HMS Rainbow was a frigate of the Royal Navy, built in 1823. It was a sixth rate sloop with 26 guns. [1] [2]
It was commanded by Henry John Rous from 1825 to 1829. From 1825 to 1827 it served under the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies. In February 1827 it arrived in Sydney in the colony of New South Wales where it was used to conduct a number of explorations of the (now) Queensland and New South Wales coasts. [2]
The Rainbow Reach of the Macleay River in New South Wales was named after the ship and the locality Rainbow Reach in the Kempsey Shire was named after the reach. [2]
HMS Zebra, was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was built of teak in the East India Company's Bombay Dockyard and launched in 1815 as the last of her class. She chased pirates in the Mediterranean, just missed the Battle of Navarino, sailed to East Indies, where she almost foundered, and on to Australia, chased Malay pirates, and was wrecked in 1840 during the Syrian War.
Rear Admiral Phillip Parker King, FRS, RN was an early explorer of the Australian and Patagonian coasts.
Captain Sir James Brisbane, CB was a British Royal Navy officer of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Although never engaged in any major actions, Brisbane served under both Lord Howe and Horatio Nelson and performed important work at the Cape of Good Hope, prior to the Battle of Copenhagen and in the Adriatic campaign of 1807–1814. In later life Brisbane became commander-in-chief in the East Indies. He contracted dysentery in Burma and arrived in Port Jackson in Sydney aboard HMS Warspite, where he died on 19 December 1826. He was a cousin of General Sir Thomas Brisbane who had earlier been governor of New South Wales.
Admiral The Honourable Henry John Rous was an officer of the British Royal Navy, who served during the Napoleonic Wars, and was later a Member of Parliament and a leading figure in horse racing.
Point Danger is a headland, located at Coolangatta on the southern end of the Gold Coast on the east coast of Australia. Separated by Snapper Rocks and Rainbow Bay to the west, with Duranbah Beach and the Tweed River mouth to the south, present-day Point Danger has also indicated the border between New South Wales and Queensland, Australia, since 1863.
Nine ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Rainbow, after the rainbow, a common meteorological phenomenon:
HMS Success was an Atholl-class 28-gun sixth-rate wooden sailing ship notable for exploring Western Australia and the Swan River in 1827 as well as being one of the first ships to arrive at the fledgling Swan River Colony two years later, at which time she ran aground off Carnac Island.
HMS Egeria was a Royal Navy 26-gun Cormorant-class ship-sloop launched at Bridport in 1807. During the Gunboat War she captured three privateers and several merchant vessels. After the Napoleonic Wars she continued on active service until 1825, after which she served as a receiving or accommodation ship. She was eventually broken up in 1865.
The second HMS Dauntless was a Cormorant-class ship-sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1808. She was sold in 1823.
The Cherokee class was a class of brig-sloops of the Royal Navy, mounting ten guns. Brig-sloops were sloops-of-war with two masts rather than the three masts of ship sloops. Orders for 115 vessels were placed, including five which were cancelled and six for which the orders were replaced by ones for equivalent steam-powered paddle vessels.
HMS Sophie was an 18-gun Cruizer class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She served during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812. During the War of 1812 Sophie participated in the economic war against American trade, capturing or destroying numerous small merchant vessels, and in an unsuccessful attack on Fort Bowyer, Alabama. Later, she moved to the East Indies where she served in the First Anglo-Burmese War. The Admiralty sold Sophie in 1825.
Ten ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Confiance:
HMS Herald was an Atholl-class 28-gun sixth-rate corvette of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1822 as HMS Termagant, commissioned in 1824 as HMS Herald and converted to a survey ship in 1845. After serving as a chapel ship from 1861, she was sold for breaking in 1862.
Sir Stephen Lushington GCB was an officer in the Royal Navy who served during the Crimean War. Long and distinguished service in the Mediterranean brought him honours and rewards.
Charles Leonard Irby was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812. He undertook a tour of Europe and the Middle East between 1816 and 1818.
Serpent was a French navy brig of the Palinure class, launched in 1807 at Paimbeouf (Nantes) as Rivolli, but renamed. HMS Acasta captured her in 1808 in the Caribbean and the British Royal Navy took her into service there as HMS Pert but renamed her Asp. The navy disposed of her in 1814. She then made five voyages as a whaler, and wrecked in December 1828 on her sixth voyage.
HMS Fly (1813) was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Jabez Bailey at Ipswich. She was ordered 23 April 1812, launched in 16 February 1813 and commissioned May 1813.
HMS Coquette was launched in 1807 and spent her naval career patrolling in the Channel and escorting convoys. In 1813 she engaged an American privateer in a notable but inconclusive single-ship action. The Navy put Coquette in ordinary in 1814 and sold her in 1817. She became a whaler and made five whaling voyages before she was lost in 1835 on her sixth.
HMS Tyne was launched at Topsham in 1814 as a Conway-class sixth rate. She served in the East Indies and in the Pacific Squadron. She also served in the Caribbean, cruising against pirates, during which she captured the pirate schooner Zaragozana. In 1825 the Navy sold Tyne and she became a whaler. She was lost in early 1827 in the Bonin Islands on her first voyage to the British southern whale fishery.