HMS Pelorus was a 2,330 ton displacement, 21 gun corvette

Corvette

A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...

 launched on 5 February 1857 from the Devonport dockyard

HMNB Devonport

Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport , is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy . HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England...

. It was captained at first by Frederick Beauchamp Paget Seymour

Frederick Seymour, 1st Baron Alcester

Admiral Frederick Beauchamp Paget Seymour, 1st Baron Alcester, GCB was a British naval commander. He was Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet between 1874 and 1877 and of the Mediterranean Fleet between 1880 and 1883....

, then by Henry Boys, and later William Henry Haswell.

She participated as part of a squadron after the Indian Rebellion of 1857

Indian Rebellion of 1857

The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...

. Then she was sent to the China Station

China Station

The China Station was a historical formation of the British Royal Navy. It was formally the units and establishments responsible to the Commander-in-Chief, China....

 during the Second Opium War

Second Opium War

The Second Opium War, the Second Anglo-Chinese War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a war pitting the British Empire and the Second French Empire against the Qing Dynasty of China, lasting from 1856 to 1860...

 until May 1859 when she sailed for Australian Station.

In June 1860, as flagship of the Australian Squadron under Captain Frederick Seymour, she participated in the attack on Puketakauere pā

Pa (Maori)

The word pā can refer to any Māori village or settlement, but in traditional use it referred to hillforts fortified with palisades and defensive terraces and also to fortified villages. They first came into being about 1450. They are located mainly in the North Island north of lake Taupo...

 during the First Taranaki War. Later that year, the crew landed at Kairau to support British troops under attack from Maori and in January 1861 a gun crew from the ship helped defend the British redoubt at Huirangi

Huirangi

Huirangi is a settlement in Taranaki, New Zealand. Waitara lies about 7 kilometres to the north. The Waitara River flows to the east of the settlement, with the Bertrand Road suspension bridge providing access to the other side.-Education:...

 against the Maori. She left the Australia Station in July 1862 for Plymouth.

The future admiral, Cyprian Bridge

Cyprian Bridge

Admiral Sir Cyprian Arthur George Bridge GCB was a British Royal Navy officer towards the end of the era of Pax Britannica. He was Commander-in-chief of both the Australian Squadron and the China Squadron.-Early life:...

 served on Pelorus in the East Indies

East Indies

East Indies is a term used by Europeans from the 16th century onwards to identify what is now known as Indian subcontinent or South Asia, Southeastern Asia, and the islands of Oceania, including the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines...

 as a midshipman

Midshipman

A midshipman is an officer cadet, or a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Kenya...

.

She was decommissioned in 1868 and was broken up for scrap in 1869.