 Cumming was appointed captain of the 51 @-@ gun frigate HMS Emerald on her commissioning at Sheerness on 14 May 1859 and remained with the ship until the end of her Royal Navy career on 7 November 1863 . The vessel was initially part of the Channel Fleet and as part of her duties visited Plymouth , Spithead , Torbay , Cork and Devonport . Cumming was reunited with his old commander , Rear @-@ Admiral Sir Alexander Milne , when Emerald became his temporary flagship on 19 January 1860 in order to carry him to the West Indies where he was to replace Vice Admiral Sir Houston Stewart , another former shipmate , as Commander @-@ in @-@ Chief on the North America and West Indies Station . Emerald left Devonport on 18 February and arrived at Bermuda 19 days and 6 hours later , completing " one of the quickest passages on record " at the time . The feat is all the more impressive for the fact that Cumming relied almost entirely on sail power , engaging the steam engines only when he was within 500 nautical miles ( 930 km ) of her destination . Whilst in Bermuda Emerald ran aground and tore her coppering , the first of several times she was damaged in her career . 
