HMS Acheron (1838)

Acheron in New Zealand
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Acheron
Ordered	15 September 1837
Builder	Sheerness dockyard
Cost	£25,509
Laid down	October 1837
Launched	23 August 1838
Commissioned	8 January 1839
Fate	Survey ship, 1847 Sold at Sydney, 23 April 1855
General characteristics
Type	Paddle sloop
Displacement	1,006 tons
Tons burthen	715 43/94 bm
Length	150 ft 0 in (45.7 m) gundeck 128 ft 0 in (39.0 m) keel for tonnage
Beam	32 ft 9 in (10.0 m) maximum 32 ft 5 in (9.9 m) for tonnage
Draught	11 ft 6 in (3.5 m) (forward) 12 ft 0 in (3.7 m) (aft)
Depth of hold	17 ft 0 in (5.2 m)
Installed power	160 nominal horsepower
Propulsion	2-cylinder side lever steam engine Paddles
Sail plan	3-masted barque
Complement	135
Armament	As built: 2 × 9-pounder (13 1⁄2 cwt) brass guns From 1842: 1 × 8-inch (52 cwt) pivot gun 2 × 32-pounder (17 cwt) carronades

HMS Acheron was the last Hermes-class wooden paddle sloop ordered for the Royal Navy. She was launched at Sheerness in 1838. She spent two commissions in the Mediterranean before being reclassed as a survey ship in 1847.^[1] Between 1848 and 1851 she made a coastal survey of New Zealand, the first such survey since Captain Cook. She was paid off at Sydney and was tender to HMS Calliope.^[2] She was sold at Sydney in 1855.

Acheron was the second named vessel since it was used for an 8-gun Bomb, purchased in October 1803 then captured by the French in the Mediterranean and burnt on 3 February 1805.^[3]