HMS Hyacinth was one of the Highflyer class

Highflyer class cruiser

The Highflyer class cruisers were a three-ship class of second-class protected cruisers of the Royal Navy, laid down in 1897 and completed at an average cost of £300,000....

 cruiser

Cruiser

A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...

s 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...

. She was built by the London and Glasgow Shipbuilding Company in Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, being laid down in January 1897, launched on 27 October 1898 and commissioned in September 1900.

Pre 1914

HMS Hyacinth relieved her sister HMS Highflyer

HMS Highflyer (1898)

HMS Highflyer was the lead ship of the Highflyer class cruiser which served with the Royal Navy. She was built at the yards of Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Govan, being laid down in June 1897, launched on 4 June 1898 and commissioned on 7 December 1899.-Pre-1914:Like her sisters...

 1903 as flagship of the East Indies Station

East Indies Station

The East Indies Station was a formation of the British Royal Navy from 1865 to 1941.From 1831 to 1865 the East Indies and the China Station were a single command known as the East Indies and China Station...

 at Bombay.
In 1904 Hyacinth was commanded by Captain the Hon. Horace Hood

Horace Hood

Rear Admiral the Honourable Sir Horace Lambert Alexander Hood KCB, DSO, MVO was a British Royal Navy admiral of the First World War, whose lengthy and distinguished service saw him engaged in operations around the world, frequently participating in land campaigns as part of a shore brigade...

 as the flagship

Flagship

A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...

 of Rear-Admiral George Atkinson-Willes

George Atkinson-Willes

Admiral Sir George Lambart Atkinson-Willes KCB was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Station.-Naval career:...

. Hyacinth was part of a squadron of three ships which took part in the Fourth Expedition of the Somaliland Campaign

Somaliland Campaign

The Somaliland Campaign was a series of military engagements fought early in the 20th century in the Horn of Africa by British and Italian colonial forces against the Dervish State of the Somali religious and nationalist leader Mohammed Abdullah Hassan...

. On 20 April HMS Hyacinth and HMS Fox

HMS Fox (1893)

HMS Fox was a second class protected cruiser of the Astraea-class of the Royal Navy. The class represented an improvement on previous types, 1,000 tons displacement larger with better seaworthiness due to improved hull design...

 arrived off the Gulluli River after dark, and on the following day a small landing party went ashore, commanded by Captain Hood. One hundred and twenty-five men of the Royal Hampshire Regiment

Royal Hampshire Regiment

The Royal Hampshire Regiment was a British Army line infantry regiment from 1881 to 1992. Its lineage is continued today by the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment.-Formation and antecedents:...

 accompanied the over 300 sailors. The brigade captured Fort Illig, now in Eyl

Eyl

Eyl is an ancient town in the northern Puntland region of Somalia. It is situated near the Hafun peninsula.-History:Eyl is the site of many historical artifacts from Somalia's pre-colonial period...

, and subsequently cleared the village and some caves at the bottom of the cliffs. The enemy left between 60 and 70 dead, and the British re-embarked with a loss of three killed and eleven wounded. Fort Illig was then reduced, and the British ships withdrew.
Beside Hyacinth and Fox the Pelorus class cruiser

Pelorus class cruiser

The Pelorus class cruiser was a "third-class" protected cruiser class of eleven Royal Navy warships designed by Sir William White , based on the earlier Pearl class cruisers. They were ordered in 1893 under the Spencer Program, and laid down 1896–1900...

 HMS Perseus

HMS Perseus (1897)

HMS Perseus was a Pelorus class cruiser of the Royal Navy. There were eleven "Third class" protected cruisers in the class, which was designed by Sir William White...

, the sloop HMS Merlin and the old Archer-class torpedo cruiser

Torpedo gunboat

In late 19th-century naval terminology, torpedo gunboats or, in north European usage, torpedo cruisers, were a form of gunboat armed with torpedoes and designed for hunting and destroying smaller torpedo boats...

s HMS Mohawk

HMS Mohawk (1886)

HMS Mohawk was an Archer-class torpedo cruiser of the Royal Navy, built by J. & G. Thompson at Glasgow and launched on 6 February 1886....

 and Porpoise

HMS Porpoise (1886)

HMS Porpoise was an Archer-class torpedo cruiser of the Royal Navy, built by J. & G. Thompson at Glasgow and launched on 7 May 1886....

 were working at the Somalian coast.

At various dates the Hyacinth, while commanded by Captain J.D Dick and flying the flag of Rear-Admiral E.J.W. Slade

Edmond Slade

Admiral Sir Edmond John Warre Slade KCVO, KCIE was a British rear-admiral and a director of the Naval Intelligence Division...

, was employed in the prevention of the gun-running traffic in the Persian Gulf

Persian Gulf

The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...

.

In 1913 she relieved her sister, HMS Hermes as flagship of the Cape of Good Hope Station

Cape of Good Hope Station

The Cape of Good Hope Station was one of the geographical divisions into which the British Royal Navy divided its worldwide responsibilities. It was formally the units and establishments responsible to the Commander-in-Chief, Cape of Good Hope....

, and in August 1914 was the flagship of Rear-Admiral Herbert King-Hall

Herbert King-Hall

Admiral Sir Herbert Goodenough King-Hall KCB CVO DSO was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Cape of Good Hope Station.-Naval career:...

. In the period immediately before the outbreak of the war, he took his squadron (HMS Hyacinth, HMS Astraea

HMS Astraea (1893)

HMS Astraea was an Astraea class second class cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was built towards the end of the nineteenth century, and survived to serve in the First World War.-Construction and commissioning:...

 and HMS Pegasus

HMS Pegasus (1897)

HMS Pegasus was one of 11 Pelorus-class protected cruisers ordered for the Royal Navy in 1893 under the Spencer Program and based on the earlier Pearl-class. The class were fitted with a variety of different boilers most of which were not entirely satisfactory and by 1914 four ships had been...

), to visit Zanzibar

Zanzibar

Zanzibar ,Persian: زنگبار, from suffix bār: "coast" and Zangi: "bruin" ; is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba...

, with orders to track any German cruisers he encountered. On 31 July he sighted the SMS Königsberg outside Dar-es-Salaam, but none of his ships were quick enough to catch her.

Wartime service

In September Hyacinth was used to escort the troopship

Troopship

A troopship is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime...

s carrying the regular soldiers of the Cape garrison home. In October she was called back to the Cape to provide support against the Boer

Boer

Boer is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for farmer, which came to denote the descendants of the Dutch-speaking settlers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 18th century, as well as those who left the Cape Colony during the 19th century to settle in the Orange Free State,...

 rebels. She was still at the Cape when news arrived of the battle of Coronel

Battle of Coronel

The First World War naval Battle of Coronel took place on 1 November 1914 off the coast of central Chile near the city of Coronel. German Kaiserliche Marine forces led by Vice-Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee met and defeated a Royal Navy squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher...

. The Cape squadron was reinforced by the cruisers HMS Minotaur

HMS Minotaur (1906)

HMS Minotaur was the lead ship of the Minotaur-class of armoured cruiser of the Royal Navy, launched in 1906.-Career:She served in the First World War with her sisters, taking part in convoy duties from Australia to the Mediterranean. She fought at Jutland as part of the Second Cruiser Squadron. ...

 and HMS Defence

HMS Defence (1907)

HMS Defence was a armoured cruiser built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1900s. She was the last armoured cruiser built for the Royal Navy. She was stationed in the Mediterranean when the First World War began and participated in the pursuit of the German battlecruiser and light cruiser...

, and Admiral King-Hall transferred his flag to the Minotaur. After the battle of the Falklands, the two more powerful cruisers were recalled, and the admiral swapped back to the Hyacinth, before transferring out again, this time to the Goliath

HMS Goliath (1898)

HMS Goliath was one of the six Canopus-class pre-dreadnought battleships built by the Royal Navy in the late 19th century. In the First World War Goliath took part in the blockade of the German light cruiser in the Rufiji River but unsuccessful to bombard the cruiser in the delta.On 13 May 1915...

.
At the start of January 1915 Hyacinth was supporting the invasion of German South West Africa. She was then sent around to East Africa, to join the force blockading the Königsberg in the Rufiji delta

Rufiji River

The Rufiji River lies entirely within the African nation of Tanzania. The river is formed by the convergence of the Kilombero and Luwegu rivers. It is approximately 600 km long, with its source in southwestern Tanzania and its mouth on the Indian Ocean at a point between Mafia Island called Mafia...

. On 7 March Admiral King-Hall arrived in the Goliath, but on 25 March she was ordered away, and once again he transferred his flag to the Hyacinth. In April it became clear that the Germans were about to try to get supplies to their troops in East Africa. The ship chosen was a captured British merchantman, the Rubens. Lacking any more suitable ships, Admiral King-Hall undertook the hunt himself, in the Hyacinth. On 14 April he sighted the Rubens, and gave chase, but the Hyacinth’s starboard engine then broke down. This gave the German crew of the Rubens time to beach her in Manza Bay

Manza Bay

Manza Bay is located on the coast of Tanzania, some north of the town of Tanga.- History :During World War I a German vessel called the Kronborg , on a mission to resupply the besieged SMS Königsberg, was sunk by the British ship HMS Hyacinth.During World War II the Royal Navy laid indicator loops...

. When the Hyacinth finally arrived, the Rubens was set alight, but most of her supplies were in her flooded cargo hold, and after the Hyacinth sailed away it was salvaged.

The Hyacinth stayed on the Cape and East Africa station until the end of the war. On 26 March 1916 she sank the German merchant ship Tabora. In January 1917, she was stationed off Tanganyika

Tanganyika

Tanganyika , later formally the Republic of Tanganyika, was a sovereign state in East Africa from 1961 to 1964. It was situated between the Indian Ocean and the African Great Lakes of Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika...

, where she was the base for members of the RNAS. On 6 January, Sqd. Ldr.

Squadron Leader

Squadron Leader is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is also sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in countries which have a non-English air force-specific rank structure. In these...

 Edwin Moon

Edwin Moon

Squadron Leader Edwin Rowland Moon DSO* was an English aviation pioneer who served in the Royal Naval Air Service and Royal Air Force during the First World War. He was a prisoner of war and he was twice awarded a DSO.-Family:...

 was on a reconnaissance flight with Cdr. Richard Bridgeman as observer, when they were forced to land with engine trouble and came down in a creek of the Rufiji River

Rufiji River

The Rufiji River lies entirely within the African nation of Tanzania. The river is formed by the convergence of the Kilombero and Luwegu rivers. It is approximately 600 km long, with its source in southwestern Tanzania and its mouth on the Indian Ocean at a point between Mafia Island called Mafia...

 delta. Moon and Bridgeman wandered for days in the river delta before eventually building a makeshift raft which was swept out to sea. Bridgeman died of exposure but Moon was blown back to shore where he was taken into captivity. Moon was awarded a bar

Medal bar

A medal bar or medal clasp is a thin metal bar attached to the ribbon of a military decoration, civil decoration, or other medal. It is most commonly used to indicate the campaign or operation the recipient received the award for, and multiple bars on the same medal are used to indicate that the...

 to his Distinguished Service Order

Distinguished Service Order

The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...

 for the display of "the greatest gallantry in attempting to save the life of his companion", together with the Royal Humane Society

Royal Humane Society

The Royal Humane Society is a British charity which promotes lifesaving intervention. It was founded in England in 1774 as the Society for the Recovery of Persons Apparently Drowned, for the purpose of rendering first aid in cases of near drowning....

's silver medal for his attempts to save Bridgeman's life and The Legion of Honour

Légion d'honneur

The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...

 – Croix de Chevalier. Bridgeman's body was recovered from the sea and is buried in Dar es Salaam

Dar es Salaam

Dar es Salaam , formerly Mzizima, is the largest city in Tanzania. It is also the country's richest city and a regionally important economic centre. Dar es Salaam is actually an administrative province within Tanzania, and consists of three local government areas or administrative districts: ...

 CWGC Cemetery.

Hyacinth was paid off in August 1919 and sold for scrapping on 11 October 1923 to Cohen, of Swansea

Swansea

Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...

.