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BRITOMART
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Built in 1820, Portsmouth (Cherokee class).
Broken up in 1843. |
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- 1820-24 Portsmouth.
- 1824 Octavius Venables VERNON, 06/1824, Jamaica. He removed to PRIMROSE.
- 1825 Augustus C. DE CRESPIGNY, 05/1825, Jamaica.
- 1826 Henry Dundas TROTTER, 02/1826. F. CHAMIER, 09/1826, Jamaica.
- 1827 R. H. MANNERS, 10/1827, Portsmouth.
- 1929 Edward JOHNSON, 03/1829, Plymouth.
- June 1831 Plymouth.
- 1834 Lieut. William QUIN, 03/1833, Coast of Africa.
The slaver MOSES was taken on 8 February 1836 and the slavers GENERAL MINO and DOS HERMANOS on 7 March. - Jan 1837 Plymouth.
- 1838 Lieut. Owen STANLEY, 12/1837.
Sailed from Plymouth on 22 February 1838 in company with ALLIGATOR.
The latter ship had to return to repair storm damage but they met up again at Teneriffe and sailed in company to Rio, arriving 20 April.
On 14 July BRITOMART arrived at Port Jackson (Sydney) N. S. W. after a stop-over at the Cape at the end of May. she sailed for Port Essington, some 100 miles from the present Darwin, in company with the merchantman CANTON and arrived on 1 November.
In February and March 1839 BRITOMART cruised to Timor and to the Arafura Is. On the latter occasion STANLEY rescued a castaway, Joseph Forbes, who had been so long on Tenimba Is.
(or Timor Laut), now Jamdena, that he had forgotten his own language. - BRITOMART was in a bad state of repair and BEAGLE and PELORUS had to help re-caulk her. While they were re-fitting for the voyage Port Essington was struck by a hurricane on the night of Monday 24 November. OWEN was ashore with a party of marines collecting provisions and it was only with the greatest difficulty that they managed to return to the ship in the whale boat. BRITOMART's anchor dragged and her masts and spars were snapped and the cutter and jolly boat washed away by the huge waves. When the wind shifted she was driven broadside towards the land with water pouring over her. The storm lasted for 48 hours and when she returned to the inner harbour on the 28th. she found that every vessel in the harbour had been wrecked. PELORUS had been driven ashore and capsized. She had lost eight men and the survivors were brought back in BRITOMART's whaler.
- Since practically every building in the town had been destroyed BRITOMART had to remain until the damage had been repaired and PELORUS salvaged.
On 12 February 1840 STANLEY sailed for Sydney with four passengers, because of the monsoon going west about with a call at the settlement at Swan River, the present day Perth.
He arrived at Sydney on 1 May. - Two months later BRITOMART was ordered to Akaroa at the end of the Banks Peninsular on the east side of N. Island, New Zealand, to proclaim British sovereignty and thus forestall French claims to the country. She then sailed to the South Island and spent the autumn surveying the harbour of the future Auckland.
- 1841 found her back at Port Essington as guardship.
Summoned north for the war with China she ended up at Moulmein Burma where she slowly rotted until unfit for service. She arrived at Singapore on 13 April 1843 and STANLEY sold her there to a merchant who intended to use her to ship pilgrims to Mecca.
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