Location
Enter through the St.Marys road entrance and the memorial is on the right hand side of the road at the corner of the grass by the first roundabout. The corner of Plot 3.
Description
This memorial is in a poor state with much of the wording unreadable.
Further Information
The only names clearly visible are:
M.WILLIAM ADAMSON
JOHN HOWARTH
The name of HMS PELICAN can just be made out under the name of Adamson. No other words are identifiable.
HMS Pelican was a Wood Screw sloop built in about 1860 and carried 5x 40 pd. & 12x 32 pd. guns. She was converted in 1877 to a Composite Screw Sloop with 2 x 7in. & 4 x 64 pd. guns. From 1861 to 1863 she was commanded (from commissioning at Portsmouth) by Commander Philip Brock, on station in the Mediterranean until Brock was invalided out. From 1863 to 1865 she sailed under Commander Henry Wandesford Comber, again in the Mediterranean (until Comber invalided) and from 1865 to 1866 under Commander Ralph Peter Cator in the Mediterranean (until paying off at Portsmouth). She was sold to Arthur and Co., and renamed Hawk in February 1867 and subsequently acquired by the Portuguese navy.
The Navy Lists for 1862 and 1867 show no connection between the names above and HMS Pelican, nor does the Times newspaper for the period of the Pelican's commission (1861-1866). Also there is no reference to any event in the Pelican's history that might suggest a memorial being placed.
Many thanks to Peter Davis for much of this information
