HMS tribuneTribune, 1853-1866
HMS tribuneTribune was a 2,034-tonne steam frigate of the Royal Navy.1 It was involved in both the Second Opium War and the Crimean War.2 In 1858, HMS tribuneTribune and HMS pyladesPylades were sent, as confirmed in this despatch, from China to Victoria in order to strengthen
the local naval presence, in light of the increasing population and US tensions over
the boundary dispute.3
As confirmed in this despatch, tribuneTribune arrived in Esquimalt Harbour on February 13th, 1859. This depatch reports that it
transported seven officers and one hundred and sixty non-commissioned officers and
privates of the Royal Marines.
Later that year, under the command of Captain Geoffrey Thomas Phipps Hornby, tribuneTribune was involved in the diplomatic clashes of the San Juan Island's “Pig War”, evidence
for which can be found in this despatch, from August 1st, 1859, and this despatch
from August 8th of the same year. tribuneTribune returned to the Pacific Station for a second commission from 1864-66, after which
it was dismantled.4
- 1. Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Placenames (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 602.
- 2. Ibid.
- 3. Ibid.
- 4. Ibid.