Zélée was a Surprise class gunboat

Gunboat

A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...

 of the French Navy

French Navy

The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...

. Designed for use overseas, she was used largely in the French colonies in Indochina

French Indochina

French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....

 and the Pacific

French Polynesia

French Polynesia is an overseas country of the French Republic . It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...

. Assigned to patrol the waters off Tahiti

Tahiti

Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...

 at the start of World War I, she was sunk before scuttling could be completed during the Bombardment of Papeete

Bombardment of Papeete

The Bombardment of Papeete occurred in French Polynesia when German warships attacked on 22 September 1914, during World War I. The German armoured cruisers and entered the port of Papeete on the island of Tahiti and sank the French gunboat and freighter Walkure before bombarding the town's...

 on 22 September 1914.

Service

Present at Papeete during a devastating hurricane in February 1906, Zelee's commander was asked to assist with rescue efforts on the quarantine

Quarantine

Quarantine is compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease. The word comes from the Italian quarantena, meaning forty-day period....

island of Motauta, but refused due to the high risk involved. Instead he lent the islands station master an open boat and left him with the task of finding men to man it.

At the outbreak of World War I, the Zelee was stationed at Papeete and took part in the first French naval action of the war. The German freighter Walkure had been loading a cargo of pearls at an island 50 miles from Tahiti. The Zelee approached her, raised the French flag, and demanded her surrender. The German commander had not yet learned of the state of war between Germany and France and at first thought the entire situation was a joke and invited the Zelee's commandeer aboard for dinner, instead the German freighter was taken as a prize and brought back to Tahiti.