HMS Cruizer (1852)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Cruizer.

HMS Cruizer at Malta in 1894 (as HMS Lark)
History
United Kingdom
Name	Cruizer
Builder	Royal Dockyard, Deptford
Cost	£25,213 [1]
Launched	19 June 1852
Renamed	HMS Cruiser, 1857 HMS Lark, 1872
Fate	Sold at Malta in 1912
General characteristics
Class and type	Cruizer-class screw sloop
Displacement	960 tons [1] [Note 1]
Tons burthen	747+51⁄94 bm [1]
Length	160 ft (49 m) (gundeck) 140 ft 1.75 in (42.7165 m) (keel)
Beam	31 ft 10 in (9.70 m) [1]
Depth of hold	17 ft 6 in (5.33 m) [1]
Installed power	60 Nominal horsepower 132  ihp (98 kW) [1]
Propulsion	Two-cylinder horizontal single-expansion geared steam engine [Note 2] Single screw [1]
Sail plan	Barque-rigged
Speed	6.6 knots (12.2 km/h; 7.6 mph)
Armament	(Removed 1872) One 32 pdr (56 cwt) pivot gun Sixteen 32 pdr (32 cwt) carriage guns

HMS Cruizer was a 17-gun wooden screw sloop, the name-ship of the Cruizer class of the Royal Navy, launched at the Royal Dockyard, Deptford in 1852. The spelling of her name was formally altered to HMS Cruiser in 1857. She became a sail training vessel in 1872 and was renamed HMS Lark. She was eventually sold for breaking in 1912.

History

Her first years of service were spent on the China station, during which a party of her crew took part in the Battle of Fatshan Creek in 1857. Her commander, Charles Fellowes, was the first man over the walls of Canton when the city was taken, ^[2] and the ship saw further action in China, including the attack on the Taku Forts on the Hai River in 1858.

On 20 November 1858, she was in the company of Her Majesty's Ships Furious, Retribution, Dove, and Lee. The squadron were conveying the Earl of Elgin on the Yangtze River, when they had to engage with the Taiping rebels at Nanjing. ^[3]

Cruizer in action against the Taiping rebels. T.G.Dutton after F.le Breton Bedwell

In 1860, under the command of John Bythesea, she surveyed the Bohai Sea to prepare moorings for the Allied fleet to disembark troops for the advance on Beijing.

Cruiser was laid up in England in 1867, before being recommissioned for the Mediterranean station.

Figurehead

The figurehead of HMS Cruizer features a bust depicting a mid-nineteenth century sailor. He wears a straw sennet hat, representative of the tropical naval headwear introduced in the 1800s ^[4] , square rig - the standard uniform for Seamen 2^nd Class ^[5] - and medals on the left breast. ^[6]

The figurehead was designed and carved by Hellyer & Son of Portsmouth. The original design featured a sailor as a demi-head, with one arm down by his side, holding his hat, and the other raised in salute. ^[7] The Surveyor of the Navy, however, preferred a bust without arms, being cheaper at £6.10.0 (approximately £708.50 today) than Hellyer’s proposed cost of £9.10.0 ^[8] (approximately £1062.76 today ^[9] ).

When the ship was sold to Malta for breaking up in 1912, the figurehead was removed, remaining at the dockyard there. It was eventually transported back to Portsmouth following a bombing raid in 1942 on the port, which badly damaged the fort housing the figurehead. ^[10]

Upon arrival in England, the figurehead was covered in a fiberglass coating and displayed alongside HMS Caradoc’s figurehead at the entrance to the parade area beside HMS Victory at Portsmouth Dockyard, before being placed into storage. ^[11]

Cruiser at Fort Saint Elmo, Grand Harbour, Malta

Disposal

In 1872, having had her guns and engine removed, she became a sail training ship and was renamed Lark, in which capacity she served until at least 1903. She was finally sold for breaking up at Malta in 1912.

Notes

1. The rest of the class displaced 1,045 tons
2. The rest of the class had non-geared engines developing 100 nominal horsepower

Citations

1. Winfield (2004) pp.213-215
2. W.L. Clowes on the Second Anglo-Chinese War ("Opium war") of 1856 - 1860
3. National Maritime Museum
4. "Sennet Cap". www.thebluejackets.co.uk. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
5. "Working Dress". www.commsmuseum.co.uk. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
6. Bolckow (23 January 2009), H. M. S. Cruizer figurehead. Cruizer was naval sloop of 1852. Now at Portsmouth Royal Naval Base. , retrieved 16 January 2025
7. doi.org. doi:10.1107/s2052520622011969/yh5024sup1.cif https://doi.org/10.1107/s2052520622011969/yh5024sup1.cif . Retrieved 16 January 2025.{{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
8. Pulvertaft, David (2009). The Warship Figureheads of the Royal Navy (Illustrated ed.). UK: The History Press. p. 82. ISBN   978-0752450766.
9. "Inflation calculator". www.bankofengland.co.uk. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
10. Pulvertaft, David (2009). The Warship Figureheads of Portsmouth (Illustrated ed.). UK: The History Press. p. 82. ISBN   978-0752450766.
11. Pulvertaft, David (2009). The Warship Figureheads of Portsmouth (Illustrated ed.). UK: The Historic Press. p. 82. ISBN   978-0752450766.

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN   978-1-86176-281-8.
• Winfield, R.; Lyon, D. (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN   978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC   52620555.