Qualla: HMS Pelorus (1808) https://qualla.com/hms-pelorus-1808 en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:37 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/w/9/6/n/hms-pelorus-1808-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: HMS Pelorus (1808) https://qualla.com/hms-pelorus-1808 HMS Pelorus (1808): Introduction https://qualla.com/hms-pelorus-1808/ Photo credit Nicholas Matthews Condy 1816–1851, Public domain. Few warships have lived as many lives as HMS Pelorus. Launched in 1808 from the yards at Itchenor, England, this 18-gun sloop spent 36 years roaming the world's oceans under the British ensign before sinking, ironically, as a merchant vessel hauling opium off the coast of Borneo on Christmas Day 1844. In between, she fought French privateers in the Caribbean, chased smugglers off Ireland, freed over 1,350 enslaved people from Spanish slavers off West Africa, charted the sounds of New Zealand, survived a hurricane that buried her nine feet in Australian mud, and participated in the First Opium War. The river and sound that bear her name in New Zealand's South Island are her most enduring legacy -- though the story behind the name is far more harrowing than any map suggests.

Read more: HMS Pelorus (1808) on Qualla

Image: Nicholas Matthews Condy 1816–1851 | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/9/6/n/hms-pelorus-1808-wp/w96n-hms-pelorus-1808-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full HMS Pelorus (1808): Caribbean Fire and Irish Tobacco https://qualla.com/hms-pelorus-1808/ Photo credit Nicholas Matthews Condy 1816–1851, Public domain. Commissioned in July 1808, Pelorus sailed for the Leeward Islands that December and was present at the capture of Martinique in February 1809. Under Commander Thomas Huskisson, she enforced the blockade of Guadeloupe, and in October her crew cut out the French privateer schooner ...

Read more: HMS Pelorus (1808) on Qualla

Image: Nicholas Matthews Condy 1816–1851 | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/9/6/n/hms-pelorus-1808-wp/w96n-hms-pelorus-1808-caribbean-fire-and-irish-tobacco.mp3 0:06 2 full HMS Pelorus (1808): The Human Cargo https://qualla.com/hms-pelorus-1808/ Photo credit Nicholas Matthews Condy 1816–1851, Public domain. In 1831, Pelorus joined the West Africa Squadron to suppress the transatlantic slave trade. The work was dangerous and morally complex. On 9 May 1832, she brought the Spanish slaver Segunda Theresa into Sierra Leone with 459 enslaved people aboard. In December 1834, she captured ...

Read more: HMS Pelorus (1808) on Qualla

Image: Nicholas Matthews Condy 1816–1851 | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/9/6/n/hms-pelorus-1808-wp/w96n-hms-pelorus-1808-the-human-cargo.mp3 0:06 3 full HMS Pelorus (1808): Naming a Sound https://qualla.com/hms-pelorus-1808/ Photo credit Nicholas Matthews Condy 1816–1851, Public domain. In 1837, Pelorus sailed for the Far East and Antipodes. She carried specie to Mauritius, visited the Cocos Islands at the request of John Clunies-Ross -- the self-styled King of the Cocos -- who feared a revolt among the inhabitants, and delivered an ultimatum to the King of Burm...

Read more: HMS Pelorus (1808) on Qualla

Image: Nicholas Matthews Condy 1816–1851 | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/9/6/n/hms-pelorus-1808-wp/w96n-hms-pelorus-1808-naming-a-sound.mp3 0:06 4 full HMS Pelorus (1808): Buried in Mud, Lost to Opium https://qualla.com/hms-pelorus-1808/ Photo credit Nicholas Matthews Condy 1816–1851, Public domain. On 25 November 1839, a hurricane struck Pelorus while she lay at anchor off Port Essington in Australia's Northern Territory. Twelve crew members died. The ship was driven aground and, in Commander Augustus Kuper's words, 'buried 9 ft in the mud for 86 days.' A whaleboat under Ca...

Read more: HMS Pelorus (1808) on Qualla

Image: Nicholas Matthews Condy 1816–1851 | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/9/6/n/hms-pelorus-1808-wp/w96n-hms-pelorus-1808-buried-in-mud-lost-to-opium.mp3 0:06 5 full