- Also known as
-
HMS Curacoa
-
primary name: HMS Curacoa
- Details
- individual; ship/vehicle
- Life dates
- 1854-1873
- Biography
- Royal Navy ship, launched 1854. Served in Crimean War, North America and West Indies. 20 April 1863 commissioned at Portsmouth under Captain Sir William Wiseman. Arrived in New Zealand on 20 November 1863. British forces, including the naval brigade, attacked Maori at Rangariri. Fierce fighting ensued: Curacoa casualties, Midshipman Thomas Watkins and two seamen killed; Lieutenant William Hotham, Lieutenant Henry Alexander and two seamen wounded. The ship remained at Auckland and was used to house Maori prisoners. Flagship of Australia station 1863-1866.
Made a significant voyage in the Pacific in 1865. At Sydney 4 June 1865, explorer Julius Brenchley joined HMS Curacoa. Already on board was the horticulturalist John Gould Veitch. Travelled to Norfolk Island, Australia (9-13 June) where they met George Adams, son of a Bounty mutineer from Pitcairn Island. Then visited Niue (29 June), Samoa (1-10 July), Tonga (10-22 July), Fiji (26 July-3 August), Vanuatu (6-23 August), Santa Cruz Islands (25 August), Solomon Islands (27 August-10 September), Erromango, Vanuatu (25-26 September), Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia (28 September-8 October) and back to Sydney 13 October 1865. Brenchley's collection of over 1000 artefacts from this voyage now housed at British Museum and Maidstone Museum.
After another exploration to China, Russia and Europe, Brenchley returned to England in 1870 and died three years later.
- Bibliography
- Brenchley, Julius L. (1816-1873). Jottings during the Cruise of H.M.S. Curaçao among the South Sea Islands in 1865. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1873.
