First commission (1862–1866) From June to October 1862 she was employed in fishery protection duties in the North Sea. The
strained relationship between the Union and Britain during the
American Civil War did not prevent visits to American ports, but ships of the North America Station would also have used
Bermuda and the
Royal Naval Dockyard, Halifax as bases. The
Lyons–Seward Treaty of 1862 allowed for greater co-operation between the US Navy and the Royal Navy in combating slavery, and it is probable that anti-slavery formed part of her employment, particularly in the Caribbean. In 1866, she was ordered from
Quebec to
Montreal to provide protection to the harbour during the
Fenian Raid of 1866. Sixteen members of her ship's company were awarded the "Fenian Raid 1866" clasp to the
Canada General Service Medal 1866-70, possibly while serving as members of a
Naval Brigade. After four years on the North America and West Indies Station she paid off at
Chatham on 13 October 1866.
Second commission (1867–1875) Rosario recommissioned at Woolwich on 28 September 1867 under her previous captain, Commander Louis Venturne. Commander George Palmer then took command in October 1867 and under him she sailed for the
Australia Station. On 4 June 1868, officers from HMS
Rosario were entertained in Auckland, New Zealand by the Officers of the Royal Irish Regiment (the 18th). On 5 June the ship left Auckland for Tauranga, with the Governor of New Zealand, Sir George F. Bowen on board. In 1869
Rosario detained the schooner
Daphne on suspicion of "
blackbirding", or the illegal recruitment (including enslavement) of the indigenous populations of nearby Pacific islands or northern Queensland. Commander Palmer brought charges at the
Vice Admiralty Court of New South Wales, but the charges were dismissed by the Chief Justice of New South Wales, Sir
Alfred Stephen, on the grounds that the 'passengers' could not be proven to be slaves - a stance strengthened by the court's refusal to hear testimony from the kidnapped islanders before the court, on the assumption that they would not understand the meaning of a Christian oath and thus be incompetent to testify. In 1870 a team from
Rosario played the first New Zealand International Rugby Union match against a side from
Wellington. It was intended to recommission her in Sydney in 1871, with a new crew being brought out from England in , but with Commander Challis remaining in command. In the event
Megaera became a total loss at the isolated
St Paul Island, and the crews were rescued by
HMS Rinaldo and SS
Malacca. There were no fatalities, and the new crews eventually reached their intended ships.
Albert Hastings Markham became acting commander of
Rosario between 12 October 1871 and 12 February 1872, during the first cruise to the
New Hebrides for the suppression of the South Seas labour trade. He published an account of the cruise under the title
The cruise of the Rosario
amongst the New Hebrides and Santa Cruz Islands, exposing the recent atrocities connected with the kidnapping of natives in the South Seas. The cruise included a visit to the island of
Nukapu to inquire into the murder of
Bishop Patteson, but little of value was found until they came to the south-east side of the Island, where the bishop had been killed. In the words of the contemporary newspaper report: The ill feeling against white men in Nukapu is easily understood; one of the vessels stopped by
Rosario during the November 1871 cruise was the brig
Carl, which had been the scene of a particularly brutal massacre. Markham was too late to find any evidence of the murder of up to 50 islanders on board (that came later when one of the crew turned
King's evidence), but the activities of the ship in the area explain the aggressive attacks of the local population, and probably also explain the murder of the bishop. The measures taken by
Rosario became the subject of questions in the
House of Commons, and Markham's book After refitting in
Sydney, she left on 9 February 1873 to
Wellington,
Auckland and
Picton in
New Zealand, returning to
Sydney on 18 September 1873. At the end of October,
Rosario sailed to
Fiji, the
Solomon Islands and
New Britain, returning freed workers and including the investigation of murders at Port Praslin (
New Ireland), arriving back at
Sydney on 16 February 1874. On 13 March 1874, Commander Arthur Edward Dupuis took command and from then until 20 July visited
Fiji and
Samoa, and from 21 July
Rosario sailed on to the
Marshall Islands, the
Ellice Islands and the
Gilbert Islands, collecting evidence and searching for
William "Bully" Hayes, who was notorious for his blackbirding activities.
Rosario picked up a number of his shipwrecked crew from
Kosrae.
Hayes was found and questioned by Commander Dupuis, but escaped before being arrested. In the words of a Petty Officer on board: His Journal also describes the final activity of the commission: ==Fate==