FitzClarence sailed Ariadne to the Mediterranean in June, carrying money for the treasuries of Gibraltar, Malta, and Corfu. Having completed this duty FitzClarence returned to the Ionian Islands, where he again served to preserve neutrality in the ongoing Greek War of Independence. He most likely met another of his brothers, Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick FitzClarence, while the latter served with his British Army unit on Corfu. In November the Governor of Malta, Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings, died in the Bay of Naples. Ariadne, at the time at Naples, was sent to return his body to Malta. In early 1827 the ship then carried the replacement governor, Sir Frederick Ponsonby, from Corfu to Malta. While at Corfu FitzClarence learned that his father's elder brother Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, had died, leaving Clarence heir to the throne.
