HMS Firefly (1832)
HMS Firefly (1832)


Royal NavyVessels

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NameFirefly (1832)Explanation
TypeGunvessel   
Launched29 September 1832
HullWooden
PropulsionPaddle
Builders measure550 tons
Displacement677 tons
Guns5
Fate1866
Class 
Ships bookADM 135/175
Note1858 survey vessel
Snippets concerning this vessels career
DateEvent
9 October 1839Commanded by Lieutenant William Robert Wolseley Winniett, North America & West Indies
(January 1843)Out of commission at Portsmouth
16 March 1844Commanded by Captain Frederick Willam Beechey, Irish channel
15 June 1848
- 8 June 1850
Commanded by Commander John Tudor, west coast of Africa
3 September 1850
- 30 July 1853
Commanded by Commander George Alexander Seymour, west coast of Africa
15 February 1855Commanded by Captain Henry Charles Otter, the Baltic during the Russian War
26 May 1856Commanded by Commander George Fiott Day, west coast of Africa
21 February 1860Commanded by Commander Arthur Lukis Mansell, Mediterranean
6 November 1863Commanded by Lieutenant George Robinson Wilkinson, Mediterranean, surveying
Extracts from the Times newspaper
DateExtract
Th 25 January 1849

THE COAST OF AFRICA.

St. Paul de Loando, Nov. 15;

Since the departure of Commodore Sir Charles Hotham, this place has been the head-quarters of the senior officer, and has had occasional visits from his ship, the Favorite, 14, Commander Alexander Murray. The Philomel, 8, Commander Wood, arrived recently on this division from the North Coast, and has taken her station between this and Benguela. The other vessels on this division are the Contest, 12, Commander M'Murdo, cruising to the south of Benguela; the Blazer steamer, Lieutenant Smith, off the Congo; the Grappler steamer, Lieutenant Lysaught; and the Dart, 3, Lieutenant Glyn, off Ambrize; the Bittern, 12, Commander Hope off Kabenda; the Britomart, 8, Commander Chamberlaine, off Loango; the Waterwitch, 8, Commander Quin; and the Wanderer, 12, Commander Montresor, off Cape Lopez. The Dart has taken three, the Britomart two, and the Pluto one slaver off the Congo since the last mail. In the Bight of Benin are the Amphitrite, Captain Eden (ordered to the Pacific); the Cygnet, 8, Commander Kenyon; the Star, 8, Commander Riley; the Dolphin, 3, Lieutenant Boyle; and the Firefly steamer, Lieutenant Ponsonby (since Commander Tudor). On the Sierra Leone coast are the Alert, 6, Commander Dunlop; the Sealark, 8, Commander Monypenny; the Pantaloon, 8, Commander Prevost; and the Ranger, 8, Commander Newland. The Bonetta, 3, Lieutenant Forbes, arrived here from Sierra Leone on the 30th ult., with the mails brought out by the Pantaloon and Ranger. She reports both the Ranger and Alert as having been on shore and sustained considerable damage. The slave trade is greatly on the increase on the north coast, and the Pongas, Nunez, Gallinas, and Cape Mount rivers are swarming with slavers. The Bonetta has been exceedingly successful on that station, having taken five or six prizes. The Pluto sailed some weeks ago to reinforce that division. Lieutenant Joliffe has the command of her, and Mr. Christopher Albert, additional second master of the Penelope, has been given the command of the Adelaide prize tender, vice Joliffe. The Snap, recently a slaver steamer, but now converted into a bark, Mr. Raymond second master in charge, arrived here on the 5th inst., with a large quantity of stores and provisions from St. Helena for the use of the division of the squadron employed on this station. She sailed for Ascension on the 8th inst., all well. The Favorite, 14, Commander Murray, arrived on the 7th inst., and sailed the following evening on a cruise, all well. The Contest, 12, Commander M'Murdo, arrived on the 7th inst., and having caulked and refitted returned to her station off Benguela on the 14th, all well. The Favorite sails for England on the 1st of January. The new governor of the Portuguese possessions on the west coast has entered on his duties at this place, and the fleet of eight or ten cruisers under the orders of a new naval commander-in-chief are now actively employed in the suppression of the slave trade; their sphere of usefulness has, however, been recently crippled by a new treaty with Brazil, which limits the capture of slave vessels under that flag to within three miles of the shores of the Portuguese territories. The captain of the Mandonna brig of war has, however, been making amends for this restriction by burning to the ground all the barracoons belonging to the subjects of that empire, as well as those of his own countrymen along the coast. This and similar cases evidence a certain measure of vigilance on the part of the Portuguese officers to check the enormities of the slave trade, but, alas! they are mere isolated cases, and are, as well as the exertions of the British, next to futile in stemming the virulence of that disease which is drying up the vital energies of Africa.


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