HMS Alert was a 17-gun wooden screw sloop

Sloop-of-war

In the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. As the rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, this meant that the term sloop-of-war actually encompassed all the unrated combat vessels including the...

 of the Cruizer class

Cruizer class sloop

The Cruizer class was a class of 17-gun wooden screw sloops built for the Royal Navy between 1852 and 1856, comprising six vessels.-Design:...

 of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

, launched in 1856 and broken up in 1894. She was the eleventh ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name (or a variant of it), and was noted for her Arctic exploration work; in 1876 she reached a record latitude of 82°N.

Construction

The wooden sloops of the Cruizer class were designed under the direction of Lord John Hay, and after his "Committee of Reference" was disbanded, their construction was supervised by the new Surveyor of the Navy

Surveyor of the Navy

The Surveyor to the Navy was a civilian officer in the Royal Navy. He was a member of the Navy Board from the inauguration of that body in 1546, and held overall responsibility for the design of British warships, although until 1745 the actual design work for warships built at each Royal Dockyard...

, Sir Baldwin Walker. Ordered together with her sister-ship Falcon

HMS Falcon (1854)

HMS Falcon was a 17-gun Royal Navy Cruizer-class sloop launched in 1854. She served in the Baltic during the Crimean War and then in North America, West Africa and Australia...

 on 2 April 1853, she was laid down at the Royal Dockyard, Pembroke

Pembroke Dock

Pembroke Dock is a town in Pembrokeshire, south-west Wales, lying north of Pembroke on the River Cleddau. Originally a small fishing village known as Paterchurch, the town was greatly expanded from 1814 onwards following the construction of a Royal Naval Dockyard...

 in January 1855. She was fitted at Chatham with a two-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engine, which was supplied by Ravenhill & Salkeld at a cost of £6,052 and generated an indicated horsepower of 383 hp; driving a single screw, this gave a maximum speed of 8.8 knots (17.2 km/h). The class was given a Barque

Barque

A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...

-rig sail plan.

Armament

All the ships of the class were provided with one 32-pounder (56cwt) long gun on a pivot mount and sixteen 32-pounder (32cwt) carriage guns in a broadside arrangement. When converted for Arctic exploration in 1874, her armament was reduced to a token outfit of four Armstrong breech-loaders.

Pacific Station (1857–1868)

Alert spent the first 11 years of her life on the Pacific Station

Pacific Station

The Pacific Station, often referred to as the Pacific Squadron, was one of the geographical divisions into which the Royal Navy divided its worldwide responsibilities...

, based at Esquimalt at the southern tip of Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...

, Canada. Alert Bay, British Columbia

Alert Bay, British Columbia

Alert Bay is a village on Cormorant Island, British Columbia, Canada. According to the 2006 census, 556 people live within the village.-Population:Slightly more than half of the village's 556 residents are First Nations people...

 is named after the ship, and nearby Pearse Island

Pearse Island

Pearse Island is an island in western British Columbia, Canada, in the Portland Inlet, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean. The island was first charted in 1793 by George Vancouver during his 1791-95 expedition...

, at the north entrance to Johnstone Strait, is named after Commander William Alfred Rumbulow Pearse, her commanding officer. During this period she returned to Plymouth

Plymouth

Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...

 between October 1861 and May 1863 for a refit. This was the work for which her class had been designed—the policing of Britain's far-flung maritime empire. A photograph exists of Alert in Esquimalt from 1867, and it is further attested to by the following extract from The Colonist newspaper:
Alert paid off at Plymouth on 30 May 1868 and was placed in the Steam Reserve.

Arctic exploration (1874–1876)

In 1874 Alert was taken in hand for conversion to the role of arctic exploration. Her single-expansion engine was replaced with an R & W Hawthorn compound-expansion engine, she was reboilered to 60 pound per square inches (413,685.4 Pa), her armament was reduced to four guns and her hull was strengthened with felt-covered iron. Above the waterline she was sheathed with teak, and below it, Canadian elm and pitch-pine. The modifications caused her displacement to increase to 1,240 tons.

The British Arctic Expedition

British Arctic Expedition

The British Arctic Expedition of 1875-1876, led by Sir George Strong Nares, was sent by the British Admiralty to attempt to reach the North Pole via Smith Sound. Two ships, HMS Alert and HMS Discovery , sailed from Portsmouth on 29 May 1875...

 was commanded by Captain George Strong Nares, and comprised Alert (Captain Nares) and Discovery

HMS Discovery (1874)

HMS Discovery was a wooden screw storeship, formerly the whaling ship Bloodhound. She was purchased in 1874 for the British Arctic Expedition of 1875–1876 and was sold in 1902.-Design and Construction:...

 (Captain Henry Frederick Stephenson

Henry Frederick Stephenson

Admiral Sir Henry Frederick Stephenson GCVO, KCB was a Royal Navy officer, courtier, and Arctic explorer.-Early life and career:...

). The expedition aimed to reach the North Pole via Smith Sound, the sea passage between Greenland

Greenland

Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...

 and Canada's northernmost island, Ellesmere Island

Ellesmere Island

Ellesmere Island is part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. Lying within the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, it is considered part of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, with Cape Columbia being the most northerly point of land in Canada...

. Contemporary geographers proposed that there could be a Open Polar Sea

Open Polar Sea

The Open Polar Sea was a hypothesized ice-free ocean surrounding the North Pole. This unproven theory was once so widely believed that many exploring expeditions used it as justification for attempts to reach the North Pole by sea, or to find a navigable sea route between Europe and the Pacific...

, and that if the thick layer of ice surrounding it were overcome, access to the North Pole by sea might be possible. Ever since Edward Augustus Inglefield

Edward Augustus Inglefield

Sir Edward Augustus Inglefield was a Royal Naval officer who led one of the searches for the missing Arctic explorer John Franklin during the 1850s. In doing so, his expedition charted previously unexplored areas along the northern Canadian coastline, including Baffin Bay, Smith Sound and...

 had penetrated Smith Sound in 1852, it had been a likely route to the North.

Despite finding heavier-than-expected ice, the expedition pressed on. Leaving Discovery to winter at Lady Franklin Bay

Lady Franklin Bay

Lady Franklin Bay is an Arctic waterway in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. The bay is located in Nares Strait and is an inlet into the northeastern shore of Ellesmere Island....

, Alert pressed on a further 50 nautical miles (92.6 km) through the Robeson Channel

Robeson Channel

Robeson Channel is a body of water lying between Greenland and Canada's northernmost island, Ellesmere Island. It is the most northerly part of Nares Strait, linking Hall Basin to the south with the Arctic Ocean to the north....

, establishing her winter quarters at Floeberg Beach. Spring 1876 saw considerable activity by sledge, charting the coasts of Ellsmere Island and Greenland, but scurvy

Scurvy

Scurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus, which also provides the adjective scorbutic...

 had begun to take hold, with Alert suffering the greatest burden. On 3 April the second-in-command of Alert, Albert Hastings Markham

Albert Hastings Markham

Admiral Sir Albert Hastings Markham, KCB was a British explorer, author, and officer in the Royal Navy. In 1903 he was made Knight Commander in the Order of the Bath...

, took a party north to attempt the Pole. By 11 May, having made slow progress, they reached their greatest latitude at 83° 20' 26"N. Suffering from snow blindness, scurvy and exhaustion, they turned back.

The expedition was rewarded on its return; Nares was knighted, Markham was promoted to captain. The geography of northern Canada and Greenland is littered with the names of those connected with the expedition: Nares Strait

Nares Strait

Nares Strait is a waterway between Ellesmere Island and Greenland that is the northern part of Baffin Bay where it meets the Lincoln Sea. From south to north, the strait includes Smith Sound, Kane Basin, Kennedy Channel, Hall Basin and Robeson Channel...

, Nares Lake

Nares Lake

Nares Lake is a lake in the southern Yukon between Bennett Lake and Tagish Lake. This lake lies below Nares Mountain. Nares Lake is actually an arm of Tagish Lake. The community of Carcross, Yukon is on the Nares Narrows between Bennett and Tagish Lake, along the Klondike Highway.Named after...

, Markham Ice Shelf

Markham Ice Shelf

The Markham Ice Shelf was one of five major ice shelves in Canada, all located on the northern coast of Ellesmere Island, Nunavut. The ice shelf broke off from the coast in early August 2008, becoming adrift in the Arctic Ocean. At the time, the 4,500 year old ice shelf was in size, nearly the...

, Ayles Ice Shelf

Ayles Ice Shelf

The Ayles Ice Shelf was one of six major ice shelves in Canada, all located on the northern coast of Ellesmere Island, Nunavut. The ice shelf broke off from the coast on August 13, 2005, forming a giant ice island thick and measuring around by in size . The oldest ice in the ice shelf is...

, Mount Ayles

Mount Ayles

Mount Ayles is a mountain located on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada. It forms part of the border of the Quttinirpaaq National Park. Like the nearby Ayles Ice Shelf, the mountain was named by the Geological Survey of Canada in 1965 for Petty Officer Adam Ayles of HMS Alert, who was serving in the...

. The northernmost permanently inhabited place on earth, the settlement of Alert

Alert, Nunavut

Alert, in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada, is the northernmost permanently inhabited place in the world, from the North Pole. It takes its name from HMS Alert, which wintered east of the present station, off what is now Cape Sheridan, in 1875–1876.Alert was reported to have five permanent...

 at the northern point of Ellesmere Island, was named for the ship.

Survey (1876–1884)

Alert recommissioned at Chatham on 20 August 1878 under the command of Captain Sir George Strong Nares for a survey of the Strait of Magellan

Strait of Magellan

The Strait of Magellan comprises a navigable sea route immediately south of mainland South America and north of Tierra del Fuego...

. On 12 March 1879 Captain John Fiot Lee Pearse Maclear took command, and under him she went to Australia Station

Australia Station

The Australia Station was the British—and later Australian—naval command responsible for the waters around the Australian continent.-History:In the early years following the establishment of the colony of New South Wales, ships based in Australian waters came under the control of the East Indies...

 and the Pacific. She was employed in surveying, but the presence of Dr Richard Coppinger, her surgeon, ensured that she also made a huge contribution to the field of zoology. Coppinger, who had also served in the Arctic expedition, was an accomplished naturalist and his collections from the period 1878–1882 added 1300 species to the National Collection. Alert paid off at Sheerness on 20 September 1882.

Loan to the US Navy (1884)

Adolphus Greely

Adolphus Greely

Adolphus Washington Greely , was an American Polar explorer, a United States Army officer and a recipient of the Medal of Honor.-Early military career:...

 led the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition

Lady Franklin Bay Expedition

The 1881-1884 Lady Franklin Bay Expedition into the Canadian Arctic was led by Lt. Adolphus Greely and was promoted by the United States Army Signal Corps. Its purpose was threefold: to establish a meteorological-observation station as part of the First International Polar Year, to collect...

 to the Arctic in 1881. Two supply ships failed to reach his party, and a relief expedition in 1883 also failed to extract the team. The US Navy put together a further relief expedition in 1884 under Captain W S Schley, and Alert was offered. She was loaned to the US Navy under the command of Captain George W Coffin on 20 February 1884, and was used to set up supply dumps to support USS Bear in the extrication of Greely and his men.

Two members of Greely's expedition, Lieutenant James B. Lockwood and Sergeant David Legge Brainard

David Legge Brainard

Brigadier-General David Legge Brainard was an American arctic explorer and soldier.-Early life:Brainard was born in Norway, New York, the fifth son to Alanson Brainard and Maria C...

 had achieved a new record of 83° 30'N, just four miles (6 km) closer to the Pole than Markham had achieved in 1876. Lockwood and 19 other members of the expedition died; Greely, Brainard and four others survived.

Loan to the Canadian Government

In September 1880, the United Kingdom transferred its rights of Arctic sovereignty to Canada. From 1884 to 1886 the Canadian Marine Service of the Department of Marine and Fisheries sent an expedition to Hudson Bay

Hudson Bay

Hudson Bay , sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,...

 to establish observation posts and to estimate the length of season for ice-free navigation. A former lieutenant of the Royal Navy, Andrew Robertson Gordon, was placed in command, and a suitable ship was sought. Having finished her work with the US Navy, Alert seemed the ideal vessel for the task. She was sailed to Halifax Dockyard and transferred by the senior naval officer to the marine agent of the Department of Marine and Fisheries.
In 1886 he carried Captain Markham, who had been second-in-command of Alert during the 1876 Arctic Exploration, and now represented the interests of a railway company interested in building a line from Winnipeg

Winnipeg

Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...

 to Hudson Bay

Hudson Bay

Hudson Bay , sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,...

. Captain Markham left the ship at York Factory, Manitoba

York Factory, Manitoba

York Factory was a settlement and factory located on the southwestern shore of Hudson Bay in northeastern Manitoba, Canada, at the mouth of the Hayes River, approximately south-southeast of Churchill. The settlement was headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company's Northern Department, from 1821 to...

 and returned by the Hayes River

Hayes River

The Hayes River is a river in Northern Region, Manitoba, Canada that flows from Molson Lake to Hudson Bay at York Factory. It was an historically important river in the development of Canada, and is today a Canadian Heritage River and the longest naturally flowing river in Manitoba.-Course:The...

 canoe route.

After the last Hudson Bay expedition in 1886, Alert was reconfigured as a light-house supply vessel and buoy tender. Her topmasts and yards were removed, and a wheelhouse was built abaft the remains of the main mast. She worked at first in Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

, but as her wooden hull showed signs of deterioration, she was moved to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence

Gulf of Saint Lawrence

The Gulf of Saint Lawrence , the world's largest estuary, is the outlet of North America's Great Lakes via the Saint Lawrence River into the Atlantic Ocean...

, sailing out of Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

. Thirty years after her launch little was left of her original appearance; in essence she was now a small, old, low-powered steamer showing the scars of hard labour and many an ungainly conversion. Nevertheless, she continued to give useful service until the last decade of the nineteenth century.

Disposal

Alert was laid up in November 1894 and sold, the bill of exchange being forwarded to the Admiralty, since she was still officially on loan, the total sum being 814 pounds, 2 shillings and 7 pence.

Legacy

CFS Alert

CFS Alert

Canadian Forces Station Alert, also CFS Alert, is a Canadian Forces signals intelligence intercept facility located in Alert, Nunavut on the northeastern tip of Ellesmere Island, at ....

, a Canadian military listening post and the world's northernmost continuously inhabited settlement, is named after the ship.

Commanding officers

From	To	Captain
12 November 1857	8 October 1861	Commander William Alfred Rumbulow Pearse
8 October 1861	15 May 1863	Out of Commission (Plymouth)
15 May 1863	21 September 1865	Commander Henry Cholmeley Majendie
21 September 1865	20 April 1867	Commander Arthur John Innes
20 April 1867	30 May 1868	Commander Hugh Horatio Knocker
30 May 1868	1874	Out of Commission (Plymouth)
1874	15 April 1875	Converted for arctic exploration at Portsmouth
15 April 1875	5 December 1876	Captain George Strong Nares
5 December 1876	20 August 1878	Out of Commission
20 August 1878	11 March 1879	Captain George Strong Nares
12 March 1879	20 September 1882	Captain John Fiot Lee Pearse Maclear
Loaned to the United States Navy
20 February 1884	1885	Captain George W Coffin USN
Loaned to the Canadian Government
May 1885	1886	Lieutenant Andrew Robertson Gordon
1886	November 1894	Unknown