Built as a wooden sloop-of-war by Bailey at Ipswich for the Royal Navy.
30 July 1805 ordered, October 1805 her keel was laid down.
04 February 1806 launched under the name HMS JULIA one of the Seagull class of which eight were built.
Tonnage 282 ton (bm), dim. 93 x 26.5 x 12ft
The class was brig rigged, and designed by Sir William Rule.
Armament 14 – 24pdr. carronades, 2 – 6pdr.
Crew 95.
1807 Under command of R. Yarker used for North Sea convoy duties. Later that year she got orders to sail to Jamaica.
1808 Under command of John E Watt by the Leeward Islands, to assist in the blockade of Guadeloupe, and on 30 August she reported the capture of a lugger-riged rowing boat from Martinique with 22 men and small arms, which was taken a howitzer and ammunition from Guadeloupe to the French troops in Maria Galanta, a small island off Guadeloupe.
1809 Under command of Charles Julius Kerr.
1811 Under command of Hon. V. Gardner on the Leeward Islands, later at the Deptford station.
1812 Based at Chatham, also in 1814.
1816 Under command of John Watling, and she got orders to join the St Helena squadron who was guarding Napoleon. Due to poor health Watling was soon relieved and returned to the U.K on board of an East Indiaman. Command was taken over by Jenkin Jones
May 1816 under command of Jenkin Jones.
1817 Jones received orders to sail together with the HMS GRIFFIN to remove the rest of Tristan garrison, and bring another unit of artillerymen, most of which are Hottentots from the Cape to Tristan da Cunha.
When she arrived off Tristan da Cunha the weather was very bad and for two to three days she cruised off the island.
On 01 October, after the seas had died down a lot, she came in and anchored in seven fathoms about two miles off shore in Falmouth Bay. Commander Jenkin Jones, and a boat’s crew, went ashore, leaving the First Lieutenant in charge of the JULIA.
At 08.30 that night the sea set in it was impossible for the commander to get his boat launched. At 02.00 A.M. next morning the JULIA took a sudden plunge and the anchor cable parted. There was not enough wind to enable them to ‘claw’ off from her perilous position. The best bower anchor, a heavier anchor kept in reserve for such occasions, had a cable bent to it and was then let go, but this cable also parted and orders were given to cut away the main mast; before this could be done, however, a large sea lifted the vessel and carried her in towards the shore where she grounded on the rocks, (which later became know as the Julia reef), no sooner had this happened, a second large sea lifted her again, as well as stoving in her decks and more or less breaking the vessel in two, and then deposited the wreck within 30 feet or so of the shore where on impact the mainmast went by the board, falling towards the shore. Those who got safely from the wreck did so by means of the fallen mast. During one of the batterings she received three of the foremost gun ports, on one side were stove in.
When daylight came she was seen as a wreck with her bow underneath her port quarter.
Only 28 men were saved under which the commander Jenkin Jones.
55 Men lost their life during this shipwreck, and 1 woman, Mrs. Dickenson the wife of Corporal Dickenson who lost also his life in this tragedy. 42 bodies were picked up and buried at the island
The survivors were taken on board of the HMS GRIFFIN and take to St Helena.
19 December 1817, the commander Captain Jenkin Jones, received his court-martial on board HMS QUEEN CHARLOTTE in Portsmouth, and was acquitted.
Tristan da Cunha 1985 10p sg 386, scott?. and 2001 20p sg?, scott?
Source: The sail & Steam Navy List by David Lyon and Rif Winfield. Ships of the Royal Navy by J J Colledge. Her loss copied from Log Book May 1985 page 197/98. http://www.cronab.demon.co.uk/JK.HTM