HMS Ariel

HMS Ariel (1854)

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Name	Ariel (1854)	Explanation
Type	Sloop
Launched	11 July 1854
Hull	Wooden	Length	139 feet
Propulsion	Screw
Builders measure	486 tons
Displacement	625 tons
Guns	9
Fate	1865	Last in commission	1864
Class	Swallow
Ships book	ADM 135/22
Career
Date	Event
11 July 1854	Launched at Pembroke Dockyard.
24 January 1855 - 6 December 1855	Commanded (from commissioning at Portsmouth) by Commander John Proctor Luce, White Sea, during the Russian War
5 December 1855 - 25 November 1857	Commanded by Commander Frederick Augustus Maxse, Mediterranean
25 November 1857 - 7 July 1859	Commanded (until paying off at Portsmouth) by Commander Charles Bromley, Mediterranean
29 August 1860 - 16 August 1861	Commanded (from commissioning at Portsmouth until paying off) by Commander John Richard Alexander, Cape of Good Hope
17 August 1861 - 29 October 1862	Commanded by Commander Radulphus Bryce Oldfield, Cape of Good Hope, East African slavery patrol
29 April 1862 - 1 December 1864	Commanded (until paying off at Portsmouth) by Commander William Cox Chapman, Cape of Good Hope
23 May 1865	Sold to Shaw and Thompson for breaking up.
*Extracts from the Times* newspaper**
Date	Extract
Ma 17 July 1854	On Thursday another of the 8-gun steam vessels building to operate against the Russians was launched from Her Majesty's dockyard at Pembroke. She is named the Ariel - a sister vessel to the Swallow - and is to be brought forward for immediate service in the Baltic.
Tu 28 June 1859	The Ariel, 9, screw, Com. Charles Bromley, arrived at Spithead yesterday from the Mediterranean.
Fr 8 July 1859	The Ariel, 9, screw, Commander Charles Bromley, was paid off at Portsmouth yesterday. William Hall, quarter-master, received the medal with 151. Gratuity for long service. J. Adams, captain's coxswain, William Conney, leading stoker, and George Shell, sailmaker, received the gratuities of 41. 13s. 4d. Each. Nearly the whole of the Ariel's crew - a remarkably fine body - are continual service men, and have mostly volunteered for the various ships fitting in the port - 13 have volunteered for the Neptune, 91, Captain Sir William Hoste, and six for the Vulcan, screw troopship, Commander Strode. The Simoom, Commander J. Cooke, at Portsmouth, will have her crew "paid down" to-day, and granted leave of absence ashore.
Fr 18 November 1864	The Ariel, 6, screw sloop, Commander Chapman, arrived at Spithead yesterday from foreign service, having sailed from the Cape of Good Hope on the 1st of September, from St. Helena on the 17th, Ascension 28th, Sierra Leone on the 12th of October, and Fayal on the 6th inst. She brought home as passengers Lieut. Bush, R.N., Mr. Lew, paymaster, R.N., and a few naval invalids. No orders were received by the Ariel yesterday, but she is expected to proceed round to the Medway to be paid out of commission. The Ariel has been lucky in prize captures.
We 30 November 1864	The Marlborough, three-decker, and Ariel, sloop, will both be paid out of commission alongside Portsmouth dockyard to-morrow. During the time these two vessels, which represent respectively the largest and smallest class of ships in Her Majesty's navy, have been dismantling and returning their stores preparatory to paying out of commission their crews have been granted leave ashore each night after work was over until the following morning, and this liberal treatment of the men appears to have been attended with the happiest results, with one or two solitary exceptions, the men have returned from their leave each morning to their ships soberly and respectably. The work has gone on from day to day with great rapidity. There was an entire absence of the drunkenness so prevalent among seamen in Her Majesty's navy when paying off a few years since. In those days officers and men were by the most stringent orders confined to their ships during the time they were employed in stripping and clearing out ship for paying off. These tyrannical orders have been allowed to fall into disuse, and men are now treated like rational beings. The unwise policy of the old system was exemplified in the émeute on board the Princess Royal.
Fr 2 December 1864	The Marlborough, 131, screw three-decker, Capt. Charles Fellowes, late the flagship of the Admiral commanding Her Majesty's ships in the Mediterranean, was paid out of commission yesterday at Portsmouth. The ship was in a very cleanly condition in every part, and the appearance of the crew as they passed round the tables to receive they pay was a credit to themselves and their officers. The Marlborough joins the third-class steam reserve, but will never again be commissioned for foreign service in her present form as a three-decked ship. The Ariel, 9, screw sloop, Commander Chapman was paid out of commission yesterday morning at Portsmouth. The Ariel has been employed on the Cape of Good Hope station, and has made some lucky captures of slave vessels. On Wednesday the paymaster paid on board to the officers and men the prize money due to them to that date - viz., 2,680l. There yet remains a large balance of prize money to be paid over to the Ariel's crew, which it is calculated will yield a further payment of from 30l. To 35l. To each able seamen, and to other classes in proportion. The warrant officers' total shares of the prize money will not fall much short of 400l. When all has been paid up, nor that of the petty officers much less than 200l. The Ariel will join the steam reserve at Portsmouth, but the amount of her defects, with her small tonnage and shallow depth, render it very probable that she will be turned over to the breaking-up dock. The Geyser, 6, paddle, Commander Thrupp, sailed from Portsmouth last evening for Devonport, with seamen and marines paid off from the Marlborough and Ariel.

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