1860

1860	30-Mar	HMS Niger, wooden steam sloop, shelled Maori positions 25 miles south of Waireka, New Zealand. The Maoris had been driven from a strong fort on 29 March by the Naval Brigade.
1860	30-Apr	HMVS Victoria transported 120 troops of the 90th Regiment to New Plymouth, New Zealand.
1860	27-Jun	The Naval Brigade of HMS Pelorus flagship of the Australia Station, participated in an unsuccessful attack on the Maori Pah at Puketakauere New Zealand.
1860	14-Aug	Lt J. W. Smith, RN, HM colonial ship Spitfire, explored the Burdekin River, Qld.
1860	9-Sep	HM colonial ship Spitfire transported the expedi-tion of Lt J. W. Smith, RN, and G. E. Dalrymple to explore northern Queensland. Spitfire Rock was named to honour the schooner.
1860	15-Sep	HM colonial schooner Spitfire, Lt J. W. Smith, RN, was attacked by natives off Cape Cleveland, Qld. The attack was repulsed without casualties in the schooner.
1860	22-Oct	Cdre Loring, commanding the Australia Station, reported from New Zealand where he was commanding a naval squadron against the Maoris: ‘The disturbances in New Zealand are likely to detain HM ships in these waters for an indefinite time.’
1860	29-Dec	The Naval Brigade of HMS Pelorus, flagship of the Australian Station, landed at Kairau, New Zealand, to support British troops under attack from Maoris.
1861	23-Jan	A gun crew from HMS Pelorus, flagship of the Australia Station, joined the defenders of the British redoubt at Huirangi, NZ, in repulsing savage attacks by Maoris.
1861	23-Feb	A naval brigade of 74 officers and ratings from HMS Fawn, screw corvette, was despatched from Sydney with a military contingent to put down lawlessness amongst miners at Lambing Flats, NSW.
1861	16-Apr	The Admiralty reconstituted the rank of Master’s Mate as Sub Lieutenant.
1861	16-Apr	The Captain’s insignia was changed to four stripes.
1861	4-Sep	HMVS Victoria, Capt W. H. Norman, RN, rescued the crew of the bark Firefly from a reef in the Sir Charles Hardy Islands off Queensland. The two vessels were searching for the ill-fated Burke and Wills trans-Australia expedition.
1861	30-Dec	Explorer Frederick Walker discovered the Norman River, Qld, and named it in honour of C W. H. Norman, RN, of HMVS Victoria.
1863	7-Feb	HMS Orpheus, screw corvette, flagship of the Australia Station, was wrecked at the entrance to Manakau Harbour, New Zealand. Of the ship’s crew of 256, 187, including a number of Australian midshipmen, were lost. Orpheus was less than two years old.
1863	15-Feb	The Admiralty offered the NSW Government the 3rd Rate Ship of the Line, HMS Brunswick, as a training ship for the New South Wales Naval Brigade. The offer was conditional on the Government paying the cost of iron cladding the vessel. The offer was declined.
1863	29-Apr	An inquiry held in HMS Victory at Portsmouth absolved the captain of HMS Orpheus, flagship of the Australia Station, from blame for the loss of his ship. Orpheus was lost on the sand bar of Manukau Harbour, New Zealand.
1863	19-May	The NSW Naval Brigade was formed. The strength of the Brigade at its first parade was 20 officers and men.
1863	24-Jul	HMS Hecate, Cdr J. I. E. Gowlland, RN, sailed from Sydney to survey Brisbane Bay and to select a site for a settlement at Rockingham Bay, Qld.
1863	31-Oct	HM ships Pioneer and Avon, armoured paddle- wheel gunboats, supported General Cameron’s attack on the Maori pahs at Meremere, New Zealand. Pioneer was built in Sydney.
1863	20-Nov	HMS Pioneer, a stern wheel iron gunboat built by Russell at Sydney, operated with Cdre Sir William Wiseman’s Flotilla in the attack on the Maori pahs at Rangariri, New Zealand. The Flotilla consisted of HM ships Curacoa, Ant, Avon, Chub, Flirt and Midge. In the engagement Midshipman Watkins, RN, was killed and Lt Alexander, RN, was wounded. Both officers were from HMS Curacoa.
1863	8-Dec	The iron gunboats Koheroa and Rangariri, stern-wheel paddle steamers built by Russell and Co. of Balmain, Sydney, were shipped in sections to Paterangi, New Zealand, to support General Cameron’s army.
1864	2-Mar	Standard uniforms for officers of the RNR were approved by the Admiralty.
1864	18-Apr	HMVS Victoria transported 100,000 salmon and 3000 trout ova from Melbourne to Hobart to establish Tasmania’s fish hatcheries.
1864	28-Apr	Naval brigades from HM ships Curacoa and Miranda of the Australia Station attacked the Grand Pah in New Zealand. The naval campaign in the Maori Wars was directed by the Commo-dore Commanding Australia Station.
1864	29-Jul	Cdr J. Carnegie, RN, arrived at Somerset in Queensland in the paddlewheel sloop HMS Salamander to supervise the establishment of a new settlement.
1864	5-Aug	The British Government allotted the White Ensign to the RN, the Blue Ensign to the RNR, and the Red Ensign to the merchant navy.
1864	5-Aug	Squadronal colours were abolished in the RN. Admirals of the Red, White and Blue were by rear, vice and full admiral’s rank.
1864	21-Aug	The town of Somerset, Cape York Peninsula, was proclaimed. It was named in honour of the First Lord of the Admiralty, the Duke of Somerset.
1864	8-Oct	The merchant vessel Sea King sailed from London. The ship was converted and armed at sea and commissioned as the Confederate raider Shenandoah under Capt Waddell.
1865	18-Jan	The Confederate States raider Shenandoah, Capt J. Waddell, CSN, arrived off Melbourne. The raider requested assistance to carry out mechanical repairs. The Victorian Government approved the request and set in train events that stirred an international uproar.
1865	11-Feb	A troop of Royal Artillery and 50 Victorian policemen surrounded and trained their guns on the Confederate raider, Shenandoah, which was undergoing repairs on the slips at Williamstown. An ultimatum was made to the ship to surrender all Australian volunteers aboard.
1865	18-Feb	The Confederate raider Shenandoah sailed from Port Philip. The raider later attacked the American whaling fleet in the North Atlantic.
1865	20-Feb	Lt Cornelius E. Hunt of the Confederate States raider Shenandoah recorded in his journal two days out of Port Philip: ‘Our ship’s company has received a mysterious addition of 45 men’. The men were Australian volunteers smuggled on board at Williamstown.
1865	19-May	A Sydney inventor submitted a design for a circular floating battery to the NSW Govern-ment. The vessel had a radius of 45.7 m and mounted 24 45-kg breech-loading cannon. The design was not adopted.
1865	23-Nov	USS Wachzssett, wooden steam frigate, Capt Robert Townsend, USN, entered the Indian Ocean under orders to find and destroy the Confederate States raider Shenandoah. The Wachusett was so slow the raider had left the Indian Ocean before she arrived.
1866	5-Jun	The Government Gazette proclaimed: "The whole of Garden Island is now therefore permanently dedicated as a Depot for the use of Her Majesty’s ships’. The area of the island was shown as 11 acres, 1 rood, 6 perches. In 1900 it was 18 acres, 2 roods, 6 perches. The area in 1980 was 2.5 hectares.
1866	14-Jul	HMVS Victoria and the Government steamer Pharos rescued 452 passengers and crew from the clipper ship Netherby, wrecked on King Island.
1866	7-Nov	The Confederate States raider Shenandoah was seized at Liverpool. England.
1867	22-Mar	HMS Galatea, wooden steam frigate, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, arrived in Port Phillio.
1867	24-Apr	The naval expression ‘Fanny Adams’ originated from a brutal murder committed on this date in England. The victim was Fanny Adams.
1867	22-Jul	HMVS Nelson, battleship, was commissioned
1867	15-Aug	HMS Salamander paddlewheel sloop, embarked Royal Marines from Somerset, Cape York. The Marines had been landed to prevent attacks by the natives on the settlement but were found unsuitable for the task.
1867	1-Sep	HMVS Cerberus, turret ship, was laid down at Palmer’s Yard, Plymouth.
1867	20-Oct	HMS Nelson, wooden line of battleship, was presented to the VN.
1868	4-Jan	The foundation stone of the Williamstown graving dock was laid by HRH Prince Alfred Duke of Edinburgh.
1868	4-Jan	HMS Warrior, the RN’s first iron clad warsli alTived in Port Phillip. The vessel was the fo runner of the modern battleship and battle- cruiser. HMS Warrior, 418 feet long and displacing 9210 tons, was launched in 1860. Built entirely of iron and armoured in all vit areas the ship mounted 26 smooth bore 68 pounders, 10 breech loading 110 pounders a breech loading 20 pounders. Ship rigged, her funnels could be lowered in battle. Her 527(engine was linked to a single screw which gave her a speed under steam of 14 knots.
1868	4-Feb	HMVS Nelson, Acting Cdr C. B. Payne, RN, arrived in Hobsons Bay, Vic. The wooden battle-ship was first commissioned in 1815 as a three-decker mounting 120 guns. She was converted to a two-decker, 72 guns, and fitted with auxiliary machinery at Portsmouth.
1868	12-Mar	HRH Prince Albert, Duke of Edinburgh, HMS Galatea, was shot and wounded by an Irish assassin at Clontarf, Sydney. The wound was not serious.
1869	3-Feb	HMS Pelorus, a former flagship of the Australia Station, was broken up at Plymouth.
1869	12-Feb	HMS Phoebe, wooden steam corvette, reported her safe steam pressure was 138 kilopascals. Her boilers were rated at 155 kilopascals.
1869	27-Mar	HRH Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, commanding HMS Galatea, laid the foundation stone for a memorial statue of Capt Cook in Sydney’s Hyde Park.
1869	24-Jun	The Admiralty issued a regulation that banned moustaches and approved beards in the RN.
1869	4-Aug	HMS Phoebe, Capt John Bythesea, RN, joined Admiral Hornby’s Flying Squadron on a round- the-world flag-showing cruise. A midshipman in HMS Phoebe was William Creswell, later to become ‘the Father of the RAN’.
1869	13-Aug	Fort Denison in Port Jackson was garrisoned by the NSW Naval Brigade.
1869	29-Dec	A midshipman’s pay in the RN was £5 14s 3d per quarter, from which he was required to pay the following: mess £4 l0s, mess extras £1 l0s, wine £2 5s, servant £1 l0s, paper fund 7s 6d — a total of £10 2s 6d. The deficiency was made up by a compulsory payment of £12 10s per quarter by the midshipman’s parents.