Her first commission was on the Pacific Station and in 1860 she protected Panama City and the French citizens living within the city. While in the Pacific she was dismasted in bad weather. She returned to England and placed in reserve. Under the command of Commodore Frederick Stirling, she became the flagship of the Australia Station on 3 September 1870. In 1871, she was holed after striking an uncharted rock in Bligh Sound and was beached to prevent sinking. HMS Virago provided assistance and made temporary repairs enabling the ships the sail to Wellington, where she was repaired, prior to sailing to Sydney to be dry docked.[3]
She transferred the pennant of flagship to HMS Pearl and sailed for Portsmouth on 16 October 1873.[3][5] In 1877 she became a school ship, stationed on the Menai Strait at Bangor, and had 260 pupils. She was sold for scrap and broken up in 1919.
^Cracroft, Sophia; Franklin, Jane; Queen Emma (1958). Korn, Alfons L. (ed.). The Victorian Visitors: An Account of the Hawaiian Kingdom, 1861–1866, Including the Journal Letters of Sophia Cracroft: Extracts from the Journals of Lady Franklin, and Diaries and Letters of Queen Emma of Hawaii. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. pp. 176–278. hdl:10125/39981. ISBN978-0-87022-421-8. OCLC8989368.
References
Bastock, John (1988), Ships on the Australia Station, Child & Associates Publishing Pty Ltd; Frenchs Forest, Australia. ISBN0-86777-348-0
Winfield, R.; Lyon, D. (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC52620555.