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

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

By the time of Peterel's carving, animals and birds were largely out of fashion for naval ships. Therefore, this figurehead is depicted by a woman. Women were considered bad luck aboard ships but were a good omen when carved into a figurehead design.

The petrel, a marine bird, features on the original trailboard design. The bird is culturally significant, often associated with storms, the sea and even revolutionary movements. They are often seen as symbols of resilience, particularly in the face of adversity. The name 'petrel' is linked to Saint Peter's biblical walking on water, owed to the pattering of their feet on the surface of waves as they forage for food and the way they skim over the water's surface in flight. ^[2]

In some cultures, petrels are believed to be the souls of drowned sailors and it is bad luck to kill one, much like the albatross, as features in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. ^[3]

When the ship was sold, the figurehead was preserved at Devonport Dockyard, recorded there as part of the 1911 Admiralty Catalogue. She was placed near the cricket pitch at the Royal Naval Barracks in the 1940s, where she survived a number of blitzkrieg attack, before being moved to the training establishment of HMS Royal Arthur in Wiltshire. ^[4]

The figurehead eventually transferred to the Portsmouth Royal Dockyard Historical Trust who still own the artefact. She can be found in Boathouse No.7 at the National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth ^[5] as part of 'The Dockyard Apprentice' exhibition. ^[6]

Citations

1. Pulvertaft, David (2009). The Warship Figureheads of Portsmouth (1st Colour ed.). UK: The History Press. p. 88. ISBN   978-0752450766.
2. joidesresolution.org https://joidesresolution.org/petrels/#:~:text=Stormy%20Petrels%20are%20found%20in%20oceans%20all,the%20birds%20seem%20to%20walk%20on%20water . Retrieved 11 July 2025.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
3. Endicott, Rachel (15 July 2023). "Small and Mighty: The Mediterranean Storm Petrel". Project Manaia. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
4. Pulvertaft, David (2009). The Warship Figureheads of Portsmouth (1st Colour ed.). UK: The History Press. p. 88. ISBN   978-0752450766.
5. "Discover the Royal Navy like never before | National Museum of the Royal Navy". www.nmrn.org.uk. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
6. "Portsmouth Royal Dockyard Historical Trust (Support Group) - Layout Guide to Apprentice Exhibition" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 January 2015.

References

• 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.