His Majesty's hired armed ship Charles served the Royal Navy from 17 May 1804 to 13 May 1814. She had a burthen of 3092⁄94 tons, an armament of fourteen 18-pounder carronades. Prize money notices and other accounts referred to her interchangeably as the "hired armed brig", "hired armed ship", "hired sloop". Lady's Adventure, master, arrived at Elsinore on 10 June 1806, having received assistance from Charles. Lady's Adventure had lost her rudder on "Trindall Rock" while sailing from Newcastle to Copenhagen. In about March 1807 Charles came under the command of G. Davies Robert Clephane on the North Sea station. Between 12 April and 22 May she assisted at the siege of Danzig, together with the hired armed sloop Sally, HMS Falcon. Charles proved herself useful during the siege and when the British squadron left, evacuated some of General Nikolay Kamensky's troops. On 19 August Charles sent her into Grimsby. Flensburg, of Copenhagen, was coming from Messina. In October, by one report, Clephane transferred to HMS Nautilus, but this is not borne out by Nautilus's history.
On 17 January 1808 the "armed brig" Charles arrived at Grimsby much damaged and having lost her masts. She sent her into Yarmouth. In March 1808 Clephane assumed command of HMS Acorn. From April 1808, Charles's commander was James Welsh. However, in June Charles brought into the Humber two Danish schooners laden with grain and Saint Peter; the prize money announcement reports the capture occurred on 3 June, that commander of the "hired armed brig Charles" was Lieutenant R. Hexter. On 1 August "His Majesty's Hired Armed Ship Charles", R. H. Hexter, "late commander", captured Vrow Christine. On 13 May 1809, the "hired armed ship Charles", under the command of R. H. Hexter, in company with HMS Talbot, captured Dredokken. On 23 October Captain Thomas Byam Martin, of Implacable, chief of the Gottenberg station, sent Hexter and Charles to St Kalf Sound, a few miles north of Wingo Sound, Sweden. There she was to protect the vessels of a convoy that a storm had scattered, send them to Flemish Roads, before bringing the rest of the convoy as soon as possible.
On 14 November, three Danish sloops arrived at Leith, prizes to Talbot, the sloop Charles, the cutter Hero. On 4 September 1810 she brought into Grimsby two vessels that she had detained, Jonge Johanes and Neptunus, carrying a cargo of fish. In 1811, Lieutenant Lawrence Smith commanded. In February gales caused the ship Americano, from the Brazils, to run afoul of Charles, resulting in extensive damage to Americano. Smith was followed in 1812 by Lieutenant J. Mitchell. On 1 August Charles sent into Dover Mars, of and for Wilmington. Mars had been sailing from London. British authorities released Mars a few days later. On 20 July 1813 she captured the American ship Eliza. Eliza, master, was carrying a cargo of silks to New York, she arrived at Leith on 22 July. On 18 August Charles captured Humanus Von Leick, master; the French privateer captured Nancy, master, off Beachy Head on 8 October as Nancy was sailing from London to Madeira. Charles brought her into Dover. In 1814 Lieutenant J. Little commanded Charles.
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Rockbank railway station is located on the Serviceton line, in Victoria and serves the outer Melbourne township of Rockbank. The station opened as Mount Atkinson on 2 April 1884, at the same time as the Serviceton line though it, was renamed Rockbank in 1889. Being on a single track railway line, it provided a crossing loop for trains, continues to do so today. By 1914, it had a three road yard, a passenger platform on the southern track, a goods platform on the northern track, an interlocked signal box; the station served the local farming community. With a chaff mill established in the 1890s, the recreation reserve and tennis club located nearby, the station became the focus of the Rockbank community. In 1960, the crossing loop was extended for longer trains of up to 730 metres, a short platform was provided on the loop road. In 1976, centralised traffic control was provided on the line from Sunshine to Rockbank. By the 1970s, the mill was disused, the station building was demolished circa 1985.
In 1986, the yard was rationalised to main line and crossing loop, in 1990, the mechanical signals and points were removed, replaced by remotely controlled signalling, operated from the Bacchus Marsh signal box. The current northern platform was not added until 1992; as part of the Regional Fast Rail project, control of the signals was transferred to the Ballarat signal box in 2005. In March 2018, as part of Ballarat line upgrade under Regional Rail Revival project, work began on station's reconstruction. Two side platforms were rebuilt to fit 6-carriage VLocity trains and an accessible pedestrian overpass was installed over the tracks with lifts and stairs. Station will have a new sealed car park for over 350 cars, new bus and taxi bays, secure bike storage areas and drop-off zones; the upgraded station was opened to passengers on 26 August 2019. Rockbank has two side platforms, it is serviced by V/Line Ballarat line services. Platform 1 is located with all stopping services scheduled to use this platform.
Platform 2 is located on a crossing loop, permitting trains up to 750 metres long to cross. The former short platform is located at the Down end of the station, located on the crossing loop. Platform 1: Ballarat line: V/Line services to Southern Cross Ararat line: V/Line services to Southern CrossPlatform 2: Ballarat line: V/Line services to Bacchus Marsh & Ballarat Ararat line: V/Line services to Ararat Sita Buslines operates two routes via Rockbank station: 444: Aintree 456: Sunshine station – Woodgrove Shopping Centre Media related to Rockbank railway station, Melbourne at Wikimedia Commons Rail Geelong gallery Victorian Railway Stations gallery Melway map at street-directory.com.au