HMS ''Curacoa'' was a 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 ...

, built by John Elder & Co.,

Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric?: ''Gwovan'?''; Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of south-west City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south ba ...

, launched in 1878, and sold in 1904 to be broken up.Bastock, p.107. She served on the Cape of Good Hope and West Africa Station, 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, ...

and as a training cruiser in the Atlantic.

Service history

HMS ''Curacoa'' was built by John Elder & Co.,

, and launched on 18 April 1878. The corvette commenced service on the Cape of Good Hope and West Africa Station before being transferred to the

arriving on 5 August 1890. She left the Australia Station in December 1894. Recently discovered log books from descendants of Mr.(Cptn) J.P. Shipton, record the journey to Australia. Daily logs show ''Curacoa'' leaving port in the UK on 1 April 1889, with stops at Perth, Albany, Adelaide, Launceston, Melbourne, Sydney, Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch / Lyttleton, and the final entry shows 31 December 1890, in port at Lyttleton (near Christchurch), New Zealand. ''Curacoa'' was sent to the

Ellice Islands Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-nor ...

and between 9 and 16 October 1892 Captain Gibson visited each of the islands to make a formal declaration that the islands were to be a British Protectorate. In June 1893 Captain Gibson visited the southern

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 capit ...

and made the formal declaration of the

British Solomon Islands Protectorate The British Solomon Islands Protectorate was first declared over the southern Solomons in 1893, when Captain Gibson, R.N., of , declared the southern islands a British protectorate. Other islands were subsequently declared to form part o ...

. Her later years were spent as a training cruiser. In February–March 1900 she visited Madeira,

Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife), the most populous city in the auto ...

and Sao Vicente, Cape Verde. She was sold in May 1904 to King of Garston for breaking up. Comus class corvette diagrams Brasseys 1888

Citations

References

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

External links

1878 ships Ships built on the River Clyde Comus-class corvettes Victorian-era corvettes of the United Kingdom {{UK-mil-ship-stub