HMS Sparrow was a Redbreast-class

Redbreast class gunboat

The Redbreast class comprised nine first-class screw-driven composite gunboats built for the Royal Navy in 1889, mounting 6 guns.-Design:...

 gunboat launched in 1889, the sixth 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...

 ship to bear the name. She became the New Zealand training ship NZS Amokura in 1906 and was sold in 1922.

Design

The Redbreast class were designed by Sir William Henry White

William Henry White

Sir William Henry White was a prolific British warship designer and Chief Constructor at the Admiralty....

, the Royal Navy Director of Naval Construction

Director of Naval Construction

The Director of Naval Construction was a senior British civil servant post in the Admiralty, that part of the British Civil Service that oversaw the Royal Navy. The post existed from 1860 to 1966....

 in 1888.

Construction

Sparrow was launched on 26 September 1889 at Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company

Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company

Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Limited, often referred to simply as Scotts, was a Scottish shipbuilding company based in Greenock on the River Clyde.- History :...

, Greenock

Greenock

Greenock is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in United Kingdom, and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland...

. Her triple-expansion reciprocating steam engine was built by the Greenock Foundry, and developed 1,200 indicated horsepower, sufficient to propel her at 13 kn (25.5 km/h) through her single screw. Her hull was of composite construction, that is, iron keel, frames, stem and stern posts with wooden planking. She was rigged as a barquentine

Barquentine

A barquentine is a sailing vessel with three or more masts; with a square rigged foremast and fore-and-aft rigged main, mizzen and any other masts.-Modern barquentine sailing rig:...

.

Royal Navy Career

Sparrow was sent to 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...

, where she served in the Persian Gulf and then in South and East Africa, participating in the suppression of the slave trade in the Congo area. In 1891 she took part in land engagements against local inhabitants in support of the Anglo-French Boundary Commission. A landing party from Sparrow captured and destroyed the strongholds of Tambi and Toniatuba in 1892, in reprisal for attacks on tribes under British protection. On 27 August 1896 she played a part in the Anglo–Zanzibar War, whose duration of 40 minutes makes it the shortest war in history. Her first commission ended when she paid off at Sheerness

Sheerness

Sheerness is a town located beside the mouth of the River Medway on the northwest corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 12,000 it is the largest town on the island....

 on 18 January 1900.

She recommissioned for service on the 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 in May 1900 was based at Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, where regular visits to New Zealand formed part of her duties. Between 11 and 27 June 1901 she escorted the royal yacht

Royal Yacht

A royal yacht is a ship used by a monarch or a royal family. If the monarch is an emperor the proper term is imperial yacht. Most of them are financed by the government of the country of which the monarch is head...

 Ophir

SS Ophir

The SS Ophir was a British steel twin-screw ocean liner owned by the Orient Steamship Co. of London, which was employed on the company's London/Aden/Colombo/Australia service from the 1890s until 1915 when she was requisitioned by the Admiralty and saw three years' service as an armed merchant...

 around the New Zealand coast when the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York (later King George V

George V of the United Kingdom

George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....

 and Queen Mary

Mary of Teck

Mary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....

) visited the colony. She was laid up at Garden Island Naval Dockyard in 1904, and on 28 February 1905 she was taken over by the New Zealand Government.

Transfer to the New Zealand Marine Department

Sparrow arrived at Wellington, New Zealand on 21 March 1905. She remained at anchor for a year while Parliament approved her use as a training ship. She was bought from the Royal Navy for £800 on 10 July 1906 and transferred to the New Zealand Marine Department. Having been stripped of her weapons, she was commissioned at Wellington as a government-funded training ship, NZS Amokura, in October 1906.

Her first intake of sixty cadets arrived on 19 March 1907, aged between 12 and 14. About a third of her time was spent on training voyages, travelling as far south as the sub-Antarctic and as far north as the Kermadec Islands

Kermadec Islands

The Kermadec Islands are a subtropical island arc in the South Pacific Ocean northeast of New Zealand's North Island, and a similar distance southwest of Tonga...

. She remained at Port Nicholson, Wellington for the remainder of the year.
By 1919 she was in a poor state of repair, and the prohibitive cost of returning her to a seaworthy condition brought an end to her seagoing life. The last cadet was discharged on 16 December 1921, and she was formally paid off in late December. She was sold to Mr E A Jory in February 1922 and dismantled at Wellington before being sold to the Westport Coal Company for use as a coal hulk. In 1940 she was sold again to the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand for further use as a coal hulk at Port Nicholson, and in March 1953 was sold for the last time and towed to St Omer Bay in the Kenepuru Sound

Kenepuru Sound

Kenepuru Sound is one of the larger of the Marlborough Sounds in the South Island of New Zealand. The drowned valley is an arm of Pelorus Sound, it runs for 25 kilometres from the northeast to southwest, joining Pelorus Sound a quarter of the way down the latter's path to the Cook Strait.Queen...

, where she was used as a store hulk and jetty. Although reported broken up in 1955, her remains lie on the beach in the southern end of the bay (41°11.12′S 173°58.33′E).

External links

• Patience, Kevin The Witu Expeditions – 1890 and 1893