HMS Aurora (1887)

Aurora, named for the eponymous Roman goddess of the dawn,^[4] was the eighth ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy.^[5] She was laid down on 1 February 1886 by Pembroke Dockyard. The ship was launched on 28 October 1887 by Mrs. Sophia Morant, wife of Captain George Morant, Captain-Superintendent of the dockyard^[6] and completed in July 1889^[7] at a cost of £258,390.^[6]

Aurora went straight into reserve at Devonport after completion, but was commissioned for service with the Channel Squadron in 1890–92. She was transferred to Bantry, Ireland, in 1893 to serve as the local coastguard ship until 1895. That year the ship was reassigned to the Devonport Reserve and remained there until 1899. Aurora participated in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee Fleet review on 26 June 1897 at Spithead.^[6]

Aurora was recommissioned for service in the Far East in 1899^[2] under the command of Captain Edward Bayly and some of her crew, including Bayly, took part in the Battle of Tientsin in July 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion.^[8] In early February 1902 she was ordered to leave, homebound,^[9] arriving at Aden on 3 March, at Malta 17 March, and at Plymouth on 26 March.^[10] Officers and crew received the China War Medal (1900) on 15 April,^[11] before she paid off at Devonport two days later.^[12] Upon her return, Aurora left in August 1902 for Clydebank to be refitted,^[13] and was placed in Devonport Reserve in 1904 before she was taken out of service the following year.^[14] The ship was sold for scrap to Payton, of Milford Haven, Wales, on 2 October 1907 for £12,700.^[6][15]

• Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of All Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th Century to the Present (3rd Rev ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.
• Friedman, Norman (2012). British Cruisers of the Victorian Era. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-59114-068-9.
• Gardiner, Robert, ed. (1992). Steam, Steel and Shellfire: The Steam Warship 1815–1905. Conway's History of the Ship. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 1-55750-774-0.
• Perry, Michael (2001). Peking 1900: the Boxer Rebellion. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-181-7.
• Phillips, Lawrie (2014). Pembroke Dockyard and the Old Navy: A Bicentennial History. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7509-5214-9.
• Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0.
• Lyon, David & Winfield, Rif (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC 52620555.