HMS Calliope ( 1884 ) HMS " Calliope " was a " Calypso " - class corvette of the Royal Navy which served from 1887 until 1951 . Like all the remaining frigates and corvettes extant in 1887 , the vessel was re - classified as a third - class cruiser that year . Exemplifying the transitional nature of the late Victorian navy , " Calliope " was a sailing corvette – one of the last – but supplemented the full sail rig with powerful engines . Among the first of the smaller cruisers to be given all - steel hulls , the ship was cased with timber and coppered below the water line , as were wooden ships . " Calliope " was known for " one of the most famous episodes of seamanship in the 19th century " , when the vessel was the only one present to avoid being sunk or stranded in the tropical cyclone that struck Apia , Samoa in 1889 . After retirement from active service , " Calliope " served as a training ship until 1951 , when the old cruiser was sold for breaking . Design and construction . " Calliope " and sister ship " Calypso " comprised the " Calypso " class of corvettes designed by Nathaniel Barnaby . Part of a long line of cruiser classes built for protecting trade routes and colonial police work , they were among the last sailing corvettes built for the Royal Navy . Unlike prior ships , they had an all - metal hull , of both steel and iron , but the metal plating was timber - cased and coppered below the waterline . The only armour was a 1 . 5 - inch ( 38 - mm ) armoured deck covering the machinery spaces , but coal bunkers along the sides gave some protection to the machinery spaces . " Calypso " and " Calliope " differed from their nine predecessors of the " Comus " class in armament ; they were also slightly longer , had a deeper draught , and displaced 390 tons more . Originally planned as a ten - gun corvette , " Calliope " was completed with four breechloaders in sponsons fore and aft on each side , twelve breechloaders in broadside between the 6 - inch guns , and six quck - firing Nordenfelts . The engines were of , over 50 % more powerful than those of the predecessor class , which gave the corvette one more knot of speed , a difference that would be crucial in the disaster that made " Calliope " famous . These compound engines could drive the vessel at 13¾ knots , or 14¾ knots with forced draught . The ship nevertheless was a fully rigged sailing ship , allowing sustained service in areas where coaling stations were rare . " Calliope " was well - suited to distant cruising service for the British Empire at its Victorian peak . Although laid down in 1881 , " Calliope " was not launched until 1884 , and was placed in reserve at Portsmouth before completion . The ship was not activated until 25 January 1886 , when the vessel was placed in commission for the Australian Station , the sort of distant service for which the class had been designed . Service with the fleet . The British Empire was the largest on Earth , and Britain protected that empire and its trade routes with the world ' s largest navy . Great Britain assumed the role of peacekeeper on the world ' s oceans , and the Royal Navy was the instrument by which the " Pax Britannica " was kept . The global reach of the Royal Navy included the western Pacific Ocean , patrolled by the Australia Station . In 1887 Captain Henry Coey Kane took " Calliope " to the Pacific . At first assigned to the China Station , the vessel was reassigned to the Australia Station later in 1887 . The cruiser was in New Zealand at the end of that year , and was the first vessel to enter the new Calliope Dock . In early 1888 " Calliope " was sent north to watch over a looming diplomatic crisis and potential military confrontation in Samoa . This crisis had its roots in the Great Power s ' competition for colonies in the last decades of the 19th century . The German Empire , invigorated by its victory over France in the Franco - Prussian War and by its unification under the Prussian monarchy , had newfound imperial ambitions that stretched beyond Europe . It had shared in the division of Africa , and in the 1880s looked to the Pacific as well . Ships of its Imperial Navy were sent to Apia in Samoa , where German agents had fomented rebellion against the indigenous government . They were countered there by the Asiatic Squadron of the United States Navy . The United States had nearly completed establishing control over its territories on the North American continent , leading American ambitions to stretch beyond its shores . The squadron was at Samoa to assert US interests in the Pacific and to watch the Germans . In March 1889 , the new corvette HMS " Calliope " — sent to keep the peace and protect Britain ' s interests in Samoa — joined the competing squadrons of the Imperial German and United States navies at Apia . The harbour there was primitive , small and nearly surrounded by reefs . Perhaps fit for four ships , the anchorage held seven warships and six merchant vessels on 14 March . The barometer began to fall that day and a tropical cyclone began to form . The 1889 Apia cyclone increased in ferocity over the next two days . Rain fell in sheets , cutting visibility . Winds of 70 to 100 knots ( 130 – 185 km / h ) blew directly into the anchorage , trapping the ships in the V - shaped harbour . The harbour bottom was scoured by currents and anchors lost their purchase . Operating their engines at full speed to resist the wind and waves , ships nevertheless dragged their anchors and were inexorably driven landward . Vessels collided and were thrown on the reefs or ashore , and some sank . By 09 : 00 on the 16th , " Calliope " , although still riding at anchor , had been hit by one ship and narrowly missed by another , and Captain Kane decided to attempt to escape . To relieve the strain on the five anchor cables , " Calliope ' s " boilers were producing maximum pressure ; the engines were being worked " red hot " , and the propeller was making 74 revolutions per minute , sufficient for 15 knots ( 28 km / h ) . In spite of this titanic effort , the ship was barely able to make headway against the winds and the seas in the harbour , and anchor cables began to part . To port and only 20 feet ( 6 m ) away was the coral reef . Ahead were the American ships " Vandalia " and " Trenton " ; to starboard were other warships . There was only a narrow opening between the vessels to one side and the ground to the other . Hemmed in by these obstacles and with the rudder at times within 6 feet ( 2 m ) of the reef , " Calliope " manoeuvred while still attached to the anchor cables , which began to give way . When Captain Kane saw an opening , he slipped the anchors and drove forward . Avoiding the helpless USS " Vandalia " , he approached the sinking " Trenton " , coming so close that " Calliope " ' s fore yard - arm was over the American ' s deck , which it cleared only because " Calliope " rolled to port which lifted the yard over the " Trenton " . The crew of the helpless and doomed American ship cheered " Calliope " as the corvette slipped past . The British ship ' s drive for the open sea was called by the American commander on the scene " one of the grandest sights a seaman or anyone else ever saw ; the lives of 250 souls depended on the hazardous adventure . " Making for the harbour mouth , the British ship ' s bow and stern alternately rose and plunged into the incoming waves ; the propeller at times was spinning in air , requiring a careful hand on the throttle to keep the shaft from running away to destruction . Green seas were boarding the vessel and running the length of the deck . There were ten men on the wheel and more below handling relieving tackle on the tiller to assist in maintaining control of the rudder . Taking two hours to travel four cables , the cruiser finally escaped the anchorage into the open sea , an achievement not known to Calliope ' s crew for some time , as sea spray and spume had reduced visibility to zero . The storm kept " Calliope " at sea the next two days . Re - entering the harbour on the 19th to search for the anchor , the crew discovered that all of the other ships — twelve in all — had been wrecked or sunk . and nearly every crew had been diminished by the loss of men killed by the storm . Unable to find the anchor amidst the wreckage , and his ship having sustained significant damage , Captain Kane decided to return to Australia . He turned over " Calliope ' s " diving outfit to the US Navy to assist it in salvage , and received in return boats from the wrecked American ships to replace the boats which had been stripped from " Calliope " by the storm . Captain Kane then took his ship to Sydney , where they received a hero ' s welcome . The narrowness of " Calliope ' s " escape ; the excellence of the engines and the dedication of the crew , who kept the power plant in operation for many hours during the ordeal ; the seamanship of Captain Kane and officers ; their bravery in letting go of their anchor and facing the storm , trusting only in their ship and themselves ; and the respect and encouragement given to them by the crew of the " Trenton " ; made " Calliope " famous . The engineer of the " Calliope " , Henry George Bourke , was specially promoted from Staff Engineer to Fleet Engineer on 28 May 1889 , " for his services in Her Majesty ' s ship ' Calliope , ' during the recent hurricane at Samoa . " He attributed his success to the superior properties of West Coast coal from New Zealand used to fire the ship ' s boilers ; this statement attracted the custom of the British Admiralty when fuelling its ships in those waters . Captain Kane was made Companion of the Order of the Bath ( CB ) in the 1891 Queen ' s Birthday Honours . He was cited by the Admiralty for his " nerve and decisions " , given the command of HMS " Victory " in 1892 , and in 1897 was promoted to rear - admiral . " Calliope " returned to service on the Australian station after repairs were complete . At the end of 1889 the cruiser was recalled to the United Kingdom . In reserve . Arriving back home in early 1890 , " Calliope " was placed in reserve and remained there for the next seven years . In June 1897 the cruiser was present at Queen Victoria ' s Diamond Jubilee Review of the Fleet at Spithead . That same year " Calliope " became a tender to , an older and larger armoured cruiser used as seagoing training ship for boys . In 1901 she visited Málaga and other Spanish ports . Relieved of that duty in 1905 , " Calliope " returned to reserve and was promptly stricken from the effective list . The cruiser laid up at Portsmouth , and in 1906 was listed for sale for a time . The next year " Calliope " was moved to North East England for a new career . Training ship . On 29 October 1907 " Calliope " became a drill ship at Newcastle upon Tyne for the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve , Tyne Division , and served there for over four decades . The cruiser surrendered the name " Calliope " to another ship between 1915 and 1931 , and became the " Helicon " . After that newer namesake of 1914 was itself paid off in the 1930s , " Helicon " took back the former name , and kept it until sold in 1951 . When finally scrapped in 1953 , the steering wheel was presented to the government of Western Samoa . The mahogany panelling from the officers ' wardroom was reclaimed in 1953 and now forms the wings to the 18th century organ in the west gallery of Christ Church , North Shields , Tyne and Wear . The name " Calliope " also lives on in the Royal Navy . In 1951 the ship ' s successor as training ship on the Tyne took that name , and now the shore establishment itself bears the title and honours the memory of HMS " Calliope " .