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| Name | Wellesley (1815) | Explanation | |
| Type | Third rate | ||
| Launched | 24 February 1815 | ||
| Hull | Wooden | ||
| Propulsion | Sail | ||
| Builders measure | 1746 tons | ||
| Displacement | |||
| Guns | 74 | ||
| Fate | 1940 | ||
| Class | |||
| Ships book | |||
| Note | 1854 guard ship. 1868 = Cornwall, t.s. 1940.09.24 sunk in Thames by air attack | ||
| Snippets concerning this vessels career | |||
| Date | Event | ||
| 24 August 1825 - 12 February 1827 | Commanded by Captain Gordon Thomas Falcon, flagship of Sir George Eyre, South America | ||
| 19 June 1837 - 4 August 1842 | Commanded by Captain Thomas Maitland, flagship of Rear-Admiral Frederick Lewis Maitland, then Commodore Sir James John Gordon Bremer, then Rear-Admiral Sir William Parker, East Indies (including the first Anglo-Chinese war) | ||
| (January 1843) | Out of commission at Plymouth | ||
| 6 January 1848 - 23 June 1851 | Commanded by Captain George Goldsmith, flagship of Vice-Admiral Earl of Dundonald, North America and West Indies | ||
| 2 May 1854 - 2 June 1854 | Commanded by Captain Peter Richards, guard ship of Ordinary, Chatham | ||
| 14 June 1854 | Commanded by Captain Christopher Wyvill, guard ship of Ordinary, Chatham | ||
| 22 March 1856 - 18 April 1861 | Commanded by Captain George Goldsmith, guard ship of Ordinary, Chatham and Sperintendant of Chatham Yard | ||
| 17 April 1861 - 18 November 1863 | Commanded by Captain Edward Gennys Fanshawe, Chatham, Guard Ship of Ordinary, and Training Ship (and Captain-Superintendent of Chatham dockyard) | ||
| 3 January 1866 | Commanded by Captain William Houston Stewart, guard ship of ordinary, Chatham | ||
| 1868 | Renamed Cornwall | ||
| Extracts from the Times newspaper | |||
| Date | Extract | ||
| Fr 6 July 1849 | Her Majesty’s ship Imaum, with the broad pendant of Commodore Bennett, was at Port Royal, Jamaica. The Sappho, 12, Commander Mitchell, was on the Spanish Main. The Helena (brig), Commander de Courcy, was daily expected at Port Royal from Vera Cruz, which port she left on the 16th of May. The Hound, 8, was also expected from St. Domingo. The Viper (schooner), 6, was at Barbadoes, and the Wellesley (flag), Trincomalee, Vixen, and Bermuda at Halifax. | ||
| Th 26 July 1849 | PORT ROYAL, Jamaica, June 22. Her Majesty’s sloop Sappho arrived here on the 18th inst. from a cruise in the Spanish Main and the coast of Gojira. She has been on the latter coast to assist and give protection to the English merchant vessel Mary Elizabeth, which was stranded and perfectly wrecked there on the 4th of May, at 2 a.m. She was of 840 tons burden, and had a valuable cargo, estimated at 60,000l. sterling. After she struck she kept forging on the shore, and as daylight broke they found themselves not more than a quarter of a mile from the beach, where a tremendous surf was rolling. Shortly afterwards the beach became lined with Indians, who are the most warlike tribes of South America, and have never been subdued by any European Power. They live by feeding and grazing vast herds of cattle, and by plunder and rapine: they have no laws, nor fixed habitations, wander about in tribes subject to their chief, and they have the odious habit of selling their women for small sums of money. Their great passion is drinking, which they are dreadfully addicted to. The crew abandoned the Mary Elizabeth on the first day; these savages swam off to her and congregated in vast numbers on board, so that the captain and crew were in dread of their lives. Commander Michell, of the Sappho, armed and anchored that vessel on the 30th of May close to the wreck, and immediately sent boats, manned and armed, to examine into her state. She was lying on her broadside, bilged and broken-backed, close to the shore, with seven or eight feet water in her hold; a little of the cargo has been got out, but the rest was past recovery and already destroyed, The commander of the Sappho, with the greatest zeal, used all his power to save either the vessel or portions of the cargo, but finding both impossible he considered it no longer safe to expose his ship on an open and unprotected coast, so after taking the captain and crew away he sailed for Carthagena. The Sappho sails hence for the Gulf of Mexico on the 24th inst., no man of war being there at present.The Helena, 16, Commander de Courcy, sailed on the 21st for the Mosquito shore. She had been lying here only five days, having last arrived from Vera Cruz. The Hound, 10, Commander Wood, is at St. Domingo, where a civil war is going on. The Wellesley, 72, with the Admiral Earl Dundonnald, is at Halifax, with the Vixen steam sloop, Commander Jenner. The Trincomalee, 25, Captain Warren, has gone to Newfoundland. The Bermuda schooner, Lieutenant-Commander Jolly, is at Barbadoes. The squadron are generally healthy. | ||
| Th 23 August 1849 | The West India squadron generally was healthy. Her Majesty's brig Sappho was at Vera Cruz on the 16th of July. The Imaum and Helena were at Jamaica on the 23d. The screw-steamer Plumper arrived at Port Royal on the 12th of July, in 32 days from Plymouth. She was at Port au Prince. The Viper was laid up at Antigua tor the hurricane months. The schooner Scorpion was surveying in the Gulf of Para. The French steamer Amazon, 8 guns, was at Demerara, haring her engines repaired. The Commander-in-Chief in the Wellesley, with the Trincomalee, Vixen, and Bermuda, was at Halifax. | ||
| Fr 28 September 1849 | The Persian, 16, Commander Wodehouse [according to his Admiralty service record Archibald Gibson Bulman was Commander at this time], arrived at Halifax on the 13th uit., after a boisterous passage of 23 days from Plymouth. She encountered a gale off the Western Islands, and met with a large merchant ship water logged, which they boarded, but found her quite deserted. The Persian would sail for Jamaica in about 10 days. The Wellesley, 72, Vice-Admiral the Earl of Dundonald, was at Halifax. The Sappho, 12, Commander Michell, at Vera Crux. She has been very sickly, and has lost one of her lieutenants (Mr. Dashwood). The Trincomalee, 25, Captain Warren, would be at Halifax in about three weeks from Newfoundland. The Wellesley was the only man-of-war at Halifax at the date of our letter. | ||
| Th 29 November 1849 | PORT ROYAL, Oct 24. The West India Squadron In Harbour.—The Imaum, 72, Commodore Bennett; the Persian, 16; Commander Bulman; the Helena, 16, Commander de Courcy; and the Plumper, 10, Commander Nolloth.The Wellesley, 72, Captain Goldsmith, bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral the Earl of DundonaId, G.C.B., and the Vixen steam sloop, Commander Jenner, are at Halifax, expected at Bermuda the beginning of next month. The Sappho, 16, Commander Michell, is daily expected from the Havannah. The Viper schooner is at La Guayra. The Bermuda schooner, Lieutenant Commander Jolly, is at the Gulf of Florida. The Helena has had many severe cases of fever; the Sappho has also been sickly; the Plumper, too. has suffered similarly. The Helena is about to proceed to Turk's Island, to ascertain the proper site for a lighthouse there. The Persian was about to sail for Port-au-Prince and St. Domingo. The Admiral is expected here towards the end of December. The Plumper, just before leaving this part of the station, had taken Fort Truxillo, and obtained part of a debt owed by Honduras to the English Government. Truxillo town has 2,000 or 3,000 inhabitants. Commander Nolloth landed with nearly the whole of his ship’s company. The heat has been very great here lately. The inhabitants and the ships’ crew generally are suffering much with large and painful boils. The Plumper has sent several cases of fever to the Naval Hospital since her arrival at Port Royal. This is not to be wondered at, considering that when her steam is up the thermometer sometimes stands as high as 126° on the lower deck, an amount of heat greater than is shown when the instrument is exposed to the direct rays of the sun. | ||
| Tu 4 December 1849 | JAMAICA, Nov, 6. The Wellesley, 72, flag of Vice-Admiral the Earl of Dundonald G.C.B., is expected here in January.The Trincomalee, 20, Captain Warren, is expected here daily from the northward. The Sappho, 16, Commander Mitchell, arrived here two days since from the Gulf of Mexico, where she has been stationed for the last four months. She was employed a great portion of that time on the coast of Yucatan, in which there is a civil war raging, the natives having suffered from their masters (the Creole Spaniards) the greatest oppressions and cruelties. It is likely the natives will gain the upper hand, and if the white population is not assisted by other Powers with money and force, they will be exterminated. From a constant state of warfare the country is in a wretched condition. The Sappho has been very sickly. She has been visited by yellow fever, and has lost seven fine healthy men. Amongst the number dead is the Second Lieutenant, Mr. Dashwood. Many others have been sent to the hospital. The Sappho arrived here with no other commissioned officer than her Commander, and he has had his arm broken and wears it in a sling; for a long time she has been without officers, all having been sent to the hospital or died. She sailed from Cuba about three weeks since; the inhabitants there were on the qui vive about a hostile aggression on its shores, a report to that effect having arisen, the aggressors being the inhabitants of the United States. It is openly said this Power can possess itself of the island at any moment, and that there is a great feeling in favour of that Republic amongst the coloured population; that even many thousands are enrolled and secretly sworn to favour any landing of an expedition from America. Mr. Palmer, midshipman of the Sappho, having passed his examination before the Commander, the latter gave him an acting order as Lieutenant the next day, which I believe, as senior officer in the Gulf of Mexico, he was empowered to do. Mr. Palmer has been the only one assisting in the duty of the ship for some time. | ||
| Ma 24 December 1849 | S0UTHAMPT0N, Monday Morning, 4 o’clock a.m. The Royal mail steamer Dee, Captain W. Allan, arrived off this port at 2 o’clock, bringing the usual West India and Mexican mails in charge of Lieutenant South, R.N., Admiralty agent.... Her Majesty’s ship Wellesley, Admiral Dundonald, and Her Majesty’s steamer Plumper, were at Bermuda. Her Majesty's ships Trincomalee, Sappho, and Helena were at Barbadoes, preparing to sail for Gray Town, Mosquito Shore, to protect British interests relative to the Nicaragua dispute [regarding intensifying competition for control over a potential transisthmian canal route, primarily between the United States and Great Britain]. | ||
| Ma 4 March 1850 | SOUTHAMPTON, Sunday, March 3. The Royal Mail Steam-packet Company’s ship Severn, Captain W. Vincent, arrived off Southampton at 11 o’clock last night, bringing the usual British and foreign West India mails, in charge of Lieutenant Mills, R.N., Admiralty agent.... Her Majesty’s ship Wellesley, Admiral Earl Dundonald, with the Alarm and Plumper steamers, were at Trinidad on the 6th of February, the latter having arrived that day from Bermuda with despatches for the Admiral. The Vixen was at Jamaica on the 7th of February, waiting the arrival of the Admiral. The schooner Bermuda arrived from Havannah, on the 24th of January, at Jamaica. The Dutch brigantine Ternante, 6, arrived from Carthagena on the 30th of January, and sailed on the 6th of February for Curaçoa. Her Majesty’s ship Sappho, having repaired damages at Belize, left that port for Jamaica on the 1st of January, and had not arrived when the Severn left. Great anxiety was felt on her account. | ||
| Th 28 March 1850 | S0UTHAMPT0N, Wednesday, March 27. The Royal Mail Steam-packet Company’s ship Thames, Captain George Abbott, arrived here at 9 o’clock this morning, bringing the usual British and foreign West India and Mexican mails, in charge of Lieutenant John Hay, R.N., Admiralty agent.... Her Majesty’s brig Sappho, 16, Commander Michell, arrived at Jamaica on the 16th uit. from the coast of Honduras. She was preparing to be hove down to estimate the extent of injury received by striking on a reef near Belize. The schooner Brenda, [should be Bermuda], 2, Lieutenant Jolly, arrived from Grey Town on the 16th, and the Trincomalee, 26, Captain R.L. Warren, arrived on the 17th from the coast of Cuba. The Imaum, 72, with broad pendant of Commodore Bennett, and the Vixen, 6, Commander Jenner, were also in Port Royal harbour on the 22d ult. The Alarm was hourly expected. Her Majesty’s ship Wellesley, with the flag of Rear-Admiral Lord Dundonald, and the screw steamer Plumper, were at Trinidad on the 20th of February, about to leave for Chagres and the Spanish Main. | ||
| Sa 6 April 1850 | SOUTHAMPTON, Friday. The Royal Mail Steam-packet Company's ship Teviot, Captain R. Rivett, arrived here this morning, bringing the usual British and foreign West India mails, in charge of Lieutenant Dennehy, Admiralty agent.... Her Majesty's brig Persian, Commander Bullman, arrived at Port Royal, Jamaica, on the 4th ult., in 13 days from Havannah. The schooner Bermuda, Lieutenant Jolly, sailed on the 8th for Falmouth (Jamaica). The Teviot left the following ships of war at anchor in Port Royal harbour, viz.:— Imaum, 12; Trincomalee, 26; Helena, 18; Sappho, 16; Persian, 12; and steamer Vixen, 6, waiting the intended court-martial on the commander of the Sappho. The Wellesley, with the Admiral, was daily expected. | ||
| Ma 22 April 1850 | Her Majesty’s ship Wellesley, 72, Captain Goldsmith, with the flag of Vice-Admiral Earl Dundonald, arrived at Jamaica, from Margarita (Venezuela), on the 12th of March, and, with the Vixen, Commander Jenner sailed on the 22d for Bermuda. The brig Helena, commander de Courcey, arrived on the 10th, in eight days, from Boco del Toro; and the schooner Bermuda, Lieutenant Jolly, on the 17th from Falmouth, Jamaica. The following ships of war were in Port Royal harbour when the packet sailed:—The Imaum, 72, Commander Sandom, with broad pendant of Commodore Bennett; Trincomalee, 26, Captain R.L. Warren; Helena, 16, Commander De Courcey; Sappho, 12, Commander the Hon. Lieutenant Cochrane; Persian, 12, Commander A.G. Bullman; steamer Plumper, 6, Commander R.S. Nolloth; the Bermuda, 2, Lieutenant Jolly, Commander. The American frigate Raritan, 60, Captain Page, with flag of Commodore Parker, arrived on the 15th from Port-au-Prince, Hayti, and sailed a few days afterwards for Havannah, where she was left by the Avon on the 28th ult. The Wellesley, 72, and the Vixen, 6, were at Bermuda on the 7th inst. The Spanish ship of the line Soberano, 74, corvette Colon, and brig Isabel the Second, and the schooner Flirt, 8, were at Havannah on the 28th of March. The Luis Ferdinand, 24, sailed from Havannah on the 27th of March. Her Majesty’s sloop Alarm was at Barbadoes. | ||
| Tu 23 April 1850 | THE WEST INDIA SQUADRON. A court-martial was held at Port Royal, on the 16th ult., to try Commander Michell, of Her Majesty's sloop Sappho, and the other officers and ship's company of that vessel, for running the Sappho on shore on the Seal Cays, one of the innumerable reefs at the entrance of the Gulf of Honduras, on the night of the 25th of December last.The Court was composed of Commodore Bennett, president; Captain Goldsmith, of the Wellesley; Captain Warren, of the Trincomalee; Commander De Courcey, of the Helena, and Commander Bulman of the Persian. Commander Michell was sentenced to be dismissed his ship. the Court considering that negligence had been shown in the navigation of the sloop. The officer of the watch, Lieutenant Malcolm, was censured for not seeing the lead constantly hove by the man placed in the chains by Commander Michell's written night orders, and admonished to be more careful in future. Mr. Mugford, the second-master (acting as master), was considered to have shown negligence, and was consequently sentenced to be reduced to the rank of master’s-assistant, and to remain in that rank two years. Great praise was given to the commander for his unwearied exertions (notwithstanding his weak state from long sickness, broken arm, &c.,) in getting off the ship and recovering all the guns (which had been thrown overboard) and stores. Objections were made by Lieutenant Malcolm, Mr. Mugford, second-master; Mr. Charlea Palmer, acting-mate; and Mr. Alexander Burniston to some portions of the address of defence made by Commander Michell, but the Court declared them "frivolous and malicious." Commander Michell produced some of the highest testimonials an officer can receive, eminently characterising his conduct as an officer and a seaman during a period of 28 years' service. This officer was in the Burmese war, and produced affidavits from all the pilots on that coast testifying to the strength of the currents, and of their having been more powerful than usual about the time of the accident. They also testified to the fact that of 12 vessels which had been driven on those destructive shoals, Her Majesty's sloop Sappho was the only one which had been recovered. Owing to the thickness of the weather no observation that could be depended on could be obtained. A court of inquiry was previously held on board the Imaum on the First Lieutenant (Glynn) for disrespect to his Commander (Michell), which resulted in his censure, and being compelled to make Commander Michell a public apology on the quarter-deck of the Imaum. | ||
| Sa 20 July 1850 | Her Majesty's ship Trincomalee, Captain Warren, 19 days from Grey Town, reached Port Royal, Jamaica, on the 18th of June, and, with the Imaum, was left in that harbour on the 22d ult. The Alarm was at Barbadoes, the Scorpion surveying off Nassau, the schooner Bermuda on a cruise, and the Persian in the Gulf of Mexico. The Wellesley (flag), the sloops Helena and Sappho, and the steamer Plumper at Halifax. | ||
| We 26 February 1851 | Her Majesty’s ship Wellesley, Vice-Admiral Lord Dundonald (Commander-in-Chief), and Her Majesty’s brig Sappho, Commander Cochrane, were at Trinidad on the 31st of January, and would proceed in a few days to Jamaica, where the squadron was about to assemble for the purpose of holding a court-martial on Commander Dyke, of the Inflexible. Her Majesty’s ship Alarm and the steamer Alban were at Port Royal. The schooner Bermuda at Greytown. The Scorpion at Tortola. Her Majesty’s brig Helena arrived at St. Thomas’s on the 2d of February, and sailed the following day for Jamaica. | ||
| Ma 10 March 1851 | Her Majesty’s ship Wellesley, 72, Captain Goldsmith (bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Lord Dundonald), and the Sappho, 12, were at Trinidad on the 14th of February, about to proceed to Jamaica. The Imaum, 72, Persian, 12, and Plumper and Alban steamers were at Port Royal on the 14th ult. The Helena, 16, was at Porto Rico on the 18th, the Bermuda at Greytown on the 3d, and Scorpion at St. Thomas’s on the 19th ult. The Alarm was cruising off Cuba, but was expected daily at Port Royal. The Inflexible was spoken on the 15th of February by the Royal mail steamer Great Western, having left Port Royal on the 13th of February with the 2d West India Regiment on board for Demerara. The Inflexible was to call at Barbadoes. The screw steam-sloop Plumper was refitting at Jamaica to join the Brazil station. The squadron was particularly healthy, there being only 12 persons in hospital at Jamaica, all convalescing. | ||
| Ma 4 October 1852 | PORTSMOUTH, Sunday. It is reported here that Her Majesty has graciously signified her pleasure that the name of the leviathan line-of-battle ship Windsor Castle, 140, shall be chanced to that of "The Duke of Wellington," in token of Her Majesty's high esteem for the memory of that lamented hero. This resolve on the part of the Queen will be universally applauded, as we have nothing bearing the name of the deceased but two wretched old 74's (the Wellington and Wellesley). | ||
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