Racer's sister ship HMS Sappho | |
History | |
---|---|
United Kingdom | |
Name | Racer |
Ordered | 10 July 1832 |
Builder | Portsmouth Dockyard |
Laid down | September 1832 |
Launched | 18 July 1833 |
Completed | 5 September 1833 |
Commissioned | 13 July 1833 |
Out of service | 8 March 1852 |
Fate | Sold 17 September 1852 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Racer-class brig-sloop |
Tons burthen | 430 63⁄94 (bm) |
Length |
|
Beam | 32 ft 4+3⁄4 in (9.9 m) |
Draught |
|
Depth of hold | 14 ft 10+1⁄2 in (4.5 m) |
Sail plan | Brig-sloop |
Complement | 110 |
Armament | 2 × 12-pdr cannon; 14 × 32-pdr carronades |
HMS Racer was a 16-gun Racer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. Commissioned in 1833 she served on the North America and West Indies Station where she was badly damaged by what became known as Racer's hurricane in 1837. After repair at Havana she returned to England where she was paid off. Racer was recommissioned later in 1838 and returned to North America where, in 1840, her commanding officer was drowned in an accident. She was refitted in 1842 and served on the South America Station and on anti-slavery patrols off West Africa. An 1848 refit reduced her to 12 guns and she afterwards served as a tender to HMS Caledonia and in the Mediterranean Sea. Racer was sold out of service in 1852.
Racer was the name ship of the Racer class of brig-sloops designed by Sir William Symonds in 1832. The class was a slightly modified version of the Snake-class brig-sloops; Racer was ordered on 10 July 1832. Her keel was laid at Portsmouth Dockyard in September and she was launched on 18 July 1833 having been commissioned on 13 July. Racer was completed on 5 September. Her construction cost £8,313, increasing to £12,152 including fitting out. Her Builder's Old Measurement was 430 63/94 . [1] Racer measured 101 feet (31 m) in length and 32 feet 6 inches (9.91 m) in beam. She was classed as a 16-gun brig-sloop (a "Second Class" brig) and originally mounted 14x32 pounder carronades and 2x12 pounder cannons. [2]
After commissioning Racer sailed under Commander James Hope for service on the North America and West Indies Station. [1] Racer was at sea in the northwestern Caribbean on 28 September 1837 when she encountered what became known as Racer's hurricane. [3] [4] Racer endured winds of up to force 12 on that and the following day. [5] She was dismasted and blown on her beam ends twice before re-righting, [6] losing almost all rigging, navigational tools, and provisions in the process. [7] A ship's boy died of injuries sustained on the lower deck, and two crewmen went missing. [8] Racer afterwards put in to Havana, Cuba, for repairs. [9]
Racer was paid off on 13 June 1838 but recommissioned on 19 September for service on the North America and West Indies Station under Commander George Byng. [1] By 1840 she was commanded by Commander George Percy Hall; he drowned off Veracruz on 14 September 1840 when his boat was upset. [10] Percy's replacement was Commander Thomas Harvey, who was given the command on 6 November. [1] Racer was paid off again in October 1842, at Portsmouth. She received minor repairs and was refitted at the dockyard there between October 1842 and June 1843, at a cost of £6,920. [1]
Racer was recommissioned on 28 April 1843 under the command of Commander Archibald Reed and served on the South America Station and then the West coast of Africa, where she captured the slave ship Bom Destino on 7 September 1844. She was paid off at Plymouth on 20 November 1847. Racer was refitted in 1848 as a 12-gun vessel. [1] A surviving plan in the collection of the Royal Museums Greenwich shows her proposed bow and figurehead from this refit. The latter was a half-length bust of a male jockey. [11]
Racer was recommissioned on 24 June 1848 under Lieutenant Henry Bacon and served as a tender to HMS Caledonia. From 28 February 1849 she was commanded by Commander Charles Henry Beddoes in the Mediterranean Sea. Racer was paid off for the final time on 8 March 1852 at Plymouth and was sold to Wilson & Company on 17 September 1852 for £820. [1]
HMS Speedy was a 14-gun Speedy-class brig of the British Royal Navy. Built during the last years of the American War of Independence, she served with distinction during the French Revolutionary Wars.
HMS Pelorus was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the British Royal Navy. She was built in Itchenor, England and launched on 25 June 1808. She saw action in the Napoleonic Wars and in the War of 1812. On anti-slavery patrol off West Africa, she captured four slavers and freed some 1350 slaves. She charted parts of Australia and New Zealand and participated in the First Opium War (1839–1842) before becoming a merchantman and wrecking in 1844 while transporting opium to China.
HMS Carcass was an Infernal-class bomb vessel of the Royal Navy, later refitted as a survey vessel. A young Horatio Nelson served aboard her as a midshipman on an expedition to the Arctic in 1773.
The Cruizer class was a class of six 17-gun wooden screw sloops built for the Royal Navy between 1852 and 1856.
HMS Eurydice was a 24-gun Porcupine-class post ship of the Royal Navy built in 1781 and broken up in 1834. During her long career she saw service in the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. She captured a number of enemy privateers and served in the East and West Indies, the Mediterranean and British and American waters.
HMS Juno was a Royal Navy 32-gun Amazon-class fifth rate. This frigate served during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
HMS Blossom was an 18-gun Cormorant-class sloop-of-war. She was built in 1806 and is best known for the 1825–1828 expedition under Captain Beechey to the Pacific Ocean. She explored as far north as Point Barrow, Alaska, the furthest point into the Arctic any non-Inuit had been at the time. She was finally broken up in 1848.
HMS Alligator was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was originally ordered during the American War of Independence but was completed too late to see service during the conflict. Instead she had an active career during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
HMS Drake was a 14-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was bought from a commercial builder during the early years of the American War of Independence, and went on to support operations in the English Channel and the Caribbean. At one stage she assisted an attack on a French-held island, an expedition commanded by a young Horatio Nelson. Laid up for a time after the end of the American War of Independence, she returned to service shortly before the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars. Drake spent most of her time in Caribbean waters, until being declared unfit for service in 1800 and deleted from the navy lists.
HMS Salamander was one of the initial steam powered vessels built for the Royal Navy. On 10 January 1831 the First Sea Lord gave orders that four paddle vessels be built to competitive designs. The vessels were to be powered by Maudslay, Son & Field steam engines, carry a schooner rig and mount one or two 10-inch shell guns. Initially classed simply as a steam vessel (SV), she was re-classed as a second-class steam sloop when that categorization was introduced on 31 May 1844. Designed by Joseph Seaton, the Master Shipwright of Sheerness, she was initially slated to be built in Portsmouth, and was changed to Sheerness Dockyard. She was launched and completed in 1832, took part in the Second Anglo-Burmese War and was broken up in 1883.
HMS Mediator was a Roebuck-class 44-gun fifth rate of the Royal Navy. She was built and served during the American War of Independence, but was reduced to a storeship and renamed HMS Camel in 1788. She spent the French Revolutionary and part of the Napoleonic Wars in this capacity before being broken up in 1810.
HMS Racehorse was an 18-gun ship-rigged sloop of the Royal Navy. Originally the French ship Marquis de Vaudreuil, she was captured by the Royal Navy in 1757 and refitted as a survey vessel for the 1773 Phipps expedition towards the North Pole. Renamed HMS Thunder in 1775, she was captured back by the French in 1778.
HMS Scylla was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. The first to bear the name Scylla, she was launched in 1809 and broken up in 1846.
HMS Podargus was a Crocus-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She participated in one major battle during the Gunboat War between Britain and Denmark. After the war she served at Saint Helena for five or six years. On her return to Britain in 1820 she was laid up; she was finally sold in 1833.
Nine ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Lily or HMS Lilly:
HMS Snake was a British Royal Navy ship launched in 1797 as the only member of her class of brig-sloops. She captured or destroyed two French privateers and one Danish privateer. She also captured numerous small merchantmen, but spent time escorting convoys to and from the West Indies. She was sold in 1816.
HMS Romulus was a 36-gun fifth rate frigate of the Flora class, built for the Royal Navy and launched in September 1785. At the outbreak of the French Revolutionary War, Romulus was despatched to the Mediterranean where she joined a fleet under Admiral Lord Hood, initially blockading, and later occupying, the port of Toulon. She played an active role during the withdrawal in December, providing covering fire while HMS Robust and HMS Leviathan removed allied troops from the waterfront.
HMS Cordelia was a Cherokee-class brig-sloop completed in 1808. She served in home waters during the Napoleonic War, and subsequently in the Mediterranean and the West Indies.
HMS Resistance was a 44-gun fifth-rate Roebuck-class ship of the Royal Navy launched in 1782. Based on the design of HMS Roebuck, the class was built for use off the coast of North America during the American Revolutionary War. Commissioned by Captain James King, Resistance served on the West Indies Station for the rest of the war. She captured the 24-gun corvette La Coquette on 2 March 1783 and then went on in the same day to participate in the unsuccessful Battle of Grand Turk alongside Horatio Nelson. Resistance then went for a refit in Jamaica, during which time King fell ill and was replaced by Captain Edward O'Bryen. O'Bryen commanded Resistance until March 1784 when she was paid off. In 1791 she was recommissioned as a troop ship, but was converted back into a warship in 1793 at the start of the French Revolutionary War, under Captain Edward Pakenham.
The Perseverance-class frigate was a 36-gun, later 42-gun, 18-pounder fifth-rate frigate class of twelve ships of the Royal Navy, constructed in two batches. Designed by Surveyor of the Navy Sir Edward Hunt the first iteration, consisting of four ships, was constructed as a rival to the similar Flora-class frigate. Strongly built ships, the Perseverance class provided favourable gunnery characteristics and was highly manoeuvrable, but bought these traits with a loss of speed. The name ship of the class, Perseverance, was ordered in 1779 and participated in the American Revolutionary War, but her three sister ships were constructed too late to take part. The class continued in service after the war, but soon became outdated.