H.M.S. GOLDFINCH

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 454, 15 March 1890, Page 6

H.M.S. GOLDFINCH

Tin-: British Admiralty have selected the new composite gun vessel Goldfinch, 6,805 tons, 1,200-horse power, for service on the Australian station. The Goldfinch is a new gun ves-el of the Redbreast type, and is preparing for sea at tho Sheerness Dockyard, where she was built. It is expected she will take the place of the gunboat Raven, 4,465 tons, 280-horso power, Commander Frank W. Wyley, which was despatched from Sheerness in 1883, and will shortly complete her second continuous term of service on the Australian station. The Raven will return to England shortly to be put out of commission, and will not be again employed on foreign service, as her armament is obsolete, and her speed is considerably below that of gunboats of more modern construction. Her sister ship, the Starling, which has just returned home from the Mediterranean station, is to be refitted for coast defence duty, and it is expected that a similar course will be followed with the Raven. The Goldfinch is equipped with six 4-inch breech-loading guns and two quick firing guns, and is capable of steaming 13 knots. She was commissioned on February sth. She is to be commanded by Lieutenant Charles E. Kingsmill, who was senior lieuteinnt of the Cormorant, sloop, during her recent commis-ion on the Pacific station, and navigated the ship to Gibraltar after the death of Captain Jasper Nicholls.