The colonial despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871
Sulphur
The HMS Sulphur, a 381-tonne, 32 m bomb vessel, was launched in January of 1826 and disposed of in
1857.1 It was the last bomb vessel in the Navy List.2Sulphur was sent the vessel to survey the Pacific coast in 1835;3 it arrived in Nootka Sound in October, 1837.3
In 1839, under the command of Captain Edward Belcher, the Sulphurnarrowly [escaped] destruction on what would later be named Peacock Spit, as it surveyed the bar in the Columbia
River with its escort, the Starling.5 Captain Belcher would later admit he was given secret instructions to collect information on the dispute between the British and the United States over
the Oregon Territory .6
Beginning in 1841, the Sulphur participated in several naval engagements in China, before it returned to England,7 where it was used in harbour service until it was dismantled in 1857.8
1. Sulphur, 1826,Index of 19th Century Naval Vessels.
2. J. J. Colledge, Ships of the Royal Navy: An Historical Index (New York, NY: A. M. Kelley, 1969), vol 1, 532.
5. E. W. Wright, ed., Lewis & Dryden's Marine History of the Pacific Northwest (Portland: The Lewis & Dryden Printing Company, 1895), 14-15. http://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0222484