Royal William was ordered on 30 December 1823,
laid down at
Pembroke Dockyard in October 1825,
launched on 2 April 1833 and completed in 1834. The ship's first
commission was not until 16 February 1854 under Captain
John Kingcome when she became the flagship of Commodore
Michael Seymour,
guard ship at Plymouth.
Royal William was sent to the Baltic Sea in 1854 as a
troopship and conveyed 764
prisoners of war captured during the
Battle of Bomarsund in August back to the UK.
Royal William was ordered to be cut down and converted into a steamship on 5 February 1859. The work included lengthening the ship by about and began on 21 March. It was completed on 9 February 1860; she was never put into seagoing state for operation. In November 1884 to replace their first reformatory school ship of that name destroyed by arson in 1884. As the new
Clarence, she was ultimately also destroyed by
arson, on 26 July 1899 on the
River Mersey near
New Ferry on the
Wirral Peninsula in
England. ==Notes==