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| Name | Sapphire (1874) | Explanation | |
| Type | Corvette | ||
| Launched | 24 September 1874 | ||
| Hull | Wooden | Length | 220 feet |
| Propulsion | Screw | Men | 225 |
| Builders measure | 1405 tons | ||
| Displacement | 1970 tons | ||
| Guns | 14 | ||
| Fate | 1892 | Last in commission | 1889 |
| Class | Amethyst | ||
| Ships book | |||
| Career | |||
| Date | Event | ||
| 24 September 1874 | Launched at Devonport Dockyard (the last wooden warship launched). | ||
| 11 August 1875 - 9 July 1879 | Commanded (from commissioning at Plymouth) by Captain Elibank Harley Murray, Australia | ||
| 18 January 1883 | Commanded by Captain John Reginald Thomas Fullerton, China | ||
| 16 July 1884 - 26 September 1887 | Commanded (until paying off at Hong Kong) by Captain Richard George Kinahan, China | ||
| 18 May 1887 - 25 September 1889 | Commanded (until paying off at Sheerness) by Captain Wollaston Comyns Karslake, China (the last wooden ship in full commission in the Royal Navy) | ||
| 24 September 1892 | Sold to George Cohen for breaking up. | ||
| Extracts from the Times newspaper | |||
| Date | Extract | ||
| Th 21 August 1873 | Three vessels have recently been added to the Royal Navy, and there are at present 25 others in course of construction at the various Government yards and by private firms. The vessels just completed are the Fantome, composite screw sloop of 4 guns, 891 (727) tons, and 720 (120) horse-power engines, which has been constructed at Pembroke; two 14 gun screw corvettes, of 1,890 (1,405) tons and 2,149 (350) horse-power engines each, named the Amethyst and Modeste, both of which have been completed at Devonport. Six new vessels have just been ordered to be commenced, and the necessary preparations for their construction have in some cases been commenced. The new vessels are to include a 14 gun screw-corvette, of 1,405 tons old measurement and 350 nominal horse-power engines, to be named the Diamond, and ordered to be built at Sheerness; a 14 gun iron screw corvette, cased with wood, with a covered battery, of 3,903 tons and 5,230 indicated horse-power engines, to be constructed on No. 5 Slip at Chatham, and to be named the Euryalus; a 14 gun screw corvette, of 1,405 tons and 350 nominal horse-power engines, to be named the Sapphire, and ordered to be built at Devonport; the Temeraire, a screw iron armour-plated ship to carry eight guns, of 8,415 tons and 7,000 indicated horse-power engines, to be constructed at Chatham; and the Vesuvius, a double screw iron torpedo vessel, of 241 tons and 350 indicated horse-power engines, ordered to be built at Pembroke. | ||
| Tu 11 April 1876 | Australia.— Letters from Commodore Hoskins, in the Pearl at Sydney, up to the 16th of February. The Nymphe was at Levuka, Fiji, on the 14th of January. The Barracouta daily expected to rejoin the broad pendant at Sydney. The Sapphire arrived at Sydney on the 12th of February. The Sappho expected at Sydney about the 20th of February. The Alacrity would leave Sydney about the 10th of March for Fiji to re-commence surveying. The Sandfly left Sydney on the 26th of January for Noumea, New Caledonia, and Tucopia in the New Hebrides, to visit the Santa Cruz group and cruise among the Solomon islands. The Beagle left Sydney on the 26th of January for Norfolk Island, New Hebrides, and Santa Cruz group. The Renard cruising between Auckland and Wellington in place of the Sappho, temporarily withdrawn. The Conflict left Port Darwin on the 29th of January for Nichol Bay. The St. Osyth would leave Sydney on the 26th of February for England, with such of the crews of the Beagle and the Sandfly as were not taken on board Her Majesty's ship Dido. | ||
| Fr 21 April 1876 | The following Is the official account of the movements of Her Majesty's ships for Thursday, April 20: Portsmouth.— Victoria and Albert, Alberta, and Enchantress sailed 20th forenoon for Cherbourg. Plymouth.— Squirrel and Sealark, 19th inst. left at 4 35 p.m. for Falmouth, to commence their cruising with boys. Australian Station.— Commodore Hoskins was in the Pearl at Auckland on the 18th of April; Barracouta had arrived there from Samoa; Sapphire at Samoa, Her Majesty's ship Challenger.— Letters from [for?] the Challenger are now to be sent to Portsmouth to await arrival. | ||
| Tu 15 April 1879 | Tbc following vessels are under orders to return home to be paid off:- Active, 10, iron screw corvette, cased with iron, Capt. Henry J.F. Campbell, from the Cape of Good Hope and West Coast of Africa, ordered to Spithead. This vessel was commissioned at Portsmouth, April 13, 1877. The Daphne, 4, screw sloop, Commander [William] H.C. Selby, from the East Indies, ordered to Devonport. This vessel was re-commissioned at Zanzibar, January 1, 1879. The Daring, 4, composite screw sloop, Commander John G.J. Hanmer from the Pacific, ordered to Spithead; commissioned at Chatham, September 29, 1874. The Lynx, 4, double screw composite gun vessel, Commander Francis M. Ommanney, from the East Indies, ordered to Devonport, at which port she was commissioned on the 9th of June, 1875. The Nassau, 4, screw surveying vessel, Commander William M. Lang, from China, ordered to Devonport. This vessel was re-commissioned at Hongkong on the 1st of November, 1878. The Nymphe, 9, steam sloop, Capt. Samuel P. Townsend, from Australia, ordered to Spithead. This vessel was commissioned at Sheerness on the 5th of January, 1875. The Pert, 4, double screw composite gun vessel, Commander Henry C. Aitchison, from North America and West Indies, ordered to Devonport, where she was commissioned on the 1st of July, 1875. The Rover, 18, iron screw corvette, cased with wood, Capt. Thomas Barnardiston, from North America and the West Indies, ordered to Devonport. This vessel was commissioned at Chatham on the 14th of December, 1875. The Sapphire, 14, screw corvette, Capt. E.H. Murray, from Australia, ordered to Devonport, at which port this vessel was commissioned on the 9th of August, 1875. The Sappho, 4, composite screw sloop, Commander Noel S.F. Digby, from the Australian station, ordered to Spithead. This vessel was commissioned at Chatham on the 26th of August, 1874. The Volage, 18, iron corvette, cased with wood, Capt. Richard Carter, from the south-east coast of America, ordered to Portsmouth, at which port she was commissioned on the 6th of July, 1874. | ||
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