HMS ''Elk'' was a 482-ton displacement, 16-gun ''Acorn''-class brig-sloop 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 ...

launched on 29 September 1847 from the Chatham Dockyard. She was sent to the East Indies Station and China Station and participated during the

Second Opium War The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Sino War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a colonial war lasting from 1856 to 1860, which pitted the British Empire and the French Emp ...

(commanded by

John Fane Charles Hamilton John Fane Charles Hamilton (28 September 1820 – 29 April 1864) was a British naval officer, after whom the city of Hamilton, New Zealand, is named. A statue of him stood in the centre of Hamilton from 2013 to 2020. Biography Early life ...

) until being assigned to the Australia Station in 1859. She searched for HMS ''Sappho'' with HMVS ''Victoria'' after ''Sappho'' disappeared in

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The strait provides the most direct waterwa ...

in February 1858. In 1860 she participated during the

First Taranaki War The First Taranaki War (also known as the North Taranaki War) was an armed conflict over land ownership and sovereignty that took place between Māori people, Māori and the New Zealand government in the Taranaki district of New Zealand's North ...

.Bastock, p.30. She left the Australia Station in March 1860 and upon arriving in England was

paid off Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship in ...

. She was transferred to Her Majesty's Coastguard in 1863 and was renamed WV.13 and she was later renamed WV.28. She was sold in May 1893.

Citations

References

*Bastock, John (1988), ''Ships on the Australia Station'', Child & Associates Publishing Pty Ltd; Frenchs Forest, Australia. * 1847 ships Ships built in Chatham Brig-sloops of the Royal Navy {{UK-mil-ship-stub