John Clements Wickham was a Scottish explorer, naval officer, magistrate and administrator. He was first lieutenant on HMS Beagle during its second survey mission, 1831–1836, under captain Robert FitzRoy. The young naturalist and geologist Charles Darwin was a supernumerary on the ship, and his journal was published as The Voyage of the Beagle. After that expedition, Wickham was promoted to Commander and made captain of the Beagle on its third voyage, from 1837 and conducted various maritime expeditions and hydrographic surveys along the Australian coastline.
Association was a 90-gun second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Portsmouth Dockyard in 1697. She served with distinction at the capture of Gibraltar, and was lost in 1707 by grounding on the Isles of Scilly in the greatest maritime disaster of the age. The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England.
HMS Buffalo was a storeship of the Royal Navy, originally built and launched at Sulkea, opposite Calcutta, in 1813 as the merchant vessel Hindostan. The Admiralty purchased her that year after she arrived in Britain. She later transported convicts and immigrants to Australia, before being wrecked in 1840.
Nine ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Ariel, possibly after the archangel Ariel in Judeo-Christian mysticism, but certainly influenced by Shakespeare's "airy spirit" of the same name:
Duke of York was a three-masted brig launched in 1817 at Bideford as a Falmouth packet, sailing between Falmouth, Cornwall, and Jamaica. In 1836 she brought settlers to South Australia for the South Australia Company. She was wrecked in 1837.
HMS Porpoise was a 12-gun sloop-of-war originally built in Bilbao, Spain, as the packet ship Infanta Amelia. On 6 August 1799 HMS Argo captured her off the coast of Portugal. Porpoise wrecked in 1803 on the North coast of what was then part of the Colony of New South Wales, now called Wreck Reefs, off the coast of Queensland, Australia.
HMS Acheron was the last Hermes-class wooden paddle sloop ordered for the Royal Navy. She was launched at Sheerness in 1838. She spent two commissions in the Mediterranean before being reclassed as a survey ship in 1847. Between 1848 and 1851 she made a coastal survey of New Zealand, the first such survey since Captain Cook. She was paid off at Sydney and was tender to HMS Calliope. She was sold at Sydney in 1855.
Lady Mary Pelham was a brig launched in 1816 that initially worked as a Falmouth packet. After her modification to a barque she became part of the South Australia Company's fleet of 1836. She later served as a whaler and transport between Van Diemen's Land and Portland, Victoria. She was wrecked in 1849.
HMS Mermaid was a cutter built in Howrah, India, in 1816. The British Royal Navy purchased her at Port Jackson in 1817. The Navy then used her to survey the Australian coasts. In 1820 she grounded and in 1823 was condemned for survey work. The Navy sold her to the colonial government which used her to run errands until she was wrecked in 1829.
The French schooner Impériale was a 3-gun mercantile schooner-aviso of the French Navy commissioned at Guadeloupe on 23 September 1805. The Royal Navy captured her on 24 May 1806 and named her HMS Vigilant. The Navy renamed her HMS Subtle on 20 November 1806. She wrecked at Bermuda on 20 October 1807.
A number of ships have been named Duke of York after numerous holders of the title of Duke of York :
A prince regent, or prince-regent, is a prince who rules a monarchy as regent, while a monarch is indisposed.
Little Catherine was launched in 1801 at Bermuda, probably under another name. She was condemned in prize in May 1809 at Barbados and entered British registry that year. At that time she traded between Liverpool and Africa. In 1813 she became a temporary packet sailing for the Post Office Packet Service from Falmouth, Cornwall. In 1813 the French Navy captured her and abandoned her after taking off her crew. The Royal Navy recovered her three days later. In 1814 an American privateer captured her but the Royal Navy recaptured her within two weeks. Her owner refused to pay salvage and turned her over to the Post Office which returned her to use as a Falmouth packet but renamed her Blucher, in honour of Prince Blucher who had helped defeat Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813. The government sold Blucher in 1823. New owners returned her to the name Little Catherine and she continued to sail widely until she was last listed in 1845, having been sold to a Chinese owner. She was wrecked in October 1847.
Bombay was launched in 1801 at Daman/Demaun. Her early career is obscure. From 1821 on she assumed Calcutta registry. Between 1832 and 1840 she made three voyages from London as a whaler. In 1842 she carried settlers for the New Zealand Company. She was last listed in 1853.
HMS Prospero was a wood-hulled British paddle steamer built in 1829 on the River Clyde at Port Glasgow as Belfast for service between Glasgow and Belfast. In 1837 she was purchased by the Admiralty to run as HMS Prospero on the packet service between Pembroke and Ireland. She was broken up in 1866.
HMS Megaera was a Hermes-class wooden paddle sloop of the Royal Navy. She was built at Sheerness Dockyard. She was launched in 1837 and served two commissions before being wrecked at Jamaica in 1843.
HMS Volcano was a Hermes-class wooden paddle sloop of the Royal Navy. She was built at Portsmouth Dockyard. She was launched in 1836. Her first few commissions were on packet service in the Mediterranean and North American and West Indies Stations and on the anti-slavery patrol on the West Coast of Africa. In 1854 she was converted to a factory ship and served in the Baltic during the Russian War. She was sent to China during the Second Opium War as a factory ship. On her return she was assigned to Portsmouth, on Harbour Service as a stationary factory ship. She remained there until sold for breaking in 1894.
Prince Regent was launched at Falmouth, Cornwall in 1821 as a Post Office Packet Service packet. The Royal Navy purchased her in 1826 and renamed her HMS Cynthia. She was wrecked off Barbados on 6 June 1827.
Several vessels have been named Prince Regent for George IV, of England, who was Prince regent from 1811 to his accession to the throne in 1826:
United Kingdom
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