HMS Conflict (1873)

HMS Conflict was a schooner of the Royal Navy, built by John Cuthbert, Millers Point, New South Wales and launched on 11 February 1873.[2]

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Conflict.

History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Conflict
Builder: John Cuthbert, Millers Point, New South Wales
Launched: 11 February 1883
In service: August 1873[1]
Fate:
  • Sold in 1882
  • Wrecked later that year
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

Royal Navy service

She commenced service on the Australia Station at Sydney in August 1873 for anti-blackbirding operations in the South Pacific.[2] She was part of a punitive mission in 1879 in the New Hebrides.

In 1880, she sighted the Conflict Group, which bears her name.

She was paid off in 1882[2] and sold to Captain Thomas Brown.[3]

Catalpa incident

On 1 April 1876, Conflict visited the port of Fremantle, remaining there until 10 April.[4] Her presence unwittingly threw into confusion an elaborate conspiracy to free six Irish Fenian prisoners on 6 April and transport them to America aboard the whaler Catalpa.[5]:121 The escape was postponed and successfully executed after the gunboat's departure.

Mercantile service

Conflict left Suva for Levuka on 9 October and was wrecked on a reef midway between the two.[6] There were no casualties and the ship was left stranded upright on the reef, signalling that she needed no assistance. By 12 October Captain Brown had returned to Levuka and reported that Conflict was a total loss.[3][Note 1]

Notes
  1. She had been insured for £1000 with the Union Company.[3]

References
  1. Winfield (2004) p.301
  2. Bastock, p.59.
  3. "Shipping Intelligence". Auckland Star, Volume XVI, Issue 3816. 1 November 1882. p. 2. Retrieved 29 July 2011.
  4. "Shipping Intelligence". The Western Australian Times (171). Western Australia. 4 April 1876. p. 2. Retrieved 2 August 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. Pease, Zephaniah Walter (1897). "The Catalpa expedition". New Bedford, MA: George S. Anthony. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  6. "Intercolonial Telegrams, The Argus (Melbourne, Victoria), Tuesday 24 October 1882, p.8". Retrieved 17 October 2010.


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