HMS Peterel (1860)

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

Rosario-class sloop Peterel
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Peterel
Ordered	1 April 1857
Builder	Devonport Dockyard
Laid down	5 December 1859
Launched	10 November 1860
Completed	March 1862
Reclassified	Lightship in December 1877 Coal hulk in December 1885
Fate	Sold in October 1901
General characteristics
Class & type	Rosario-class sloop
Displacement	913 tons
Tons burthen	668 76⁄94 bm
Length	160 ft (49 m) (gundeck) 139 ft 8.5 in (42.583 m) (keel)
Beam	30 ft 4 in (9.25 m)
Draught	15 ft 10 in (4.83 m)
Depth of hold	18 ft 11 in (5.77 m)
Propulsion	Sails 2-cylinder horizontal single expansion engine Single screw 150 nhp 478 ihp
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship (as built) Barque-rigged (after 1869)
Speed	8.982 knots (16.635 km/h; 10.336 mph) (under engines)
Complement	130–150
Armament	As built 1 × 40-pdr Armstrong BL 6 × 32-pdr MLSB 4 × 20-pdr Armstrong BL After 1869 1 × 7 in ML 2 × 40-pdrs

HMS Peterel was a Rosario-class sloop of the Royal Navy.

Peterel served three commissions as a warship, on the North America and West Indies Station, the Cape of Good Hope Station and the Pacific Station. In 1877 she became a lightship marking the wreck of HMS Vanguard, then in 1885 she was converted into a coal depot before finally being sold in 1901, the longest lived of her class.

Figurehead

The ships figurehead was a simple three-quarter-length female bust carved by the resident carver of Devonport Dockyard, Frederick Dickerson of the Dickerson family. ^[1]

When the ship was sold, the figurehead was preserved at Devonport Dockyard and subsequently moved to the training establishment of HMS Royal Arthur. ^[2]

The figurehead eventually transferred to the Portsmouth Royal Dockyard Historical Trust who still own the artefact. It is currently at the National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth ^[3] as part of 'The Dockyard Apprentice' exhibition. ^[4]

Citations

1. Pulvertaft, David (2009). The Warship Figureheads of Portsmouth (1st Colour ed.). UK: The History Press. p. 88. ISBN   978-0752450766.
2. Pulvertaft, David (2009). The Warship Figureheads of Portsmouth (1st Colour ed.). UK: The History Press. p. 88. ISBN   978-0752450766.
3. "Discover the Royal Navy like never before | National Museum of the Royal Navy". www.nmrn.org.uk. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
4. "Portsmouth Royal Dockyard Historical Trust (Support Group) - Layout Guide to Apprentice Exhibition" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 January 2015.

References

• Lyon, David & Winfield, Rif (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. Chatham Publishing. ISBN   978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC   52620555.