HMS Pelorus (1808)

HMS Pelorus, as a ship-sloop, ca. 1830
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Pelorus
Builder	Itchenor, England
Launched	25 June 1808
Honours and awards	Naval General Service Medal with clasps: "Martinique"[1] "Guadaloupe"[2]
Fate	Wrecked, 25 November 1839; refloated Sold, 1842 Wrecked, 25 December 1844
General characteristics [3]
Class and type	Cruizer-class brig-sloop
Tons burthen	38460⁄94(bm)
Length	100 ft (30.5 m) (overall) 77 ft 3+3⁄4 in (23.6 m) (keel)
Beam	30 ft 6 in (9.3 m)
Depth of hold	12 ft 9 in (3.9 m)
Complement	121
Armament	16 × 32-pounder carronades 2 × 6-pounder guns

HMS Pelorus was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the British Royal Navy. She was built in Itchenor, England and launched on 25 June 1808. She saw action in the Napoleonic Wars and in the War of 1812. On anti-slavery patrol off West Africa, she captured four slavers and freed some 1350 slaves. She charted parts of Australia and New Zealand and participated in the First Opium War (1839–1842) before becoming a merchantman and wrecking in 1844 while transporting opium to China.