HMS Cadmus was a wooden screw corvette launched on 20 May 1856 at Chatham Dockyard. On 4 January 1865, she ran aground at Chatham, Kent. She was refloated. Cadmus struck rocks at Salcombe on 5 June 1869 and was severely damaged. She was consequently beached. She was taken in to Plymouth the next day. She was broken up in 1879 at Devonport.