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History | |
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Name | HMS Crocodile |
Ordered | 1865 |
Builder | Money Wigram and Sons [1] |
Launched | 7 January 1867 |
Fate | Sold 11 May 1894 |
General characteristics | |
Class & type | Euphrates-class troopship |
Displacement | 6,211 tons |
Tons burthen | 4,206 tons BM [1] |
Length | 360 ft (109.7 m) (overall) |
Beam | 49 ft 1.5 in (15.0 m) |
Depth of hold | 22 ft 4 in (6.81 m) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Sail plan | Barque |
Speed | 15 kn (28 km/h) |
Armament | Three 4-pounder guns |
HMS Crocodile was a Euphrates-class troopship launched into the Thames from the Blackwall Yard of Money Wigram and Sons on 7 January 1867. She was the fourth and last vessel of the Royal Navy to carry the name.
Crocodile was one of five iron-hulled vessels of the Euphrates class. All five were built to a design of 360 feet (110 m) overall length by about 49 feet (15 m) breadth, although Malabar was very slightly smaller than the rest of the class. They had a single screw, a speed of 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph), one funnel, a barque-rig sail plan, three 4-pounder guns, and a white painted hull. Her bow was a "ram bow" which projected forward below the waterline.
The Euphrates-class troopships could each be identified by a different coloured hull band. Crocodile's hull band was yellow. The blue hull band of her sister Euphrates became the standard for all HM Troopships. [2]
Crocodile was built for the transport of troops between the United Kingdom and the Indian sub-continent, and was operated by the Royal Navy. She carried up to 1,200 troops and family on a passage of approximately 70 days.[ citation needed ] Between November 1866 and April 1870 she was commanded by Captain George Willes Watson. [3] On 27 November 1867, she collided with the Canadian merchant ship John Dwyer in the English Channel 40 nautical miles (74 km; 46 mi) off Start Point, Devon. John Dwyer sank with the loss of four of her crew. Crocodile rescued the survivors. [4]
Crocodile was re-engined rather later in life than her sisters, with her single-expansion steam engine replaced with a more efficient compound-expansion type. [Note 1]
In December 1888, Crocodile towed the Dutch steamship Sourabaja to Malta, the steamship having suffered an engine failure 9 nautical miles (17 km; 10 mi) off Cape Trafalgar, Spain. [5] Crocodile's last voyage began at Bombay in October 1893. On 3 November, as she was approaching Aden, the high-pressure steam cylinder exploded and the ship came to a halt. The next day she was towed to an anchorage near Aden. [6] Most of the soldiers and their families were brought home on other ships. Crocodile eventually arrived back at Portsmouth on 30 December 1893, having travelled using only the low-pressure steam cylinder, and was not further employed for trooping. [7]