HMS Herald (1824)

HMS ''Herald'' was an 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.

Construction and career

''Termagant'' was launched at the East India Company dockyard at Cochin, British India on 15 November 1822. Lieutenant Robert Wallace Dunlop commissioned on 30 July 1822 to sail her to the United Kingdom. She arrived at Portsmouth 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.

Atlantic service

The vessel was renamed ''Herald'' on 15 May 1824, and commissioned on 16 July 1824. At this time she was rated a yacht. Commander Henry John Leeke recommissioned her on 31 May 1824. He sailed her to St Petersburg, the West Indies, back to England from Havana, then to Quebec, and finally to Malta. Captain Sir Augustus William James Clifford recommissioned ''Herald'' on 27 May 1826 to carry the Duke 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.

On 7 April 1829 Commander George Berkeley Maxwell replaced Astley. Maxwell sailed ''Herald'' to St Petersburg, Cartagena, Quebec, and home. ''Herald'' was paid 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.

Pacific service

Captain Joseph Nias recommissioned ''Herald'' on 24 May 1838 for the East Indies and China. On 26 August 1839, ''Herald'' and attempted to scuttle the British merchant ship ''Lucretia'', which had caught fire off Kyardbilly's point, Sydney, New South Wales. The attempt was unsuccessful and the ship exploded and sank.

On 29 April 1840 Nias sailed ''Herald'', with Major Thomas Bunbury of the 80th Regiment (appointed by Governor William Hobson as Commissioner) and Edward Marsh Williams as interpreter, to take a copy of the Treaty of Waitangi (known as the "Herald-Bunbury" copy) to the South Island of New Zealand to obtain signatures from Māori chiefs as part the process of claiming British sovereignty over New Zealand.

During the period 1841–1842 she was involved in actions off Canton in the fleet commanded by Sir William Parker in the First Anglo-Chinese War (1839–1842), known popularly as the First Opium War. ''Herald'' was paid off at Chatham in 1842.

Survey and scientific work

''Herald'' was converted at Sheerness to a survey ship between July 1844 and June 1845. At that time her armament was reduced to eight guns. Henry Kellett recommissioned ''Herald'' 8 February 1845 for surveying in the Pacific. She left Plymouth on June 26, 1845 and sailed first via Brazil to the Falkland Islands where she arrived in September. They then rounded Cape Horn into the Pacific. Together with under Lieutenant-Commander James Wood she spent three years surveying the coast of British Columbia after the Oregon boundary dispute with the United States., and on the Pacific coat of South America.

''Herald'' was assigned in 1848 to join the search for Sir John Franklin who had been exploring the Northwest Passage. ''Herald'' sailed three times through the Bering Strait, in 1848, 1849 and 1850. No trace of Franklin was found. During this period she discovered Herald Island, in the Chukchi Sea, which Kellett named after his ship. In 1848 and 1849 ''Herald'' returned south in the months of the northern winter to continue surveying work in Panama, Costa Rica, and the Gulf of California. In October 1850, ''Herald'' left the Arctic, and sailed for home via Hawaii, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Cape of Good Hope, arriving at Spithead on 6 June 1851, thus completing a six-year circumnavigation of the globe.

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 illlustrated volume on the botany. Samson (1998) has provided a modern overview of his work, relating it to the political and economic context of the period. Edward Forbes subsequently published on the zoology of the expedition.

From 1852 to 1861, under the command of Captain Henry Mangles Denham, ''Herald'' carried out a survey of the Australian coast and Fiji Islands, continuing the mission of . The naturalists on the voyage were John MacGillivray (1821–1867), William Milne (botanist) and Denis Macdonald as Assistant Surgeon-zoologist. James Glen Wilson was the ship's artist. ''Herald'', with her tender , a paddle steamer' left Plymouth on 10 June 1852. They travelled via Madeira and the Cape Verde Islands, Rio de Janeiro, Tristan de Cunha, Cape Town and St Paul Island, arriving at Port Jackson (Sydeney 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. The rset of the year 1853 was spent surveying Lord Howe Island and the nearby Ball's Pyramid and in New Caledonia and Vanuatu. Surveys were carried out of the sle of Pines, Maré and Aneityum. These islands are close to the route between Sydney and Fiji, so it was imortant to chart their accurate positions.

On 27 May 1854, ''Herald'' sailed for Fiji via Auckland and Raoul Island. ''Herald'' surveyed in thare south of Fiji, and obtained accurate positions for the Minerva Reefs, and also enabled numerous doubtful hazards to be reomved from the charts. Between 1854 and 1857, ''Herald'' made three surveying trips to Fiji, greatly adding to the small-scale survey that had been carried out by Charles Wilkes in 1840. During this preiod, ''Herald'' also surveyed Norfolk Island and assisted in the resettlement of the Pitcairn Islanders to Norfolk Island. In April 1855, following diagreements about publication and allegations of financial irregularities, MacGillivray was dismissed from his post on the ''Herald''. On 26 February 1857, ''Herald'' arrived back in Sydney.

The next task for Denham and ''Herald'' was a survey of Port jackson, completed in November 1857. This included a large-scale plan of Cockatoo Island. ''Herald'' was the first sailing ship to enter the Fitzroy Dock, on Cockatoo Island.Gillett, p.12. ''Herald'' then surveyed the southern and western coasts of Australia as far as Shark Bay, returning to Sydney on 29 June 1858. On 3 September, they set sail for the Coral 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 the Torres Strait, to the east of the Great Barrier Reef.

''Herald'' left Sydney on 17 August 1860. There was still work to be done, charting reefs and deep-sea soundings in prepararion for telegraphic cable-laying. Surabaya was reached on 20 November, and Spithead on 16 May 1861. Herald was de-commirioned on 1 July, nine years after setting out.

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.

''Herald'' was converted to a chapel ship and was used as a floating church in Shoreham in September 1861. She was sold to Castle for breaking on 28 April 1862.

See also

* European and American voyages of scientific exploration

Citations

References

*
* Edward Forbes (1815–1854), ''The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Herald under the command of Captain Henry Kellett,... during the years 1845-51.'' (London, 1854).
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External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Herald (1824)
Survey vessels of the Royal Navy
Atholl-class corvettes
1822 ships
First Opium War ships of the United Kingdom