HMS Herald (1824)

The vessel was renamed Herald on 15 May 1824, and commissioned on 16 July 1824. At this time she was rated a yacht. Commander Henry John Leeke recommissioned her on 31 May 1824. He sailed her to St Petersburg, the West Indies, back to England from Havana, then to Quebec, and finally to Malta. Captain Sir Augustus William James Clifford recommissioned Herald on 27 May 1826 to carry the Duke of Devonshire on an embassy to Russia. Commander Henry Eden replaced Clifford in November 1826, only to hand over command to Commander Edward William Curry Astley in April 1827.[1]

On 7 April 1829 Commander George Berkeley Maxwell replaced Astley. Maxwell sailed Herald to St Petersburg, Cartagena, Quebec, and home. Herald was paid off in 1830. She then underwent fitting for sea between April and July 1830. On 20 November 1830 Captain Robert Godon took command at Portsmouth. He paid her off in January 1831. Herald then underwent fitting for sea again between November 1837 and August 1838.[1]

Captain Joseph Nias

Captain Joseph Nias recommissioned Herald on 24 May 1838 for the East Indies and China.[1] On 26 August 1839, Herald and HMS Pelorus attempted to scuttle the British merchant ship Lucretia, which had caught fire off Kyardbilly's point, Sydney, New South Wales. The attempt was unsuccessful and the ship exploded and sank.[2]

On 29 April 1840 Nias sailed Herald, with Major Thomas Bunbury of the 80th Regiment (appointed by Governor William Hobson as Commissioner) and Edward Marsh Williams as interpreter, to take a copy of the Treaty of Waitangi (known as the "Herald-Bunbury" copy) to the South Island of New Zealand to obtain signatures from Māori chiefs as part the process of claiming British sovereignty over New Zealand.[3][4]

During the period 1841–1842 she was involved in actions off Canton in the fleet commanded by Sir William Parker in the First Anglo-Chinese War (1839–1842),[5] known popularly as the First Opium War. Herald was paid off at Chatham in 1842.

Herald was converted at Sheerness to a survey ship between July 1844 and June 1845. At that time her armament was reduced to eight guns. Henry Kellett recommissioned Herald 8 February 1845 for surveying in the Pacific.[1] She left Plymouth on June 26, 1845 and sailed first via Brazil to the Falkland Islands where she arrived in September. They then rounded Cape Horn into the Pacific.[6] Together with HMS Pandora under Lieutenant-Commander James Wood she spent three years surveying the coast of British Columbia after the Oregon boundary dispute with the United States.,[7] and on the Pacific coast of South America.[6]

Herald was assigned in 1848 to join the search for Sir John Franklin, whose ships had disappeared exploring the Northwest Passage. Herald sailed three times through the Bering Strait, in 1848, 1849 and 1850. No trace of Franklin was found.[8] During this period she discovered Herald Island, in the Chukchi Sea, which Kellett named after his ship.[9] In 1848 and 1849 Herald returned south in the months of the northern winter to continue surveying work in Panama, Costa Rica, and the Gulf of California. In October 1850, Herald left the Arctic, and sailed for home via Hawaii, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Cape of Good Hope, arriving at Spithead on 6 June 1851, thus completing a six-year circumnavigation of the globe.[9]

Berthold Seemann was the naturalist for most of this voyage, and wrote the main account of the expedition in two volumes as well as an illlustrated volume on the botany.[6][9][10] Samson (1998) has provided a modern overview of his work, relating it to the political and economic context of the period.[11] Edward Forbes subsequently published on the zoology of the expedition.[12][13]

From 1852 to 1861, under the command of Captain Henry Mangles Denham, Herald carried out a survey of the Australian coast and Fiji Islands, continuing the mission of HMS Rattlesnake. The naturalists on the voyage were John MacGillivray (1821–1867), William Milne (botanist) and Denis Macdonald as Assistant Surgeon-zoologist. James Glen Wilson was the ship's artist. Herald, with her tender HMS Torch, a paddle steamer' left Plymouth on 10 June 1852. They travelled via Madeira and the Cape Verde Islands, Rio de Janeiro, Tristan de Cunha, Cape Town and St Paul Island, arriving at Port Jackson (Sydeney Harbour) on 18 February 1853. Throughout the journey, surveying work was carried out, including deep-sea soundings, locating shoals, magnetic observations, establishing an accurate meridian distance between Rio and Cape Town, and a complete survey of St Paul Island. Many natural history onservations were made.[14] ^: 1–26 The rset of the year 1853 was spent surveying Lord Howe Island and the nearby Ball's Pyramid and in New Caledonia and Vanuatu. Surveys were carried out of the sle of Pines, Maré and Aneityum. These islands are close to the route between Sydney and Fiji, so it was important to chart their accurate positions.[14]^: 27–57

On 27 May 1854, Herald sailed for Fiji via Auckland and Raoul Island. Herald surveyed in the south of Fiji, and obtained accurate positions for the Minerva Reefs, and also enabled numerous doubtful hazards to be reomved from the charts.[14]^: 58–7 Between 1854 and 1857, Herald made three surveying trips to Fiji, greatly adding to the small-scale survey that had been carried out by Charles Wilkes in 1840. During this period, Herald also surveyed Norfolk Island and assisted in the resettlement of the Pitcairn Islanders to Norfolk Island. In April 1855, following diagreements about publication and allegations of financial irregularities, MacGillivray was dismissed from his post on the Herald. On 26 February 1857, Herald arrived back in Sydney.[14]^: 79–263

The next task for Denham and Herald was a survey of Port Jackson, completed in November 1857. This included a large-scale plan of Cockatoo Island. Herald was the first sailing ship to enter the Fitzroy Dock, on Cockatoo Island.[15] Herald then surveyed the southern and western coasts of Australia as far as Shark Bay, returning to Sydney on 29 June 1858. On 3 September, they set sail for the Coral Sea, an area with many reefs most of which had not been charted accurately. The survey of the Coral sea would involve three cruises, and continue until May 1860. The result was to greatly improve the safety of the outer approach to the Torres Strait, to the east of the Great Barrier Reef.[14]^{: 310–398}

In 1859, Herald erected the first beacon on Mellish Reef and Cay, using wreckage from the French aviso ‘Duroc’, which had wrecked on the reef in 1857.

Herald left Sydney on 17 August 1860. There was still work to be done, charting reefs and deep-sea soundings in preparation for telegraphic cable-laying. Surabaya was reached on 20 November, and Spithead in England on 16 May 1861. Herald was de-commissioned on 1 July, nine years after setting out.[14]^{: 399–428}

There was no published contemporary account of the voyage. David (1995) gives a very detailed account of the voyage, and reproduces many of the drawings and paintings produced by James Glen Wilson.[14]

Herald was converted to a chapel ship and was used as a floating church in Shoreham in September 1861.[1] She was sold to Castle for breaking on 28 April 1862.[1]