Torch, 1859
Type: Gunvessel ; Armament 5
Launched : 24 Dec 1859 ; Disposal date or year : 9.1881
Disposal Details : BU Malta
BM: 428 tons ; Displacement: 570 tons
Propulsion: Screw
Machinery notes: 281 hp 80 hp
Notes:

8 Sep 1860 departed England for anti-slavery duties on the West Coast of Africa.

18 June 1860 Chatham. Commissioned.

15 Nov 1860 detained in lat. 6� 49' S., long. 11� 57' E., a slave cutter, Name Unknown, which case was sent for adjudication to the Vice-Admiralty Court at Sierra Leone, the vessel having been destroyed as unseaworthy.

19 Jan 1861 detained in Rio Pongas a slave brigantine, Name Unknown, and destroyed as unseaworthy and the case was sent for adjudication and on 2 Feb 1861 sentenced to be condemned.

14 Apr 1861 detained in the Bramiah River a slave schooner, Name Unknown, which was sent for adjudication to Sierra Leone and sentenced to be condemned.

13 Jun 1861 detained inside the Bar of Gallinas the Spanish slave schooner Buenaventura Cubano, which was sent for adjudication to Sierra Leone and sentenced to be condemned.

3 Jul 1861 detained off Rio Nunez the slave schooner Diana, which was sent for adjudication to Sierra Leone and sentenced to be condemned.

4 Mar 1862 detained in lat. 6� 47' S., long. 11� 50' E., a slave brig, Name Unknown, which was sent for adjudication to the Vice-Admiralty Court at St. Helena and sentenced to be condemned.

24 Jul 1862 detained in the Punta da Congo River, the slave vessel Clarissa, which was sent for adjudication to Sierra Leone and sentenced to be condemned.

1 Jan to 9 Mar 1864 Irregular or particular service. Medical report : number of Cases of Disease and Injury.

Mr. Edmund Gabriel.- All those who take an interest in the suppression of the slave-trade will hear with regret of the death of Mr. Gabriel, Her Majesty's Judge in the Mixed Commission Court at St. Paul de Loanda, West Coast of Africa. Mr. Gabriel had been connected with that coast for many years, and was perhaps as instrumental as any man of his time in putting down the nefarious traffic. The son of a naval officer, Mr. Gabriel entered his father's profession at an early age, and served for seven years in the African squadron, twice filling the position of Secretary to the Commander-in-Chief on the station. In this capacity he acquired a perfect knowledge of the slave-trade in all its bearings. Early in 1845, his distinguished talents and zeal brought him under the notice of the late Earl of Aberdeen, then Foreign Minister, who selected him to fill, at the early age of twenty-one, the important post of Arbitrator and Acting Judge at Loanda. His energetic administration of this office was appreciated by the Liverpool merchants, who tendered for his acceptance a costly piece of plate, as an acknowledgment of his efforts for the protection of British shipping; but Mr. Gabriel, with his characteristic high-mindedness and delicacy, declined the valuable gift, remarking that he had only done his duty, and that it was not consistent with the office of a Judge to accept a present. Another very characteristic circumstance is recorded of him in Dr. Livingstone's well-known volume. When that great explorer, having crossed the African continent, reached Loanda in May, 1854, worn out by fatigue and sickness, he presented himself without introduction at the hospitable door of Mr. Gabriel, who immediately gave up his own bed to the sick and unknown stranger. Dr. Livingstone bears grateful testimony to the generous kindness of this "genuine, whole-hearted Englishman," in whose house he and his twenty Makololos found a home for many months.
In urging on the House of Lords (1861) the desirableness of reappointing a Consul at Mozambique, with a view to the suppression of the slave-trade on the east coast of Africa, Lord Campbell passed a well-merited eulogy on the character of our deceased associate, Mr. Gabriel, pointing him out as the man of all others most capable of checking the slave-trade in that foreign colony. It was on that occasion said of him, with justice, in reference to his career at Loando, that, "during a period of fifteen years, the volumes on the slave-trade abound with proofs of his tact, judgment, public spirit, and intelligence."
We have only to add that Mr. Gabriel eventually fell a victim to the deadly influences of the climate, operating on a constitution impaired by the hard work of seventeen years. He died on board H.M.S. Torch, having gone afloat in the hope of recovering his health. After his death the vessel returned to Loanda, where his remains received the honours of a public funeral; the Viceroy, and other foreign authorities, with the inhabitants of the place, joining with his own countrymen in this mark of regard, the universal sentiment being one of deep sorrow for his early death.
The journal of the Royal Geographic Society of London, Volume 32.

9 Mar 1864 Paid off.

9 Mar 1967 departed Prince's Island.

11 Mar 1867 arrived at Corisco Island.

15 Mar 1867 arrived off Cape Lopez.

19 Mar 1867 following visits to the islands of St. Thomas, Prince's, and Corisco, and to Elobey and Cape Lopez Town, it was reported that apart from the occasional slave being moved by launch the slave trade was now almost non-existent at these islands.

29 May 1867 arrived in company with the Mullet in Kabenda Bay to arrange the release of Mr. Boyle, which, after much palaver, was achieved on 3 Jun.

1870 Sheerness

24 Jan 1871 arrived at Plymouth, from Sheerness and Portsmouth, en route for the West Coast of Africa.

13 Jun 1878 Recommissioned at Malta.

1879 Mediterranean