HMS clioClio, 1858-1919
Davis lists clioClio as a corvette class, screw-driven ship of 21 guns, with a length of 61 m and a displacement
of 2,223 tonnes.1 It was built in Sheerness Dockyard in 1857 and launched from the same on 28 August
1858.2
clioClio served twice on the British Columbia coast, the first from 1859-62 under the command
of Captain Thomas Miller and the second from 1864-68, under the command of Captian
Nicholas Turnour.3 In the latter commission the clioClio became embroiled in a number of dramatic events, for example, in 1865, it destroyed
the Kwakwaka'wakw village of Ku-Kultz, near Fort Rupert, when three men suspected
of an earlier murder were not handed over.4
clioClio is mentioned in several correspondence, including this despatch from 1859, in which
Newcastle reports that Her Majesty's Government have ordered the Topaze
and Clio
to join the Squadron on the North West Coast of America.
Another document, from 1866, reports that Rear Admiral Denman sent the Clio to afford protection and support to the British Settlers of Metlakahtla
[Metlakatla], British Columbia.
The clioClio went on to serve at the Australian Station from 1870-74, then it returned to the
Wales coast to serve as a training vessel; in 1919, it was broken up for scrap at
Bangor.6
- 1. Peter Davis, Clio, William Loney RN—Ships.
- 2. Ibid.
- 3. Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 124.
- 4. Ibid.
- 5. Peter Davis, Clio, William Loney RN—Ships.