Name HMS Brisk Cost £47,482 Commissioned 24 May 1853 Launched 2 June 1851 | Ordered 25 April 1847 Laid down January 1849 Construction started January 1849 Builder Woolwich Dockyard | |
 | ||
Completed 24 August 1853 at Devonport Dockyard | ||
HMS Brisk was a 14-gun wooden-hulled screw sloop of the Royal Navy, launched on 2 June 1851 from Woolwich Dockyard. She served in the Crimean War and as part of the West African anti-piracy patrol, as well as during the New Zealand land wars. She was sold in 1870.
Contents
Construction
Ordered from Woolwich Dockyard on 17 February 1847 to the same design as Rattler, she was re-ordered as an enlarged version on 25 April 1847. She was laid down in January 1849 and launched on 2 June 1851.
North America and West Indies
She was sent to the North America and West Indies Station on 24 May 1853 under Commander Frederick Beauchamp Paget Seymour. Her task was to stop slave boats.
Crimean War
When war was declared she was sent on 27 March 1854 to participate in the White Sea blockading Arkhangelsk under Sir Erasmus Ommanney's squadron. Returning to England in spring of 1854 she was then sent operations on the Russian Pacific coast. She was under Commander Alfred John Curtis from 20 October. On 1 June 1855 the squadron entered the harbour of Petropavlovsk, but found it abandoned. The batteries and magazines were then destroyed. On 7 June an eruption of Kozelsky was witnessed.
Pacific Station
She was then assigned to the Pacific Station from 1854 until paying off at Plymouth on 13 June 1857.
Cape of Good Hope
From recommissioning on 5 May 1859 to the 24 February 1862, she served with the Cape of Good Hope Station under Captain Algernon Frederick Rous de Horsey. Apart from anti-slavery patrols, she also searched for Dr. Livingstone on 15 September 1859 at the River Kongone. In November she picked up the survivors of the Barretto Junior which had run aground on Mayotto Reef from Mayotto
On 10 August 1860 she captured the Manuella in the Mozambique Channel with more than 800 slaves aboard.
West Africa
She was assigned in February 1862 to the West Africa Squadron under Captain John Proctor Luce until being paid off on 22 August 1863.
Australia and New Zealand
From October 1864 she was assigned to the Australia Station under Captain Charles Webley Hope. She was sent to relieve HMS Miranda. Sailing around the Cape of Good Hope, she arrived in Sydney on 15 January 1865. Once there she received orders to proceed immediately to New Zealand and join the squadron at Auckland. She arrived in Auckland on 5 February, with the Miranda departing the same day. The Brisk was to undertake escort duties during the New Zealand land wars.
Her first task was to take 300–400 troops of the 2nd Battalion, 14th Regiment, under Colonel W. C. Trevor from Manukau to Whanganui on 1 March 1865. Returning to Auckland she took Governor Grey to Kawau on 1 May. On 15 May she received news from the Dauntless of the demise of the clipper Fiery Star. She sailed for the Chatham Islands to search for the missing passengers and crew. None were found and she returned to Auckland.
On 6 August she took 300 soldiers of the 70th Regiment from Taranaki to Napier and from there she was involved in the fighting around Opotiki. In early 1866 she took soldiers of the 43rd Regiment to Taranaki. After this she left Auckland and sailed around the south sea islands, returning to Sydney on 26 September for a refit. From 10 January to 3 May 1867 she took Governor Grey on a tour around New Zealand's South Island.
In September 1868 she left the Australia Station.
Fate
She was decommissioned on 19 January 1869 and lent on 31 January 1870 to the International Mid-channel Telegraph Company for commercial service. Anchored some 60 miles of shore near Admiralty Patch, off Penzance Harbour in April 1870, the Brisk was part of an experimental telegraph service located at Porthcurno, Cornwall. Cable breakages and sea-sickness amongst the signallers ended the venture after two months in June 1870.