1840–1861 Between 1840 and 15 August 1843, she served with the
West Africa Squadron. On 28April 1841, her
ship's boats were involved in burning the warehouses and other property of
Niara Bely in
Farenya, on the
Pongo River.
Iris was subsequently assigned to the
East Indies Station. In 1844 she raced the French ships
Sirène,
Sabine and
Victorieuse at Singapore and beat them. In July 1846
Iris was part of an expedition along the
Brune River in Borneo under Rear-Admiral
Thomas John Cochrane to destroy forts and batteries there. Her captain
G. Rodney Mundy led a returning force of 476 men from six Royal Navy vessels along the
Borneo River later that month. She was the flagship of the
Australian Squadron between 1859 and 1860 under the command of Captain
William Loring. She participated in the attack on Puketakauere
pā, during the
First Taranaki War and left the Australia Station in 1861. Both ships were used again for the same purpose in 1866 and 1869 by the
Telegraph Construction & Maintenance Company (Telcon). As obsolete sailing vessels which had to be towed while ferrying cable, neither ship was capable of independent operation, and both were described as "hulks" in contemporary reports. Also in 1866 HMS
Iris was loaned to help in the recovery of the steamer
Foyle, which had sunk in collision with the steamer
Collingwood off Barking in the Thames on 12September.
The Sail and Steam Navy List notes that according to Admiralty records, HMS
Iris and HMS
Amethyst were sold to the
Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company (Telcon) after being decommissioned on 16October 1869. ==Citations==