HMS ''Fly'' was an 18-gun

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

of the Royal Navy. She was responsible for the exploration and charting of much of Australia's north-east coast and nearby islands. She was converted to a coal hulk in 1855 and broken up in 1903.

Design and construction

''Fly'' was a development of the designed by Professor Inman of the

School of Naval Architecture A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compul ...

. She was long on the gundeck and at the keel. She had a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of overall, and a hold depth of , giving her a tonnage of 485 69/94 bm. Her armament was made up of sixteen 32-pounder

carronade A carronade is a short, smoothbore, cast-iron cannon which was used by the Royal Navy. It was first produced by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, and was used from the mid-18th century to the mid-19th century. Its main func ...

s and a pair of 9-pounder bow chasers.Winfield (2004), p. 120 ''Fly'' and her three sister ships ''Harrier'', ''Argus'' and ''Acorn'' were ordered on 30 January 1829. She was laid down in November 1829 and launched from Pembroke Dockyard on 25 August 1831. ''Argus'' and ''Acorn'' were cancelled on 27 April 1831, leaving ''Fly'' as the lead ship of a class of two.

Service

She was commissioned at Plymouth on 27 January 1832 under the command of Commander Peter M'Quhae and served initially on the North America and West Indies station, returning to Portsmouth on 30 September 1833. After another two years on the same station she paid off at Portsmouth on 5 September 1835. By September 1836 she was fitting out for the South America station, including work in the Pacific Ocean. She was under the command of Commander

Granville Gower Loch Granville Gower Loch (1813–1853) was a captain in the Royal Navy. A son of James Loch (his brother was Henry Loch, 1st Baron Loch, and his uncle was Admiral Francis Erskine Loch), Granville Gower Loch entered the navy in 1826 and had risen to ...

on that station from 1838 to 1840. She arrived at Spithead on 17 July 1840 from South America with 1,700,000 dollars and sailed for Plymouth to be paid off. In December 1841 she commissioned at Plymouth under the command of Francis Price Blackwood to survey the Torres Strait in company with the cutter . During the early to mid-1840s, she charted numerous routes through and from many locations around

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

's north-east coast and nearby islands, including

Whitsunday Island Whitsunday Island is the largest island in the Whitsunday group of islands located off the coast of Central Queensland, Australia. History Whitsunday Island was inhabited by the sea-faring Ngaro people for around 8,000 years prior to British ...

and the

Capricorn Islands The islands and reefs of the Capricorn and Bunker Group are situated astride the Tropic of Capricorn at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef, approximately 80 kilometres east of Gladstone, which is situated on the central coast of the ...

in Queensland. During this part of her service she employed the painter and draughtsman

Harden Sidney Melville Harden Sidney Melville (1824–1894UK General Register Office, 1894 registration district Edmonton, sub-district Hornsey, county of Middlesex. Volume no. 3a, page no. 144. Number 469, death certificate application number 11412490-4.) was an Eng ...

to produce the first official hydrographic survey of the north-east coast of Australia. On 2 September 1844, she rescued the survivors of the British merchant ship ''Lady Grey'', which had been wrecked on Alert's Reef the previous day with the loss of a passenger whilst on a voyage from

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 ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. After being discovered during the survey of the

Gulf of Papua The Gulf of Papua is located in the southern coast region of New Guinea. It has a total surface area of . Geography Some of New Guinea's largest rivers, such as the Fly River, Turama River, Kikori River, Purari River, and Wawoi River flow ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

, the

Fly River The Fly River is the third longest river in the island of New Guinea, after the Sepik River and Mamberamo River, with a total length of and the largest by volume of discharge in Oceania, the largest in the world without a single dam in its ca ...

was named after the ship. Embarked during her voyages of exploration were the geologist and naturalist

Joseph Jukes Joseph Beete Jukes (10 October 1811 – 29 July 1869), born to John and Sophia Jukes at Summer Hill, Birmingham, England, was a renowned geologist, author of several geological manuals and served as a naturalist on the expeditions of (under th ...

and the naturalist

John MacGillivray John MacGillivray (18 December 1821 – 6 June 1867) was a Scottish naturalist, active in Australia between 1842 and 1867. MacGillivray was born in Aberdeen, the son of ornithologist William MacGillivray. He took part in three of the Royal Na ...

. ''Fly'' returned to the United Kingdom, arriving at Spithead on 19 June 1846 and proceeded to

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymout ...

to pay off. She was commissioned again on 14 October 1847 under Commander Richard Oliver, and was employed in surveying in the Pacific and New Zealand. After 4 years of work in the area she returned to the United Kingdom, arriving at Plymouth Sound on the evening of 4 December 1851 and paying off on 13 December.

Fate

She was laid up as a coal hulk at Devonport in 1855. During this part of her career, she was renamed ''C2'', and then ''C70''. She was finally broken up in 1903.

Notes

References

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External links