HMS Curacoa (1878)

HMS Curacoa was an Comus-class corvette of the Royal Navy, built by John Elder & Co., Govan and launched on 18 April 1878.

The corvette commenced service on the Cape of Good Hope and West Africa Station before being transferred to the Australia Station arriving on 5 August 1890. She left the Australia Station in December 1894.

Recently discovered log books from descendants of Mr.(Cptn) J.P. Shipton, record the journey to Australia. Daily logs show Curacoa leaving port in the UK on 1 April 1889, with stops at Perth, Albany, Adelaide, Launceston, Melbourne, Sydney, Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch / Lyttleton, and the final entry shows 31 December 1890, in port at Lyttleton (near Christchurch), New Zealand.

Curacoa was sent to the Ellice Islands and between 9 and 16 October 1892 Captain Gibson visited each of the islands to make a formal declaration that the islands were to be a British Protectorate. In June 1893 Captain Gibson visited the southern Solomon islands and made the formal declaration of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate.

HMS Curacoa

Four ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Curacoa, after the island in the Caribbean Sea more usually spelled Curaçao:

HMS Curacoa (D41)

HMS Curacoa, named after the island Curaçao in the Caribbean Sea, was a Ceres group C-class light cruiser. In 1942, she became one of the Royal Navy's major accidental losses during the Second World War.

First World War

On commissioning, Curacoa became flagship of the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron, part of the Harwich Force, serving there for the rest of the First World War.

In April 1919, Curacoa joined the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron of the newly established Atlantic Fleet.

In May 1919, Curacoa was deployed to the Baltic as part of the British intervention in the Russian Civil War in support of the White Russians against the Bolsheviks, relieving HMS Caledon as the flagship of Rear Admiral Walter Cowan. On 17 May, the ship was en route from Helsinki to Liepāja, when she struck a mine 70 miles east of Reval (now Tallinn). One crewman was killed by the explosion, while Cowan, who was taking a bath at the time, was dumped out of the bath, running to the bridge dressed only in an overcoat until clothing could be brought up from his "day cabin". While damage was relatively minor, it did force the ship to be sent back to England for repair.

HMS Curacoa (1854)

HMS Curacoa was a 31-gun Tribune-class screw frigate launched on 13 April 1854 from Pembroke Dockyard.

She served in the Mediterranean Station between 1854 until 1857 and was in the Black Sea during the Crimean War. She was part of the Channel Squadron between 1857 until 1859. She then was sent to the North America and West Indies Station and served between 1859 until 1862. Afterwards she went to the Australia Station, where she remained until 1866. She was the flagship of the Australia Station from 20 April 1863 until May 1866, having had her armament reduced to 23 guns in 1863.

Curacoa Island is named after HMS Curacoa (1854)

During the invasion of Waikato, her company provided reinforcements for the Naval Brigade at Auckland, New Zealand on 2 October 1863. She was sent back to Britain in 1866 and was broken up in 1869.

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