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| Name | Avon (1837) | Explanation | |
| Type | Packet | ||
| Acquired | 1837 | ||
| Hull | Wooden | ||
| Propulsion | Paddle | ||
| Builders measure | 360 tons | ||
| Displacement | |||
| Guns | 2 | ||
| Fate | 1863 | ||
| Class | |||
| Ships book | ADM 135/31 | ||
| Note | 1825 Launched. Transferred from Post Office, ex-Thetis. 1839 transport. 1843 survey ship. 1849 tender | ||
| Snippets concerning this vessels career | |||
| Date | Event | ||
| (January 1840) | Out of commission at Woolwich | ||
| 9 September 1841 | Commanded by Lieutenant commander Charles Jenkin, Woolwich | ||
| 11 June 1842 - March 1843 | Commanded by Lieutenant commander Henry Byng, North America and West Indies (untill invalided) | ||
| 31 May 1843 - September 1843 | Commanded by Lieutenant commander David Robert Bunbury Mapleton, North America and West India station | ||
| (October 1843) | Out of commission at Woolwich | ||
| 30 July 1845 - 1 December 1846 | Commanded (until paying off at Woolwich) by Commander Henry Mangles Denham, west coast of Africa | ||
| 1 January 1847 | Commanded (from commissioning at Woolwich) by Commander Henry Charles Otter, surveying on the west coast of Scotland | ||
| (27 August 1855) | Tender to Impregnable, Devonport | ||
| Extracts from the Times newspaper | |||
| Date | Extract | ||
| We 5 February 1851 | Plymouth, Tuesday morning. A serious accident occurred yesterday afternoon on board Her Majesty's frigate Calliope, 26, Captain Sir J. Everard Home. Bart., C.B., in Hamoase. She was about to be towed into the Sound, had slipped from her moorings, and was attached to a buoy near the flagship Impregnable, lying under the Obelisk. One end of a towing warp was fastened to an iron boiler on board the steam tug Avon, and several turns of the other end were passed round the capstan on the upper deck of the Calliope; but the pauls of the capstan were not adjusted. When the Avon went ahead, the sudden jerk on the capstan caused it to revolve with frightful velocity, and, as the capstan bars were not secured by swifters and pins, they flew about destructively in all directions among the officers and crew. Captain Home received several bruises about the head and body; an assistant surgeon and a quartermaster were severely injured, and a marine had his ear cut off. Signals were instantly made to the different ships in commission, from which the surgeons promptly attended. Some 18 in all were hurt, and it was found necessary to send Sir Everard Home and five others to the Royal Naval Hospital. The frigate was in consequence of the accident replaced at her moorings. | ||
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