HMS Pylades

HMS Pylades was the sole member of the Pylades class of first-class screw corvettes that served in the Victorian Royal Navy. Pylades was a development of the previous Highflyer class with a greater beam. The vessel served under two commanders who later became admirals, Captains Arthur Acland Hood and Edwin Tennyson-d'Eyncourt. A third commander was Captain Michael de Courcy, remembered in the name of De Courcy Island, one of the Gulf Islands off the coast of British Columbia along with Pylades Island, which is named for the corvette. In 1855, Pylades served in the Baltic Sea during the Crimean War. In 1859, the vessel was the last Royal Navy warship to visit the San Juan Islands during the San Juan Boundary Dispute. In 1863, the ship's presence helped diffuse the Chesapeake affair that could have led to the British Empire joining the American Civil War. After serving across the British Empire, the ship was decommissioned and sold to be broken up in 1875.