HMS Nelson was a 126-gun first rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 4 July 1814 at Woolwich Dockyard,[1] but then laid up incomplete at Portsmouth until 1854, when work began with a view to commissioning her for service in the Crimean War, but this ended before much work had been done, and the ship returned to reserve.

[2] She was converted into a screw ship in 1860, being cut down to a two-decker and fitted with an engine of 2,102 indicated horsepower (1,567 kW) for a speed of 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph).

In 1865, Nelson was given to the colony of Victoria as a training ship, and she was finally outfitted and rigged for £42,000 and sailed for Australia in October 1867.

During 1879–1882, Nelson was further cut down to a single deck and her rig reduced to the main mast only, the ship being reclassified as a frigate.

In 1908 Nelson was sold to the Union Steamship Co. of New Zealand, and in July was towed from Sydney to Beauty Point on the Tamar River, Tasmania, for use as a coal storage hulk.