HMS North Star (1824)

HMS North Star (1824)
Career (UK)
Name:	HMS North Star
Ordered:	30 April 1818
Builder:	Woolwich Dockyard
Laid down:	April 1820
Launched:	7 February 1824
Completed:	26 May 1826
Fate:	Broken up at Chatham Dockyard in 1848
General characteristics
Class & type:	28-gun Atholl class corvette sixth-rate post ship
Tons burthen:	501 bm
Length:	113 ft 8 in (34.65 m) (gundeck) 94 ft 8.75 in (28.8735 m) (keel)
Beam:	31 ft 6 in (9.60 m)
Sail plan:	Full-rigged ship
Complement:	175
Armament:	28 guns: Upper Deck: 20 × 32-pdr carronades Quarterdeck: 6 x 18-pdr carronades Forecasle: 2 × 9-pdr guns

For other ships of the same name, see HMS North Star.

HMS North Star was a 28-gun Atholl class corvette sixth-rate post ship built to an 1817 design by the Surveyors of the Navy. She was launched in 1824.

Suppressing the Atlantic slave trade

From 1826 to 1828 under Captain Arabin, North Star was stationed in the West Africa Squadron, whose task was to suppress the Atlantic slave trade by patrolling the coast of West Africa. In late 1828 she sailed to England, via the West Indies. From 1829 to 1832 she was stationed in Portsmouth; then from 1832-1833 she became part of the America and West Indies Station before being paid off. In 1834 she was commissioned for service on the Pacific Station then known as the South American Station. She was in the Pacific off the coast of South and Central America until 1836, when she returned to Portsmouth.

First Anglo-Chinese War

In September 1841 Captain Sir J. E. Home was appointed to the North Star. She was then commissioned for service in the East Indies and China Station and in November of that year she conveyed money for the commissariat in China. During the period 1841-42 she served with Sir William Parker's ships in the First Anglo-Chinese War (1839–42), known popularly as the First Opium War.

Service in the First Māori War in New Zealand

H M S North Star destroying Pomare's Pā, 1845. Painting by John Williams.

At the end of the First Anglo-Chinese War the North Star was sent to Calcutta, then Sydney, Australia, and when at Sydney, the Flagstaff War began in New Zealand. On 23 March 1845 the North Star arrived in New Zealand with the officers and men of the 58th Regt. North Star operated in the Bay of Islands in New Zealand during the Flagstaff War between 11 March 1845 and 11 January 1846. On 28 March 1845 cannon fire from North Star was directed at Pomare's Pā on the coast in the Bay of Islands. A pā is a fortified village. Because of the almost constant inter-tribal warfare the art of defensive fortifications had reached a very high level among the Māori. The colonial forces were able to occupy Pomare's Pā without a fight, although up until that time Pomare had been considered neutral and was not a supporter of the rebellion lead by Hone Heke.

On 3 May 1845 a small naval brigade from both the North Star and HMS Hazard supported the 58th Regt. and other colonial forces at the Battle of Ohaeawai. The colonial forces were repulsed by Māori warriors with serious losses. From December 1845 to 11 January 1846 officers, seamen and Marines from the North Star and other ships of the Royal Navy assist the army at the Battle of Ruapekapeka. Following the end of the Flagstaff War North Star returned to England. On 19 December 1846 she arrived in Portsmouth sailing via the Cape of Good Hope. In 1848 she was broken up at the Chatham Dockyard.

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475. 
• Winfield, Rif; Lyon, David (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC 52620555.