 HMSHerald in Sydney Harbour, 1857, albumen print. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMSHerald |
| Ordered | 5 June 1819 |
| Builder | East India Company dockyard,Cochin,British India |
| Laid down | March 1820 |
| Launched | 15 November 1822 |
| Commissioned | 16 July 1824[1] |
| Renamed |
|
| Reclassified |
|
| Fate | Sold for breaking on 28 April 1862 |
| General characteristics[1] | |
| Class and type | Atholl-class 28-gunsixth-ratecorvette |
| Tons burthen | 49991⁄94 (bm) |
| Length |
|
| Beam |
|
| Depth of hold | 8 ft 9 in (2.67 m) |
| Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
| Complement | 175 |
| Armament |
|
HMSHerald was anAtholl-class 28-gunsixth-ratecorvette of theRoyal Navy. She was launched in 1822 asHMSTermagant, commissioned in 1824 as HMSHerald and converted to a survey ship in 1845. After serving as a chapel ship from 1861, she was sold for breaking in 1862.
Termagant waslaunched at theEast India Company dockyard atCochin,British India on 15 November 1822. Lieutenant Robert Wallace Dunlopcommissioned on 30 July 1822 to sail her to the United Kingdom. She arrived atPortsmouth on 7 July 1823. In July Captain Lord Henry Frederick Thynne took command, though he had nominally been appointed about a year earlier, on 30 July 1822.[1]
The vessel was renamedHerald on 15 May 1824, and commissioned on 16 July 1824. At this time she was rated ayacht. Commander Henry John Leeke recommissioned her on 31 May 1824. He sailed her to St Petersburg, theWest Indies, back to England fromHavana, then toQuebec, and finally toMalta. Captain SirAugustus William James Clifford recommissionedHerald on 27 May 1826 to carry theDuke of Devonshire on an embassy to Russia. Commander Henry Eden replaced Clifford in November 1826, only to hand over command to Commander Edward William Curry Astley in April 1827.[1]
On 7 April 1829 Commander George Berkeley Maxwell replaced Astley. Maxwell sailedHerald to St Petersburg, Cartagena, Quebec, and home.Herald waspaid off in 1830. She then underwent fitting for sea between April and July 1830. On 20 November 1830 Captain Robert Godon took command at Portsmouth. He paid her off in January 1831.Herald then underwent fitting for sea again between November 1837 and August 1838.[1]
CaptainJoseph Nias recommissionedHerald on 24 May 1838 for theEast Indies and China.[1] On 26 August 1839,Herald andHMS Pelorus attempted toscuttle the British merchant shipLucretia, which had caught fire off Kyardbilly's point,Sydney,New South Wales. The attempt was unsuccessful and the ship exploded and sank.[2]
On 29 April 1840 Nias sailedHerald, with MajorThomas Bunbury of the 80th Regiment (appointed by GovernorWilliam Hobson as Commissioner) andEdward Marsh Williams as interpreter, to take a copy of theTreaty of Waitangi (known as the "Herald-Bunbury" copy) to theSouth Island ofNew Zealand to obtain signatures from Māori chiefs as part the process of claiming British sovereignty over New Zealand.[3][4]
During the period 1841–1842 she was involved in actions offCanton in the fleet commanded bySir William Parker in the First Anglo-Chinese War (1839–1842),[5] known popularly as theFirst Opium War.Herald was paid off at Chatham in 1842.
Herald was converted at Sheerness to asurvey ship between July 1844 and June 1845. At that time her armament was reduced to eight guns.Henry Kellett recommissionedHerald 8 February 1845 for surveying in the Pacific.[1] She left Plymouth on 26 June 1845 and sailed first viaBrazil to theFalkland Islands where she arrived in September. They then roundedCape Horn into the Pacific.[6] Together withHMS Pandora under Lieutenant-Commander James Wood she spent three years surveying the coast of British Columbia after theOregon boundary dispute with the United States.,[7] and on the Pacific coast of South America.[6]
Herald was assigned in 1848 to join the search for SirJohn Franklin, whose ships had disappeared exploring theNorthwest Passage.Herald sailed three times through theBering Strait, in 1848, 1849 and 1850. No trace of Franklin was found.[8] During this period she discoveredHerald Island, in theChukchi Sea, which Kellett named after his ship.[9] In 1848 and 1849Herald returned south in the months of the northern winter to continue surveying work in Panama,Costa Rica, and theGulf of California. In October 1850,Herald left the Arctic, and sailed for home viaHawaii,Hong Kong,Singapore and theCape of Good Hope, arriving at Spithead on 6 June 1851, thus completing a six-year circumnavigation of the globe.[9]
Berthold Seemann was the naturalist for most of this voyage, and wrote the main account of the expedition in two volumes as well as an illustrated volume on the botany.[6][9][10] Samson (1998) has provided a modern overview of his work, relating it to the political and economic context of the period.[11]Edward Forbes subsequently published on the zoology of the expedition.[12][13]
From 1852 to 1861, under the command of CaptainHenry Mangles Denham,Herald carried out a survey of the Australian coast andFiji Islands, continuing the mission ofHMS Rattlesnake. The naturalists on the voyage wereJohn MacGillivray (1821–1867),William Milne (botanist) andDenis Macdonald as Assistant Surgeon-zoologist. James Glen Wilson was the ship's artist.Herald, with her tenderHMS Torch, a paddle steamer' leftPlymouth on 10 June 1852. They travelled via Madeira and theCape Verde Islands,Rio de Janeiro,Tristan de Cunha,Cape Town andSt Paul Island, arriving atPort Jackson (Sydney Harbour) on 18 February 1853. Throughout the journey, surveying work was carried out, including deep-sea soundings, locating shoals, magnetic observations, establishing an accurate meridian distance between Rio and Cape Town, and a complete survey of St Paul Island. Many natural history onservations were made.[14]: 1–26 The rset of the year 1853 was spent surveyingLord Howe Island and the nearbyBall's Pyramid and inNew Caledonia andVanuatu. Surveys were carried out of thesle of Pines,Maré andAneityum. These islands are close to the route between Sydney and Fiji, so it was important to chart their accurate positions.[14]: 27–57
On 27 May 1854,Herald sailed forFiji viaAuckland andRaoul Island.Herald surveyed in the south of Fiji, and obtained accurate positions for theMinerva Reefs, and also enabled numerous doubtful hazards to be removed from the charts.[14]: 58–7 Between 1854 and 1857,Herald made three surveying trips to Fiji, greatly adding to the small-scale survey that had been carried out byCharles Wilkes in 1840. During this period,Herald also surveyedNorfolk Island and assisted in the resettlement of thePitcairn Islanders to Norfolk Island. In April 1855, following diagreements about publication and allegations of financial irregularities, MacGillivray was dismissed from his post on theHerald. On 26 February 1857,Herald returned to Sydney.[14]: 79–263
Denham andHerald then made a survey of Port Jackson, which was completed in November 1857. This included a large-scale plan ofCockatoo Island.Herald was the first sailing ship to enter the Fitzroy Dock, on Cockatoo Island.[15]Herald then surveyed the southern and western coasts of Australia as far asShark Bay, returning to Sydney on 29 June 1858. On 3 September, they set sail for theCoral Sea, an area with many reefs most of which had not been charted accurately. The survey of the Coral sea would involve three cruises, and continue until May 1860. The result was to greatly improve the safety of the outer approach to theTorres Strait, to the east of theGreat Barrier Reef.[14]: 310–398
In 1859,Herald erected the first beacon onMellish Reef and Cay, using wreckage from the Frenchaviso ‘Duroc’, which had wrecked on the reef in 1857.
Herald left Sydney on 17 August 1860 to chart reefs and take deep-sea soundings in preparation for telegraphic cable-laying.Surabaya was reached on 20 November, andSpithead in England on 16 May 1861, and was decommissioned on 1 July, nine years after setting out.[14]: 399–428
There was no published contemporary account of the voyage. David (1995) gives a very detailed account of the voyage, and reproduces many of the drawings and paintings produced by James Glen Wilson.[14]
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Herald was converted to a chapel ship and was used as a floating church in Shoreham in September 1861.[1] She was sold to Castle for breaking on 28 April 1862.[1]
Media related toHMS Herald (1822) at Wikimedia Commons