HMS Clio was a wooden 22-gun Pearl-class corvette, built at Sheerness Dockyard and launched on 28 August 1858. She was the flagship of the Australia Station between 3 September 1870 and 16 October 1873, and from 1876 was used as a school ship.
HMS Hydra was the lead ship of her class of wooden steam paddle sloops of the British Royal Navy, launched in 1838 at Chatham Dockyard. After taking part in operations during the Syrian War in 1840, she then served on anti-slavery operations and also as a survey vessel. She was scrapped in 1870.
HMS Iris was a 26-gun sixth-rate frigate launched on 14 July 1840 from Devonport Dockyard. She spent some time with the West Africa Squadron suppressing the slave trade and later with the East Indies Station was involved in operations in Borneo. Iris was the first flagship of the Australia Station between 1859 and 1861 during which time she participated in the First Taranaki War. In 1864 she was extensively modified to allow her to ferry transatlantic telegraph cable to the cable-laying ship Great Eastern. She was decommissioned and sold off in 1869.
HMS Niger was originally slated to be built as a Sampson designed sloop; however, she was ordered as a First-Class sloop with screw propulsion on 20 February 1845 to be built at Woolwich Dockyard, along the design developed by Oliver Lang and with a hull like the Basilisk designed paddle sloops. Her armament and engine were to be like the Encounter Design building at Pembroke. A second vessel (Florentia) was ordered on 26 March 1846 but after her keel was laid at Pembroke Dockyard, her construction was suspended on 6 October 1846 then cancelled three years later, on 22 May 1849. Niger She conducted important propulsion trials, finally proving the superiority of screw propulsion and served in West Africa, the Crimea, China, the East Indies and Australia. She took part in the New Zealand wars in 1860 and was sold for breaking in 1869.
HMS Cordelia was an 11-gun Racer-class sloop of the Royal Navy launched in 1856 and sold in 1870.
HMS Elk was a 482-ton displacement, 16-gun Acorn-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy launched on 29 September 1847 from the Chatham Dockyard.
HMS Fawn was a Royal Navy 17-gun Cruizer-class sloop launched in 1856. She served on the Australia, North America and Pacific stations before being converted to a survey ship in 1876. She was sold and broken up in 1884.
HMS Brisk was a 14-gun wooden-hulled screw sloop designed by the Committee of Reference as part of the 1847 program. She is considered an enlarged Rattler with the design approved in 1847. She was ordered on 25 April 1847 from Woolwich Dockyard as a 10-gun sloop, but the guns were later increased due to the Russian War, to 14 guns by increasing the number of 32-pounder guns. She was launched on 2 June 1851 from Woolwich Dockyard. She served in the Russian War of 1854- 55 and as part of the Southern African anti-slavery patrol, with a final commission on the Australian Station. She was sold in 1870 for use in an pioneer, but unsuccessful, telegraph service.
HMS Salamander was one of the initial steam powered vessels built for the Royal Navy. On 10 January 1831 the First Sea Lord gave orders that four paddle vessels be built to competitive designs. The vessels were to be powered by Maudslay, Son & Field steam engines, carry a schooner rig and mount one or two 10-inch shell guns. Initially classed simply as a steam vessel (SV), she was re-classed as a second-class steam sloop when that categorization was introduced on 31 May 1844. Designed by Joseph Seaton, the Master Shipwright of Sheerness, she was initially slated to be built in Portsmouth, and was changed to Sheerness Dockyard. She was launched and completed in 1832, took part in the Second Anglo-Burmese War and was broken up in 1883.
HMS Falcon was a 17-gun Royal Navy Cruizer-class sloop launched in 1854. She served in the Baltic Sea during the Crimean War and then in North America, West Africa and Australia. She was sold for breaking in 1869.
HMS Charybdis was a 21-gun Royal Navy Pearl-class corvette launched on 1 July 1859 at Chatham Dockyard.
HMS Virago was a Royal Navy Driver-class wooden paddle sloop launched on 25 July 1842 from Chatham Dockyard.
HMS Tauranga was a Pearl-class cruiser of the Royal Navy. The vessel was originally named Phoenix and built by J & G Thomson, Glasgow. She was launched on 28 October 1889. Renamed on 2 April 1890, as Tauranga as part of the Auxiliary Squadron of the Australia Station. She arrived in Sydney with the squadron on 5 September 1891. During the Samoan civil unrest in 1899, she took part in operations with HMS Porpoise and HMS Royalist. Spending between 1901 and 1903 in reserve at Sydney before being assigned to the New Zealand division of the Australia Station. She left the Australia Station on 14 December 1904. She was sold for £8500 in July 1906 to Thomas Ward for breaking up.
HMS Opal was an Emerald-class corvette of the Royal Navy, laid down as Magicienne by William Doxford & Sons Ltd, Sunderland and launched on 9 March 1875.
HMS Renard was a schooner of the Royal Navy, built by John Cuthbert, Millers Point, New South Wales and launched 16 January 1873.
HMS Basilisk was a first-class paddle sloop of the Royal Navy, built at the Woolwich Dockyard and launched on 22 August 1848.
HMS Barracouta was the last paddle sloop built for the Royal Navy. She was built at Pembroke Dockyard and launched in 1851. She served in the Pacific theatre of the Crimean War, in the Second Opium War and in the Anglo-Ashanti wars. She paid off for the last time in 1877 and was broken up in 1881.
The Hydra class were a class of three paddlewheel steam sloops of the British Royal Navy. They saw active service variously in the Baltic during the Crimean War, against Ottoman forces in Syria and against slavers in West Africa. Latterly, Hydra and Hecate were used for surveys in the Mediterranean, the Pacific, Australia and the Atlantic, and thus their names were re-used for the Hecla-class survey vessels in the late 20th century. Two of the classes were broken up after more than twenty-five years of service, and Hecla was sold for commercial use in 1863.
HMS Merlin was the name ship of her class of three 2-gun paddle packet boats built for the Royal Navy during the 1830s. She was converted into a survey ship in 1854 and then into a gunvessel two years later. The ship was decommissioned in 1858 and was sold into commercial service in 1863.
HMS Medina was a 2-gun Merlin-class paddle packet boat built for the Royal Navy during the 1830s. The ship remained in ordinary until she was commissioned in 1848. She was converted into a survey ship in 1856 and was broken up in March 1864.
United Kingdom
