HMS Investigator was a wooden paddle survey vessel of the Royal Navy, built to carry out an expedition on the Gabon River in Africa.

She was initially commanded by Lieutenant Benjamin Langlois Lefroy off the west coast of Africa.

On 1 September 1863, Lieutenant Commander William Digby Dolben of Investigator drowned while crossing the bar of Lagos[1] when the gig, a four-oar whaler, was swamped.

He was succeeded by George Truman Morrell in 1865, under whose command she sailed up the River Niger, making contact with local tribes.

[citation needed] In 1867, she ran aground in the River Niger and came under attack from hostile inhabitants, who were armed with cannon.