HMS ''Dart'' was a

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, built by the Barrow Shipbuilding Company, Barrow and launched in 1877 as ''Cruiser'' for Lord Eglinton. She was subsequently purchased by the

Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created to deal with the colonial affairs of British North America but required also to oversee the increasing number of col ...

for the use of Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon as governor of the Fiji Islands. On his appointment to New Zealand, ''Cruiser'' was purchased by the Royal Navy as a tender for the training ship ''Britannia'' and the name changed to ''Dart'' in March 1882.Bastock, p.92.

Hydrographic survey work

Requisitioned as a yacht for the

Commander-in-Chief, Australia Station The Australia Station was the British, and later Australian, naval command responsible for the waters around the Australian continent.Dennis et al. 2008, p.53. Australia Station was under the command of the Commander-in-Chief, Australia Station, ...

, she instead was fitted out for survey duties of the

Australia Station The Australia Station was the British, and later Australian, naval command responsible for the waters around the Australian continent.Dennis et al. 2008, p.53. Australia Station was under the command of the Commander-in-Chief, Australia Station, ...

. She commenced service on the Australia Station in 1883 undertaking

hydrographic survey Hydrographic survey is the science of measurement and description of features which affect maritime navigation, marine construction, dredging, offshore oil exploration/offshore oil drilling and related activities. Strong emphasis is placed ...

s around Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific; Survey work was also undertaken in the waters of

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

Gilbert and Ellice Islands The Gilbert and Ellice Islands (GEIC as a colony) in the Pacific Ocean were part of the British Empire from 1892 to 1976. They were a protectorate from 1892 to 12 January 1916, and then a colony until 1 January 1976. The history of the colony w ...

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Internati ...

and

New Britain New Britain ( tpi, Niu Briten) is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi the Dam ...

Island, from May to September, 1884. In 1883 ''Dart'' became involved with an action in the New Hebrides under the command of Lieutenant-Commander W W Moore. This followed the murder of Captain Belbin of the Borough Belle. A party was landed from ''Dart'' and in the engagement that followed, 8 natives and one crew man were killed with another wounded. Punishment in the form of confiscation of weapons and burning of villages took place after the incident. In 1893 Port Arthur and "Dead Island" (Isle of the Dead) on Australia's

Tasman Peninsula The Tasman Peninsula, officially Turrakana / Tasman Peninsula, is a peninsula located in south-east Tasmania, Australia, approximately by the Arthur Highway, south-east of Hobart. The Tasman Peninsula lies south and west of Forestier Peninsula ...

were surveyed and published as

Admiralty chart Admiralty charts are nautical charts issued by the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) and subject to Crown Copyright. Over 3,500 Standard Nautical Charts (SNCs) and 14,000 Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs) are available with the Admira ...

1475.

Later activities

In 1885 she became the first command of Arthur Mostyn Field. She was reported as potentially lost on Wednesday 26 June 1889 after a whaleboat was found near North Cape, Auckland, but she later sailed into Sydney. Commander

John Franklin Parry Admiral Sir John Franklin Parry, KCB, FRGS (15 August 1863 – 21 April 1926) was a Royal Navy officer. He was Hydrographer of the Navy from 1914 to 1919. Parry was the son of the Rt Rev Edward Parry, Bishop of Dover, and the grandson of the Ar ...

was in command from March 1897 until March 1900, when she served as a surveying vessel on the Australia station. Lieutenant Charles Edward Monro was appointed in command on 1 March 1900, the same month she visited Sydney and Hobart. She was in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

in early January 1901. Lieutenant Frederick Claude Coote Pasco was appointed in command in January 1902. She visited

Nouméa Nouméa () is the capital and largest city of the French special collectivity of New Caledonia and is also the largest francophone city in Oceania. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, a ...

and the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

in June 1902. She was paid off in 1904 and lent as a training ship to the

New South Wales Government The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party. The Governmen ...

. She was sold for £1010 at

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

on 9 May 1912 to the

Victorian Government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as just the Victorian Government, is the state-level authority for Victoria, Australia. Like all state governments, it is formed by three independent branches: the executive, the judicial, and th ...

for use as a tender to the training ship ''John Murray''. In 1919, she was sold for £1500 to Mr J. Harrison, of the Shipping and Trading Agency. She was again reported lost in July 1919 after wreckage was found near St Helens, Tasmania, but she turned up safely in Hobart. She was sold in 1920 to French owners based in

. She was known as ''Jeanne Elisabeth'' and later ''Athalai''.

Citations

References

*Bastock, John (1988), ''Ships on the Australia Station'', Child & Associates Publishing Pty Ltd; Frenchs Forest, Australia.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dart (1882) 1877 ships Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness Victorian-era naval ships of the United Kingdom