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| Name | Wolverene (1863) | Explanation | |
| Type | Corvette | ||
| Launched | 29 August 1863 | ||
| Hull | Wooden | Length | 225 feet |
| Propulsion | Screw | Men | 240 |
| Builders measure | 1703 tons | ||
| Displacement | 2431 tons | ||
| Guns | 21 | ||
| Fate | 1923 | Last in commission | 1882 |
| Class | Jason | ||
| Ships book | |||
| Career | |||
| Date | Event | ||
| 29 August 1863 | Launched at Woolwich Dockyard. | ||
| 9 May 1864 - 31 October 1865 | Commanded (from commissioning at Woolwich) by Captain Algernon Frederick Rous De Horsey, North America and West Indies | ||
| 30 December 1865 - 27 February 1868 | Commanded (until paying off at Sheerness) by Captain Thomas Cochran, North America and West Indies | ||
| 25 October 1870 | Commanded (from commissioning at Sheerness until paying off at Sheerness) by Captain Henry Rushworth Wratislaw, East Indies | ||
| 1 August 1876 - 13 January 1877 | Commanded (from commissioning at Sheerness) by Captain Lindesay Brine, bringing the ship out to Australia (to become commodores' flagship) | ||
| January 1877 - September 1878 | Commanded by Commodore Anthony Hiley Hoskins, Australia | ||
| 1 October 1878 - 10 March 1882 | Commanded (until paying off at Sydney) by Commodore John Crawford Wilson, Australia | ||
| 16 January 1882 | Training ship in Australia (Royal Gift to New South Wales Naval Brigade). | ||
| February 1893 | Sheer hulk. | ||
| 24 August 1923 | Sold. | ||
| Extracts from the Times newspaper | |||
| Date | Extract | ||
| Sa 18 August 1877 | Cruise of the Sappho.—Her Majesty's ship Sappho arrived at Auckland on the 26th of May. She was caught in a violent squall a few days before, which blew away all her sails and hove her on her beam ends. She lay in a very dangerous position for a few minutes, but afterwards righted. The Sappho, after leaving Samoa, went through Hapu and Tonga groups, searching for the schooner May Queen, supposed to have disappeared when the earth-quake wave was felt at Tonga, but without success. The Sappho took the new British Consul for Samoa, Mr. Liardet, round the Samoan group. The schooner Canterbury, which set out on an expedition supposed to be conducted with Suwarrow, left Samoa for the Savage Islands on the 6th. She was very much knocked about by the hurricane, and the cargo had to be sold to raise money to refit her. Her intention of going to the Savage Islands was reported to be to get a cargo of pigs. The earthquake wave was experienced very strongly at Vavao and Tonga. There were 10 or 12 rises and falls at Vavao on the 11th of May, the greatest rise being about 10 feet. The reef was left quite exposed at times, and as the water receded it left millions of fish behind it on the reefs. The effect was very extraordinary. The natives do not recollect anything like it, and, in a great rage, accused the Sappho of bringing the wave. At Tonga the wave lifted the stranded ketch Pearl right off the reef and left her in deep water, saving a lot of trouble and expense. The Sappho reports that Maki, Governor of Vavao, met with his death in an extraordinary manner early in May. He was amusing himself by killing fish with dynamite, and happening to keep hold of a charge too long after lighting the fuse it exploded, blowing his hand and part of his arm away. A day or two afterwards lockjaw set in and he died. Her Majesty's ships Wolverene, Nymph, and Sappho rendezvous at Auckland shortly for a Court-martial.— Otago Daily Times. | ||
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