HMS Pelorus is the designation which has been given to numerous ships of the Royal Navy.
HMS Pelorus was a 385 ton, 18 gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, constructed in Itchenor, England and launched on June 25 1808. It took part in the Napoleonic Wars, primarily as a blockade ship in the waters around Guadaloupe. In the early 1830s, when William Wilberforce's anti-slavery act went into effect, the HMS Pelorus became an anti-slaver ship.
HMS Pelorus was a 2,330 ton displacement, 21 gun corvette which was launched February 5, 1857 from the Devonport dockyard. It was captained at first by Frederick Beauchamp Paget Seymour, then by Henry Boys, and later William Henry Haswell, until it was decommissioned in 1868.
HMS Pelorus was a Pearl class cruiser which was launched on November 25 1889. It was a 2575 ton displacement, third class cruiser with a top speed of 19 knots, and a crew compliment of 217. Per the Imperial Defense Act of 1887, it served primarily in Australian waters under command of the Royal Australian Navy where it was renamed to the HMS Mildura.
HMS Pelorus was the first of the Pelorus class cruisers, laid down at Sheerness dockyard in 1896. Finished and commissioned in the Royal Navy on December 15 of the same year, it was designed by Sir William White.
HMS Pelorus (J291) was an Algerine-class minesweeper, built by Lobnitz of Renfrew, Scotland and launched on June 19, 1943. While equipped with minesweeping gear, she was primarily assigned to convoy escort duty in the Atlantic. In 1947 the ship was sold to the South African Navy and renamed HMSAS Pietermaritzburg.