, link below.)

The Britomart, being the only ship to survive the hurricane, though damaged, was forced to delay departure from Fort Essington in order to aid in raising and repairing the Pelorus.
 
After the repairs, Pelorus was dispatched from Sydney in late July 1840 in company with HMS Herald to take part in the first China opium war.
This is the account from RootsWeb:

The first time Australia was actually to play one of the principal roles for which it was first settled - a strategic sea base - was in support of British efforts in the first Opium War in China. In June 1840, HMS Alligator returned to Sydney from China for supplies and to land twenty sailors who were suffering from scurvy. The Governor, Major Sir George Gipps, had received news of events in China and was prepared to provide every assistance. He invited Captain Sir J. Bremer to use the whole or part of his force in China. The result was the despatch of HM Ships Herald and Pelorus from Sydney in late July 1840. Gipps also arranged for the scurvy-stricken sailors to be replaced by a subaltern's detachment from the 50th Regiment. Circumstances prevented this detachment from leaving Australia.

Pelorus was sold out of the Royal Navy at Singapore in 1842.
She met her demise on 25 December, 1844. For a full account, read the story from the Singapore Free Press: 



Darwin's ship, the Beagle.
Watercolour by Owen Stanley
Map from original survey of New Zealand by HMS Pelorus
Another amusement for the ships' companies in Port Essington was a "home-made" theatre production directed by Captain Stanley, then of HMS Britomart. Click here for the account: