 Cumming 's first command was HMS Rattler , stationed off West Africa , during which he captured another slave ship . He saw active service against the Russians during the Crimean War , captaining the frigate HMS Gorgon and being promoted to post @-@ captain on 19 April 1854 . Subsequently Cumming was transferred to HMS Conflict and , in company with HMS Amphion , was able to capture the Baltic Sea port of Libau without firing a shot . Towards the end of the war he took command of the ironclad floating battery HMS Glatton but arrived in the Black Sea after the peace had been agreed . He returned to the UK in time for Glatton to take part in Queen Victoria 's 1856 Fleet Review . Cumming was appointed captain of the frigate HMS Emerald on 14 May 1859 and remained with the ship until the end of her Royal Navy career on 7 November 1863 . Emerald served in the Channel Fleet , the Baltic Sea and Admiralty propeller trials . She also made several trips to the Americas including " one of the quickest passages on record " to Bermuda in 1860 . After her decommissioning Cumming was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath , served aboard HMS Victory and Duke of Wellington and in the Packet Service . 
