HMS Galatea was a Jason-class^[1] 26-gun, sixth-rate, wooden screw frigate in the Royal Navy, launched in 1859 and broken up 1883.

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HMS Galatea pictured c.1868.
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Galatea
Ordered	9 April 1856
Builder	Woolwich Dockyard Engines by John Penn & Son
Laid down	2 February 1857
Launched	14 September 1859
Completed	By February 1862
Fate	Broken up in June 1883
General characteristics
Class and type	Jason-class corvette
Displacement	4,686 tons
Tons burthen	3,227 bm
Length	280 ft (85.3 m) (overall) 245 ft 8 in (74.9 m) (keel)
Beam	50 ft (15.2 m)
Depth of hold	19 ft 4 in (5.89 m)
Propulsion	Sails 2-cyl. horizontal single expansion Rectangular boilers Single screw 800 nhp 3,061 ihp = 11.796 kn
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	450
Armament	Middle deck: 24 × 10 in (85 cwt) MLSB shell guns (broadside) Upper deck: 2 x 68 pdr (65 cwt) MLSB (pivot-mounted) Later replaced by slide-mounted 110 pdr Armstrong BLs

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She was first assigned to the Channel Squadron in 1862 under Captain Rochfort Maguire. From there she served both in the Baltic and the Mediterranean.^[2] Then from 1863 to 1865 to the North America and West Indies Station based in Bermuda and Halifax.

On 9 November 1865 the Galatea and HMS Lily participated in a reprisal raid on Cap-Haïtien, bombarding the forts defending the harbour and landing government troops. The raid was provoked by rebel forces having attacked the British Consulate on 23 October 1865 and the loss of HMS Bulldog (1845) that same day in the fighting that followed.

In 1866, after a refit, she went on a world cruise, under the command of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh.

On 2 November 1868, she ran aground in Plymouth Sound and was damaged. It was estimated that it would take several days to repair her.^[3] While in Sydney, Galatea was placed in the Fitzroy Dock at Cockatoo Island Dockyard in 1870.^[4]

On 18 May 1882 she conveyed the Duke of Edinburgh to the official opening of the new Eddystone Light.

While in Halifax, Galatea inspired a trio of dramatic paintings by ship portrait artist John O'Brien.^[5] In 1866, after a refit, she went on a world cruise, under the command of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh.