HMS Zenobia was an 18-gun Cruizer class brig-sloop launched 7 October 1807 by Brindley at King's Lynn.

Although she served during the Napoleonic Wars she is known for her role in two events, the claiming of Ascension Island for Great Britain in 1815, and the naming of the Saumarez Reefs in 1823.

Zenobia was one of the Royal Navy vessels involved in the ill-fated Walcheren Campaign, which started on 30 July 1809.

In August she was part of the light squadron under Sir Edward Owen and participated in the bombardment of Flushing.

[3] On 18 September 1810, she joined Venerable in the chase and capture of Alexander, a French ketch privateer of 16 guns (but only four mounted).

[10] In late January or early February 1813, Zenobia captured Little James, which was sailing from Lisbon to America.

[18] The American privateer Harpy had captured William & Alfred off Cape Finisterre three days before as she was sailing from London to Antigua.

[20] Zenobia, under Commander Nicholas Charles Dobree, together with her sister ship Peruvian, under Captain James Kearney White, had been part of the flotilla under Rear Admiral George Cockburn that had taken Napoleon into his final exile at St Helena.

Cockburn was concerned that the French might use Ascension Island, uninhabited at the time,[21] to stage a rescue mission.

The ships' logs record that at 5.30pm, Dobree and White came ashore, raised the Jack, and took possession of the island in the name of His Britannic Majesty, King George III.

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