Nine ships 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...

 have borne the name HMS Investigator. Another was planned, but renamed before being launched:
was a 22-gun armed ship purchased in 1798 and taken into service as HMS Xenophon. She was renamed HMS Investigator in 1801 and used as a survey ship. Under the command of explorer Matthew Flinders

Matthew Flinders

Captain Matthew Flinders RN was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, which had previously been...

, she was the first ship to circumnavigate Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. She was broken up in 1810. was a 16-gun survey brig

Brig

A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...

 launched in 1811. She was used as a police ship from 1837 and was broken up in 1857. was a survey sloop

Sloop

A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....

 purchased in 1823. Her fate is unknown. was a discovery vessel purchased in 1848 to search for Sir John Franklin

John Franklin

Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin KCH FRGS RN was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. Franklin also served as governor of Tasmania for several years. In his last expedition, he disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic...

's lost expedition

Franklin's lost expedition

Franklin's lost expedition was a doomed British voyage of Arctic exploration led by Captain Sir John Franklin that departed England in 1845. A Royal Navy officer and experienced explorer, Franklin had served on three previous Arctic expeditions, the latter two as commanding officer...

, and abandoned in the Arctic

Arctic

The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...

 in 1853. was a wooden paddle survey vessel launched in 1861 and sold in 1869. was a wooden paddle survey vessel launched in 1881 and sold in 1906.

• HMS Investigator was to have been a paddle survey vessel. She was renamed in 1887, before being launched in 1888. was a survey vessel purchased in 1903. She was renamed HMS Sealark in 1904 and was sold in mercantile service in 1919. was a survey vessel launched in 1907 and sold in 1934.
• HMIS Investigator was a survey vessel of the Royal Indian Marine purchased in 1934 and sold in 1951.

See also

was renamed Investigator in 1951 after being converted to a survey ship for the Indian Navy

Indian Navy

The Indian Navy is the naval branch of the armed forces of India. The President of India serves as the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff , usually a four-star officer in the rank of Admiral, commands the Navy...

.