HMS Diamond (1816)

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

History
United Kingdom
Name	Diamond
Ordered	30 June 1812
Builder	George Parkin, Chatham Dockyard
Laid down	August 1813
Launched	16 January 1816
Commissioned	May 1824
Fate	Broken up June 1827
General characteristics [1]
Class and type	Fifth-rate Leda-class frigate
Tons burthen	1,07618⁄94 (bm)
Length	150 ft 0+1⁄2 in (45.7 m) (upper deck) 125 ft 1+3⁄4 in (38.1 m) (keel)
Beam	40 ft 2+1⁄2 in (12.3 m)
Draught	11 ft 2 in (3.4 m) (forward) 15 ft (4.6 m) (aft)
Depth of hold	12 ft 9 in (3.9 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Complement	315
Armament	UD: 28 × 18-pounder guns QD: 14 × 32-pounder carronades Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 2 × 32-pounder carronades

HMS Diamond was a 42-gun Leda-class frigate of the Royal Navy. Launched in 1816 after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, she was initially placed in ordinary before being fitted for service in 1824. Sent to serve on the South America Station, she conveyed the diplomat James Justinian Morier to Mexico on her way out. Returning to Britain in 1826, the ship recovered and repaired the wreck of the merchant ship Frances Mary. Laid up at Portsmouth, on 18 February 1827 the ship was burned to the waterline in an accidental fire and then broken up.

Design and construction

Diamond was a fifth-rate 18-pounder Leda-class frigate. The class was based off the lines of the captured French 38-gun frigate Hébé, a design by Jacques-Noël Sané vaunted as an all-rounder. The naval historian Robert Gardiner argues that the key characteristic of the design, leading to its adoption with the Royal Navy, was its "unspectacular excellence". ^{[2] [3] [4]} One ship, HMS Leda, was built during the French Revolutionary Wars in 1800. ^[2] With the Napoleonic Wars subsequently beginning, the design was revived as one of three mass-produced frigates, contrasting with the strategy of the previous war which had seen a much more sporadic choice of designs. ^[5]

Diamond was one of seven ships of the class ordered as a group between 1812 and 1815; not part of the emergency construction programme, none were completed before the wars ended. ^[6] The frigate was ordered on 30 June 1812 to be built at Chatham Dockyard by George Parkin. Diamond was laid down in August the following year. The ship was launched on 16 January 1816 with the following dimensions: 150 feet 0+1⁄2 inch (45.7 m) along the gun deck, 125 feet 1+3⁄4 inches (38.1 m) at the keel, with a beam of 40 feet 2+1⁄2 inches (12.3 m) and a depth in the hold of 12 feet 9 inches (3.9 m). Her draught was 11 feet 2 inches (3.4 m) forward and 15 feet (4.6 m) aft, and the ship measured 1,076 18⁄94 tons burthen. With the wars over, Diamond was not fitted out upon completion and was instead laid up at Chatham. The cost of her construction is not recorded. ^[1]

The frigate had a crew complement of 315. Diamond held twenty-eight 18-pounder long guns on her upper deck. ^[7] Complementing this were eight 9-pounder long guns and six 32-pounder carronades on the quarterdeck, and two 9-pounder long guns and two 32-pounder carronades on the forecastle. Originally classed as 38-gun frigates, in 1817 the ships were re-classed as 46-gun frigates. ^[6] Sailing reports from ships of the Leda class record that they were generally very fast, reaching 13 knots (24 km/h) in strong winds. They were however not particularly weatherly and rolled heavily. ^[8] Diamond was named after the merchant ship Diamond which had formed part of the British response to the Spanish Armada. She was the seventh Royal Navy ship to bear the name. ^[9]

Service

Having spent eight years in ordinary at Chatham, Diamond was fitted for her first sea service between February and 24 July 1824. Commissioned in May that year by Captain Lord Napier, she was sent to serve on the South America Station. ^[1] The frigate reached St Kitts on 27 September and then sailed for Veracruz, ^[10] conveying the diplomat James Justinian Morier to Mexico, where he served as ambassador to negotiate a treaty. ^{[11] [12]}

The wreck of Frances Mary is approached by HMS Blonde on 7 March 1826

Diamond was ordered to travel from Rio de Janeiro to Lisbon on 10 May 1826, conveying the diplomat Sir Charles Stuart. ^{[1] [13] [14]} While on passage on 7 June the frigate came across the wreck of the merchant ship Frances Mary. This vessel had been sailing from New Brunswick to Liverpool when she was de-masted in a storm and had her rudder destroyed on 4 February, leaving her unable to manoeuvre. The survivors of Frances Mary were rescued by the 46-gun frigate HMS Blonde on 7 March, with the vessel itself left to drift until discovered by Diamond. ^{[13] [15] [14]}

Napier sent a volunteer crew on board and had Frances Mary sailed to Santa Maria Island. Diamond continued on to Lisbon, arriving on 9 August, and then returned to Santa Maria where Frances Mary had been taken up by the local English consul. Napier had the ship refitted and repaired, travelling to São Miguel Island, followed by Faial Island and then Terceira Island. ^{[13] [15] [14]} Diamond escorted Frances Mary from Terceira on 31 August, subsequently arriving at Milford Haven on 25 September. ^[14]

Diamond was paid off on 1 December the same year. ^[1] The ship was laid up again, situated in Porchester Lake at Portsmouth Dockyard. At about 8:00 on 18 February 1827 a fire began on board her. The flagship at Portsmouth, the 104-gun ship of the line HMS Victory, fired warning guns and sent out boats to fight the growing fire. These were joined by others from the dockyard and efforts were made to quash the blaze, but a strong easterly wind caused the fire to spread quickly. The rescuers took off the fourteen people who had been living on Diamond, including some women and children, and left the ship to burn to the waterline. ^[16]

Reports afterwards suggested that the fire had been caused by hot cinders from the galley which were raked on to the deck, setting it alight and left unspotted by the warrant officers stationed on board. ^[16] The wreck of the ship was brought in to dock on 28 May and subsequently broken up there in the following month. ^[1]

Citations

1. Winfield (2014), p. 623.
2. Winfield (2008), p. 146.
3. Gardiner (1994), p. 55.
4. Gardiner (1994), p. 84.
5. Winfield (2008), pp. 156–158.
6. Winfield (2014), p. 622.
7. Winfield (2008), p. 158.
8. Gardiner (1994), p. 88.
9. Manning & Walker (1959), p. 164.
10. "Naval Intelligence". The Caledonian Mercury. 25 November 1824. p. 2.
11. O'Byrne (1849), p. 1253.
12. Lane-Poole & Baigent (2004).
13. Byron (1826), p. 239.
14. "Milford, Sept. 25". Cambridge Chronicle and University Journal. Cambridge. 6 October 1826. p. 1.
15. Chronicles (1838), pp. 126–127.
16. Hepper (2023), p. 323.

References

• Byron, George, Baron (1826). Voyage of HMS Blonde to the Sandwich Islands. London: John Murray. OCLC   1102077058.
• Chronicles of the Sea. Vol. 1. London: William Mark Clark. 1838. OCLC   25752303.
• Gardiner, Robert (1994). The Heavy Frigate: Eighteen-Pounder Frigates. Vol. 1. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN   0-85177-627-2.
• Hepper, David (2023). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail 1649 – 1860. Barnsley: Seaforth. ISBN   978-1-3990-3102-8.
• Lane-Poole, Stanley; Baigent, Elizabeth (2004). "Morier, James Justinian" . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Manning, T. D.; Walker, C. F. (1959). British Warship Names. London: Putnam. OCLC   213798232.
• O'Byrne, William R. (1849). "Warren, John Talbot"  . A Naval Biographical Dictionary . London: John Murray. pp. 1252–1253.
• Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Seaforth. ISBN   978-1-78346-926-0.
• Winfield, Rif (2014). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1817–1863: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Seaforth. ISBN   978-1-84832-169-4.