HMS Ringdove (1856)

In February 1856, Ringdove was assigned under the command of Commander Isaac Newton Thomas Saulez. On 20 September 1856, command was transferred to Commander Robert George Craigie.^[2]

In June 1861, Ringdove entered the Seto Inland Sea,^[6] where she performed soundings and naming.^[7] By July, she was stationed in Edo Bay during the Mito rōnin attack on the British Legation in Tōzen-ji.^[8] After the incident, Laurence Oliphant, who survived the attack, joined Craigie on Ringdove for a reconnaissance mission in Tsushima. Craigie reported to Admiral James Hope the activities of Russians in the area, leading to the withdrawal of Russian troops from Tsushima in autumn 1861.^[9]

By April 1862, Ringdove was anchored off the British Consulate in the Chinese city of Ningbo, which was occupied by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.^[10] On 22 April, the Taiping troops celebrated the arrival of General Fan Youzeng from Nanking.^[11] The celebrations which involved the firing several poorly-aimed musket shots. Some of the shots narrowly missed Ringdove. Craigie wrote to the Taiping generals and Admiral Hope to complain.^[10][12][13] Despite Craigie receiving profuse apologies from General Huang Chengzhong,^[11][12] Roderick Dew, commander of the British forces, demanded that the east-facing Taiping batteries to be dismantled. The demands were not met, and eventually escalated to the retaking of Ningbo on 10 May.^[12] During the battle, Ringdove took down the guns at the North Gate of the city.^[14] After the battle, she was placed about 25 miles up the Yong River, to prevent Taiping retaliation on civilians.^[15]

Craigie died on September 15 1862.^[16] The next day, command was transferred to Commander Ralph Abercrombie Otho Brown, until her decommissioning on 10 November 1864.^[2]