Shearwater, 1837
Type: Packet ;
Transferred : from Post Office 1837 ; Disposal date or year : 1857
BM: 343 tons
Propulsion: Paddle
Machinery notes: 160
Notes:

Transferred from Post Office, ex-Dolphin

18 Jul 1840 Second Master Mr. W. S. Hole, appointed to the Shearwater.

7 Aug 1840 arrived at Woolwich on Monday from Dublin, with the families of the shipwrights recently entered from Ireland. The crew have teen transferred to the Medina steam-vessel, Master Commander William Smithett, and they proceeded by railway en Wednesday to join at Liverpool where she is at present stationed.

11 Aug 1840, Woolwich, is ordered to be fitted for a West India packet. She has been taken into the dock to have her bottom examined, and any defects made good previous to her departure.

16 Aug 1840 Second-Master J. W. Lawson, from the Ocean, appointed to the Shearwater. Clerk-in-Charge W. G. Hopkins, appointed from the Howe to the Shearwater.

21 Aug 1840 Woolwich, Lieutenant John Steane (1815), appointed to command the Shearwater steam vessel ; Mr. James M. Deas, assistant-surgeon ; Messrs. Johnson, Collings, and Davie, engineers.

21 Aug 1840 Mr. William Stronack, 1st class engineer, formerly an engineer to the Shearwater, appointed to Pembroke Dockyard.

27 Aug 1840 departed from Woolwich for Portsmouth, where she is to be paid in advance previous to proceeding to the West Indies.

29 Aug 1840 Portsmouth is expected here on her way to the West Indies.

5 Sep 1840 Assistant Surgeon R. N. Clarke ; Master Lawson appointed to the Shearwater.

15 Sep 1840 having damaged her machinery, is ordered from Plymouth to Woolwich to have her defects made good.

18 Sep 1840 Woolwich, found unfit for service in the West Indies and returned for further improvement in her machinery.

28 Sept 1840 Woolwich, upon examination, has been found to be so much injured by the bursting of her condenser and may be paid off.

2 Oct 1840 Woolwich, The Shearwater steam-vessel will be laid up for the present. Her officers and crew are to be transferred to the Blazer, at present under repair at Messrs. Millar and Ravenhill's.

9 Oct 1840 Woolwich, The Shearwater steam-vessel was paid off at Woolwich on Monday when Lieutenant Steane and the rest of the officers were transferred to the Blazer steam-vessel, fitting for the West India station.

20 Mar 1841 Commander Washington, appointed to the Shearwater surveying steamer ;

17 Apr 1841 Clerk Mr. E. C. Davison, appointed to be Clerk in Charge of the Shearwater surveying steamer, fitting at Woolwich for the North Sea ;

16 Jun 1841 Chatham, has departed to the North Seas in search of the wreck of the Fairy, lost during the great hurricane at the end of last year.

8 Jul 1841 arrived at Woolwich, without finding any traces of the late survey ship Fairy. Tomorrow, with her tender, the Speedwell, will resume her survey of Harwich and the North Sea..

15 Sep 1841 Deal, the Fearless and Shearwater were involved in the preparations for the building of a lighthouse on the Goodwin Sands.

18 Sep 1841 Second Master H. Brehaut (of Shearwater), promoted to Master.

24 Dec 1841 Woolwich, arrived from the North Sea.

16 Jan 1842 due to depart Woolwich join the Formidable, Vindictive and Warspite, who are forming up at the Downs, with a view to departing for Ostend with the steamers Firebrand and Shearwater, to escort the King of Prussia to England.

22 Jan 1842 landed the Duke of Saxe Coburg and family at Woolwich, from Ostend.

29 Jan 1842 to be prepared with the Lightning and Firebrand, to take the King of Prussia and suite to Ostend on 4th Feb.

6 Feb 1842, returned to Woolwich, where it was announced that the crews of the Firebrand, Lightning, and Shearwater had been awarded �100 for each vessel by the King of Prussia, to be divided amongst the men : pilots and engineers �5 ; petty officers �2 ; and the rest �1 each.

26 Mar 1842 preparing for sea at Woolwich.

11 Apr 1842 paid at Woolwich.

25 Apr 1842 departed Woolwich for the North Sea to resume her Survey of the coasts in that region.

25 Jul 1842 Lt Cudlip, the surgeon Mr Thomas Corral and 6 men were in the process of going ashore to Sheerness for provisions etc., in the Captain's gig, when a squall capsized the boat, drowning all but Lt Cudlip, who managed to cling on to the upturned boat and was rescued 45 minutes later by the passing steam packet Queen Victoria.

24 Aug 1842 will shortly depart to the Nore to join the Queen's escort of the Royal George en route to Granton, Nr. Leith, Scotland.

16 Sep 1842 off Flamborough Head, en route from Granton, Scotland, to Woolwich with members of the royal household, who had been accompanying the Royal Family on their visit to Scotland, is reported to have been in collision with a large collier, and suffered damage to her bows and paddle box, and was obliged to put into Harwich for repairs on Saturday morning, where it is assumed that she landed her passengers, the Earls of Liverpool and Hardwicke. The collier was reported to have been severely damaged and it was thought she would be unable to reach Shields safely ?.

20 Dec 1848 Steam vessel. Particular Service.

2 Mar 1851 arrived Bristol on Sunday, and left on the Monday for the eastward to be paid-off.