HMS Sandfly (1872)

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Sandfly.
Career
Name: HMS Sandfly
Builder: John Cuthbert, Millers Point, New South Wales
Launched: 5 December 1872
Fate: Sold in 1883 to Samoa.
General characteristics [1]
Type:Beagle-class schooner
Tons burthen:120 bm
Length:77 ft 0 in (23.5 m)
Beam:18 ft 6 in (5.6 m)
Depth of hold:8 ft 6 in (2.59 m)
Sail plan:Schooner
Complement:27
Armament:1 x 12-pounder gun

HMS Sandfly was a schooner of the Royal Navy, built by John Cuthbert, Millers Point, New South Wales and launched on 5 December 1872.[2] She commenced service on the Australia Station at Sydney in 1873 for anti-blackbirding operations in the South Pacific.[2] She also undertook hydrographic surveys in the Solomon Islands and in New Guinea. Lieutenant Bower and five crew were massacred by natives on the island of Mandoliana in October 1880, with a punitive mission undertaken afterwards.[3] She was paid off in 1883 and sold to Samoa.[2]

Notes

  1. ↑ Winfield (2004) p.301
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Bastock, p.60.
  3. ↑ "Another massacre in the South Sea Islands, The Sydney Morning Herald, Tuesday 30 November 1880, p.7.". Retrieved 17 October 2010.

References