Colonial Despatches

alertAlert was a Royal Navy sloop propelled by both screw and sail.1 It is unclear as to who commanded alertAlert during its time in in the Pacific. This private correspondence mentions a commander Priser, but Davis refers to a Commander William Alfred Rumbulow Pearse.2

alertAlert was converted into a survey ship for the British arctic exploration of 1875-76, and it was later used by both the United States and Canada in its capacity as an arctic vessel.3

It was 49 m long, 10 m wide and built at Pembroke Dock.

• 1. Peter Davis, HMS Alert, William Loney RN—Ships.
• 2. Ibid.
• 3. Ibid.
• 4. J. J. Colledge, Ships of the Royal Navy (Devon: David & Charles: Newton Abbot, 1969), 1:34.