History | |
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Name | HMS Castor |
Ordered | 13 May 1828 |
Builder | Chatham Dockyard |
Laid down | January 1830 |
Launched | 2 May 1832 |
Commissioned | June 1832 |
Reclassified |
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Fate | Sold on 25 August 1902 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | 36-gun fifth rate ship of the line |
Displacement | 1,808 tons |
Tons burthen | 1,283 bm |
Length |
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Beam | 42 ft 6 in (12.95 m) |
Draught | 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m) |
Propulsion | Sails |
Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
Complement | 275 |
Armament |
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HMS Castor, launched and commissioned in 1832, was a 36-gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy and the third naval ship to bear the name.
Castor was built at Chatham Dockyard and launched on 2 May 1832. She was one of a two ship class of frigates, built to an 1828 design by Sir Robert Seppings, and derived from the earlier Stag class. The Castor class had a further 13 inches (33 cm) of beam to mount the heavier ordnance. Castor cost a total of £38,292, to be fitted for sea.
Her first captain was Lord John Hay, and by September 1832 Castor was at Lisbon.
On 27 August 1834 she collided with the Revenue Cutter Cameleon off South Foreland, Dover, sinking Cameleon with the loss of most of its crew. This incident led to the Court Martial of officers and crew of Castor on 6 September 1834 in Plymouth. [1] [2] The officers were acquitted but the lieutenant of the watch was dismissed from the service, it having been admitted and proven that a proper watch had not been kept. [3]
She took part in the Egyptian–Ottoman War (1839–1841), also known as the Second Syrian War, when the British Mediterranean Fleet under Admiral Sir Robert Stopford, supported the Ottoman Empire and took action to compel the Egyptians to withdraw from Beirut. During the Oriental Crisis of 1840 Castor was involved in the bombardment of St. Jean d’Acre on 3 November 1840. [4] Four sailors (Seamen John O'Brein, Silneck Thomas, Smith William and Weaver Frederick) were killed on board at the capture of St. Jean D'Acre. They were buried in Malta, in the Msida Bastion Cemetery and Historic Garden, Floriana, Malta, where a monument is still visible. [5] After cruising on the coast of Ireland she was sent out to the East Indies Station; [5] before being decommissioned at Chatham in 1842.
In 1845 Castor was on the China Station under the command of Captain Graham. [5] Officers, seamen, and Royal Marines of Castor participated in the siege of Ruapekapeka Pā from 27 December 1845 to 11 January 1846 during the Flagstaff War in New Zealand. Seven sailors were killed in the battle to take the fortified stronghold that was built by the Māori. [5]
In 1852 Castor was on the Cape of Good Hope Station under the command of Commodore Wyvill. [5] She came to the assistance of HM Troopship Birkenhead, when the Birkenhead was wrecked on 26 February 1852. [6]
Castor was used as a training ship from January 1860, and was a Royal Naval Reserve training ship at North Shields from April 1862, having been reduced to 22 guns. [7] On 28 January 1885, she was run into by the steamship Mercator at South Shields, County Durham when Mercator was trying to avoid a collision with the steamship Winthorpe. [8] Castor was eventually sold at Sheerness on 25 August 1902 for breaking up at Castle & Sons breakers yard in Woolwich. [7]
Eleven vessels of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Grampus after two members of the dolphin family (Delphinidae): Grampus griseus, also known as Risso's dolphin, and Orcinus orca, also known as the killer whale.
HMS Cairo (D87) was a C-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy, named after the Egyptian capital, Cairo. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name. She was part of the Carlisle group of the C-class of cruisers.
HMS Birkenhead, also referred to as HM Troopship Birkenhead or Steam Frigate Birkenhead, was one of the first iron-hulled ships built for the Royal Navy. She was designed as a steam frigate, but was converted to a troopship before being commissioned.
HMS Zebra, was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was built of teak in the East India Company's Bombay Dockyard and launched in 1815 as the last of her class. She chased pirates in the Mediterranean, just missed the Battle of Navarino, sailed to East Indies, where she almost foundered, and on to Australia, chased Malay pirates, and was wrecked in 1840 during the Syrian War.
The Spartiate was originally a French 74-gun ship of the line, launched in 1797. In 1798, she took part in the Battle of the Nile, where she became one of the nine ships captured by the Royal Navy.
HMS Castor was one of the Cambrian subclass of the C class of light cruisers. She saw service during the First World War and the Russian Civil War.
HMS Serapis was a Euphrates-class troopship commissioned for the transport of troops to and from India. She was launched in the Thames on 26 September 1866 from the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company at Leamouth, London and was the third Royal Navy ship to bear the name. She was sold in 1894.
HMS Trincomalee is a Royal Navy Leda-class sailing frigate built shortly after the end of the Napoleonic Wars. She is now restored as a museum ship afloat in the National Museum of the Royal Navy, Hartlepool, England.
HMS Jumna was a Euphrates-class troopship launched at Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company at Hebburn on 24 September 1866. She was the third vessel of the Royal Navy to carry the name.
The second HMS Talisman (N78), and the first to enter service under the name, was a T-class submarine of the Royal Navy. She was laid down by Cammell Laird & Co Limited, Birkenhead and launched on 29 January 1940.
Seven ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Chameleon, or the archaic variants HMS Cameleon or HMS Camelion, after the Chameleon:
Four ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Castor. Named after one of the Gemini twins in Greek mythology. Castor also means "he who excels".
HMS Malabar was a Euphrates-class troopship launched in 1866, and the fifth ship of the Royal Navy to employ the name. She was designed to carry troops between the United Kingdom and British India, and was employed in that role for most of her life. She became the base ship at the Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda in 1897, was renamed HMS Terror in 1901 and was sold in 1918. Her name was later used as the stone frigate to which shore personnel in Bermuda were enrolled, and later for Her Majesty's Naval Base Bermuda, after the 1950s, when the dockyard was reduced to a base.
HMS Castor was a 32-gun Amazon-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. The French briefly captured her during the Atlantic Campaign of May 1794 but she spent just 20 days in French hands as a British ship retook her before her prize crew could reach a French port. Castor eventually saw service in many of the theatres of the wars, spending time in the waters off the British Isles, in the Mediterranean and Atlantic, as well as the Caribbean.
HMS Imogene was a Conway-class sixth rate of the Royal Navy, built by Pembroke Dockyard and launched on 24 June 1831. She served in the East Indies, China and South America, but was accidentally burnt while out of commission on 27 September 1840.
HMS North Star was a 28-gun Atholl-class sixth-rate post ship built to an 1817 design by the Surveyors of the Navy. She was launched in 1824. North Star Bay, a bay in Greenland, was named in honour of this ship.
HMS Dido was an 18-gun Daphne-class corvette built for the Royal Navy during the 1830s.
HMS Medina was a 2-gun Merlin-class paddle packet boat built for the Royal Navy during the 1830s. The ship remained in ordinary until she was commissioned in 1848. She was converted into a survey ship in 1856 and was broken up in March 1864.
The Msida Bastion Historic Garden, also Msida Bastion Cemetery or Msida Bastion Garden of Rest is a former Protestant cemetery in Floriana, Malta, in use from 1806 till 1856. It was restored and reopened as a garden in 2002. It is listed in the National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands under number 52, as a Grade 1 Monument. Currently, Din l-Art Ħelwa are the caretakers of the Msida Bastions with a team of over 25 volunteers coordinated by the garden's Warden, all aiding in the general upkeep and research of the site.