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HMS PYLADES - Junior
HMS PYLADES - Junior

HMS PYLADES - Junior

Date1899-1905
Object number00055459
NamePhotograph
MediumPhotographic print on paper mounted on cardboard.
DimensionsOverall (mounted): 222 × 260 × 2 mm
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum gift of Gregg Hubbard
DescriptionBlack and white photograph of a small dinghy modified to look like the British Satellite-class screw sloop HMS PYLADES with two sailors on board. HMS PYLADES was based in Sydney as part of the Royal Navy's Australia Station from May 1899 to the 29th of January 1905 when it started it journey back to the United Kingdom. It was the last British warship to enter Sydney Harbour under sail as all subsequent warships assigned to the Australia Station were primarily powered by engines HistoryHMS PYLADES was a Satellite-class composite screw sloop built at Sheerness Dockyard for the British Royal Navy. Later reclassified as a 'corvette', it was the last vessel of this type built for the Royal Navy prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. HMS PYLADES was launched on 5 November 1884, and spent the first ten years of its naval service on the North America and West Indies Stations. In November 1894, it commenced service on the Australia Station, but did not arrive at Sydney until May 1899. The following year PYLADES visited Norfolk Island and Suva, Fiji in convoy with HMS ROYAL ARTHUR (Flagship of the Australia Station) and HMS MILDURA, before continuing on to the Gilbert Islands on its own. The ship departed Australia for the United Kingdom on 29 January 1905, and was sold to Cohen of Felixstowe for breaking up in April of the following year. HMS PYLADES has often been recognised as the last British warship to enter Sydney Harbour under sail as all subsequent warships assigned to the Australia Station were primarily powered by engines.SignificanceThe British warships that served on the Australian Station were an essential element of Australia’s colonial defence, and consequently they were celebrated in a variety of ways. The dinghy modified to look like HMS Pylades at a Sydney Harbour regatta is just one example of these forms of celebration. Archival photographs that depict modification of a small watercraft to look like a British warship are exceptionally rare, which makes this particular image both historically valuable and significant.