HMS ''Nassau'' was a wooden-hulled gun vessel of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

. She was the sixth and to date last Royal Navy ship to bear that name. Powered by screw propulsion with a displacement of 877 tons, she was launched at

Pembroke Dockyard Pembroke Dockyard, originally called Pater Yard, is a former Royal Navy Dockyard in Pembroke Dock, Pembrokeshire, Wales. History It was founded in 1814, although not formally authorized until the George IV of the United Kingdom, Prince Regent s ...

on 20 February 1866 and completed into a survey ship that July. Her first commander was Captain Charles Richard Mayne and her first mission to re-survey the passage north into the Pacific and the

Straits of Magellan The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and the Tierra del Fuego archipelago to the south. Considered the most important natural ...

in South America, as recorded in her log kept at

The National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

. Robert Oliver Cunningham was aboard as naturalist on that voyage and collected the holotype of Maynea on the voyage, naming it after Captain Mayne. She then moved on to surveying on the China Station under Commander William Chimmo (1870–1873), mostly carrying out sub-surface temperature measurements and deep-sea soundings, though also sending men ashore in boats to destroy a pirate stronghold in the

Sulu Archipelago The Sulu Archipelago ( Tausug: Kapū'-pūan sin Sūg Sulat Sūg: , ) is a chain of islands in the Pacific Ocean, in the southwestern Philippines. The archipelago forms the northern limit of the Celebes Sea and southern limit of the Sulu Se ...

in 1872. During that posting she also experienced a

typhoon A typhoon is a tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere and which produces sustained hurricane-force winds of at least . This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, accounting for a ...

on 28 September 1870 whilst anchored at

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. Next she moved to the East Indies Station under Lieutenant Francis John Gray (1873–1875) surveying

East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

and joined with 's boats and fellow gun vessel in 1875 to bombard

Mombasa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital status in 1907. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

. Her final posting was a brief period back on the China Station before being broken up in 1880.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nassau 1866 ships Victorian-era gunboats of the United Kingdom Cormorant-class gunvessels Ships built in Pembroke Dock