HMS Alacrity was a schooner of the Royal Navy, built by John Cuthbert, Millers Point, New South Wales as the yacht Ethel that the Royal Navy purchased in 1872.[1]
She commenced service on the Australia Station at Sydney in 1873 as a tender for . She was later used for anti-blackbirding operations in the South Pacific and also for hydrographic surveys of Fiji and Australia.[1] [2] On 3 June 1873, Alacrity ran aground in Vita Bay, Fiji Islands. She was refloated.[3] She was paid off in 1882 and sold to the Colony of New South Wales, which converted her to a powder hulk guardship.[1]
Alacrity was in use as an accommodation hulk at Bantry Bay during the Second World War.