HMS Sparrowhawk (1856)

Last updated

HMS Surprise (1856).jpg
Sparrowhawk's sister-ship, Surprise
History
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
NameHMS Sparrowhawk
Ordered26 July 1855
Builder
  • Young, Magnay & Co., Limehouse
  • Engines by Humphrys, Tennant & Dykes
Laid down6 August 1855
Launched9 February 1856
CompletedBy 7 April 1856
FateSold in 1872
General characteristics
Class and type Vigilant-class second-class despatch/gunvessel
Displacement860 tons
Tons burthen669 79/94 bm
Length
  • 180 ft (54.9 m) (gundeck)
  • 160 ft 7.5 in (49.0 m) (keel)
Beam28 ft 4 in (8.6 m)
Draught8 ft (2.4 m) (designed) [1]
Depth of hold14 ft (4.27 m)
Installed power
Propulsion
  • 2-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engine
  • Single screw
Sail plan Barque-rigged
Speed11 kn (20 km/h) under steam
Complement80
Armament

HMS Sparrowhawk was a Vigilant-class second-class despatch/gunvessel launched on 9 February 1856 at Limehouse, England and served at various stations in the Far East. By the spring of 1865, her rig was a converted to that of a three-masted barque. She was sold in 1872, converted to a sailing barque in mercantile service, and was later a coal lighter in Australia.

Contents

Design

Her class were designed as second-class despatch and gunvessels. They were intended to operate close inshore during the Crimean War and were essentially enlarged versions of the Arrow-class gunvessel, which has been designed by the Surveyor’s Department in 1854. [2]

Propulsion

A two-cylinder horizontal single expansion steam engine by Humphrys, Tennant and Dykes provided 726 indicated horsepower (541 kW) through a single screw, [2] and gave a top speed of about 11 knots. [1]

Sail plan

All Vigilant-class gunvessels were barque-rigged. [2]

Armament

Although designed with a pair of 68-pounder Lancaster muzzle-loading rifles, the Vigilant class were finished with one 7-inch (180 mm)/110-pound (50 kg) Armstrong breech-loading gun, one 68-pound (31 kg) Lancaster muzzle-loading rifled gun and two 20-pounder breech loaders. [2]

Service history

Porcher Island, near Prince Rupert, British Columbia, is named after Edwin Augustus Porcher [3] (1821–1878), who served as captain of HMS Sparrowhawk at Esquimalt Naval Base, Vancouver Island, from the spring of 1865 until he returned to England in autumn 1868. While serving with the North Pacific Squadron, Commander Porcher made four summertime voyages to the North Coast of British Columbia - in 1866, 1867 and twice in 1868.

Sale and further service

Sparrowhawk was sold by auction at Esquimalt on 20 November 1872, for about £4,000, to Corbett (or Corbitt) and Company of Portland, Oregon. [2] [4] [5] Her engines were used to power a sawmill owned by Sewell Moody at Moodyville, British Columbia. [6] In 1873 the ship was registered as a 3-masted sailing barque at the port of Victoria, British Columbia with Official Number 64142. [7] [8] In 1876 Sparrowhawk was sold to William Morley of Melbourne, Victoria for his coastal coal trade, but was put up for sale with the rest of his business after his death in 1877. [9] [10] In June 1878 the business was bought by Huddart Parker and Company of Geelong and in 1881 Sparrowhawk was reduced to coal lighter. [11] [12] [5]

On 7 April 1892, while berthed at Melbourne, Sparrowhawk was run into by the steamship Flinders and sank in the Yarra River. [13] She was raised, repaired, and later in service with Jeremiah O'Sullivan of West Melbourne. [5] [14] [15] In 1917 Sparrowhawk's registration was closed as "dismantled and broken up in Saltwater River, at date unknown". [5] [16]

Citations

  1. 1 2 Preston (2007) p.150
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Winfield (2004) p.220
  3. ↑ For more on Edwin Augustus Porcher see: O'Byrne, William R. (1849). "Porcher, Edwin Augustus"  . A Naval Biographical Dictionary . London: John Murray.
  4. ↑ "Naval and Military Intelligence". The Irish Times. No. Vol.XV, 5941. Dublin. 29 January 1873. p. 2. Retrieved 22 February 2022– via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Laxon, William A. (2008). Huddart Parker: A Famous Australasian Shipping Company, 1876-1961. Caulfield South, Vic.: Nautical Association of Australia. pp. 14, 179. ISBN   978-0-9756896-1-5.
  6. ↑ Lamb, W. Kaye (1972). "Moody, Sewell Prescott". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. University of Toronto/Université Laval. Archived from the original on 21 February 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  7. ↑ "Ship whose official number is 64142". Crew List Index Project. P & J Owens. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  8. ↑ Mercantile Navy List. London. 1874. p. 459. Retrieved 22 February 2022– via CLIP.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  9. ↑ Mercantile Navy List. London. 1877. p. 482. Retrieved 22 February 2022– via CLIP.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. ↑ "To Capitalists, Coal Merchants, Carriers and others". The Argus. No. 9817. Melbourne. 1 December 1877. p. 11. Retrieved 22 February 2022– via Trove.
  11. ↑ "Commercial Intelligence". The Argus. No. 9971. Melbourne. 1 June 1878. p. 6. Retrieved 22 February 2022– via Trove.
  12. ↑ "Town Talk". Geelong Advertiser. No. 10, 252. 15 June 1881. p. 2. Retrieved 22 February 2022– via Trove.
  13. ↑ "The Flinders and Sparrowhawk Collision". The Herald. No. 3710. Melbourne. 27 April 1892. p. 4. Retrieved 22 February 2022– via Trove.
  14. ↑ The Register of Australian and New Zealand Shipping. Melbourne: Marine Underwriters and Salvage Association of Victoria. 1915. p. 143. Retrieved 22 February 2022– via issuu.
  15. ↑ Mercantile Navy List. London. 1915. p. 990. Retrieved 22 February 2022– via CLIP.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  16. ↑ Register of British Ships: Melbourne. Melbourne, Victoria. p. 153. Retrieved 22 February 2022– via Australian National Archives.

Related Research Articles

<i>Svyataya Anna</i> First ship to pass through Suez Canal

The Philomel-class gunvesselHMS Newport was launched in Wales in 1867. Having become the first ship to pass through the Suez Canal, she was sold in 1881 and renamed Pandora II. She was purchased again in about 1890 and renamed Blencathra, taking part in expeditions to the north coast of Russia. She was bought in 1912 by Georgy Brusilov for use in his ill-fated 1912 Arctic expedition to explore the Northern Sea Route, and was named Svyataya Anna, after Saint Anne. The ship became firmly trapped in ice; only two members of the expedition, Valerian Albanov and Alexander Konrad, survived. The ship has never been found.

Nine ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Racehorse:

HMS <i>Beagle</i> (1854) Royal Navy Arrow-class gunvessel (1854–1863)

HMS Beagle was a wooden-hulled Arrow-class second-class screw gunvessel launched in 1854 and sold in 1863. She was the third vessel of the Royal Navy to use the name.

<i>Arrow</i>-class gunvessel

The Arrow class comprised six second-class screw-driven vessels built as dispatch vessels for the Royal Navy in 1854, mounting six guns. In 1856 they were re-designated as second-class gunvessels.

HMS <i>Icarus</i> (1885) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Icarus was a Mariner-class composite screw gunvessel of 8 guns, and the third Royal Navy vessel to carry the name. She was launched in 1885 at Devonport and sold in 1904.

HMS <i>Surprise</i> (1856) Gunvessel of the Royal Navy

HMS Surprise was a Vigilant-class gunvessel of the Royal Navy. She was launched at Blackwall Yard, London in 1856 and broken up in Plymouth in 1866.

<i>Vigilant</i>-class gunvessel

The Vigilant-class gunvessel of the Royal Navy was an enlarged version of the Arrow-class gunvessel of 1854. Both classes were designed for shallow-water operations in the Baltic and Black Seas during the Crimean War. Fourteen of the class were completed, but were ready too late to take part in that conflict. Cormorant was sunk in action at the Taku Forts, Osprey was wrecked on the coast of Africa in 1867 and the rest were all sold during the 1860s, with Sparrowhawk lasting until 1872.

HMS <i>Mullett</i> (1860) Gunvessel of the Royal Navy

HMS Mullett was a Royal Navy 5-gun Philomel-class wooden screw gunvessel launched in 1860. She served on the coast of West Africa and on the North America and West Indies Station before being sold in 1872 at Hong Kong for mercantile use. As the sailing ship Formosa she sailed in the Far East before being converted to a magazine in Melbourne.

<i>Condor</i>-class gunvessel

The Condor-class gunvessel was a class of four Royal Navy composite gunvessels of 3 guns, built between 1876 and 1877. They were all hulked or sold before 1893, giving them an active life of less than 15 years.

HMS <i>Eclipse</i> (1860) Gunvessel of the Royal Navy

HMS Eclipse was a four-gun Cormorant-class first-class gunvessel launched in 1860 from the shipyard of J. Scott Russell & Co., Millwall. She served on the Australia Station, took part in the Second Taranaki War, including contributing men to a naval brigade which attacked the Maori stronghold at Gate Pā. The entire class were never satisfactory as gunvessels, partly due to their excessive draught, and Eclipse was broken up at Sheerness in 1867, only seven years after her launch.

<i>Philomel</i>-class gunvessel

The Philomel-class gunvessel was a class of wooden-hulled screw-driven second-class gunvessels built for the Royal Navy between 1859 and 1867, of which 26 were ordered but only 20 completed. They had a mixed history, with some serving for as little as 5 years, and others surviving into the 1880s. Two of the class were sold and used as Arctic exploration vessels, both eventually being lost in the ice.

<i>Ocean Telegraph</i>

Ocean Telegraph was a clipper ship that was built in Massachusetts in 1854 and was last known of in Gibraltar in 1923. She was in US ownership until 1863, when UK interests bought her and renamed her Light Brigade.

HMS <i>Opal</i> (1875) British Emerald-class corvette

HMS Opal was an Emerald-class corvette of the Royal Navy, laid down as Magicienne by William Doxford & Sons Ltd, Sunderland and launched on 9 March 1875.

HMS <i>Rambler</i> (1880) Gunvessel of the Royal Navy

HMS Rambler was an Algerine-class gunvessel of the Royal Navy, built by John Elder & Co., Glasgow and launched on 26 January 1880. She was commissioned as a survey vessel in 1884 and served in Chinese waters during the 1880s and 1890s. She provided men to a naval brigade during the Boer War and was sold on 23 January 1907. The work of this vessel is now remembered in Hong Kong by the Rambler Channel near Tsing Yi.

<i>Algerine</i>-class gunvessel

The Algerine-class gunvessel was a class of three Royal Navy composite gunvessels built in 1880. Two of them were sold after only ten years of service, but the other was converted to a survey ship before commissioning and survived in this role until 1907.

<i>Intrepid</i>-class gunvessel

Intrepid-class gunvessels were a class of six Royal Navy first-class wooden gunvessels built in 1855-56. They were rated as sloops from 1859 to 1862, and were scrapped by 1865. Victor was sold to the Confederate States of America as the raider CSS Rappahannock, but she was interned by the French at Calais and never fulfilled her intended function.

HMS <i>Arab</i> (1874) Arab-class composite gunboat

HMS Arab was an Arab-class composite gunvessel built for the Royal Navy in 1874. She served in the East Indies and was sold in 1889.

HMS <i>Lily</i> (1874) Arab-class composite gunboat

HMS Lily was an Arab-class composite gunvessel built for the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1874, saw service in Chinese and North American waters, and was wrecked on the coast of Labrador on 16 September 1888.

<i>Cormorant</i>-class gunvessel

The Cormorant-class gunvessels were a class of 4-gun first-class gunvessels built for the Royal Navy in the 1860s. They were somewhat unsuccessful; intended for shore bombardment in shallow water, they exceeded their design draft by 50%. Seven of the 13 ships ordered were suspended, with 3 finished or converted as survey ships and the other 4 cancelled. Racehorse was wrecked after only 4 years, and those ships that were completed as planned had short operational lives, in some cases less than 10 years. The survey vessels lasted longest, with the last ship of the class, Sylvia, being broken up in 1890.

HMS Ringdove was a Vigilant-class gunvessel of the Royal Navy. She was launched by J. Samuel White, Cowes in 1856 and broken up in Cowes in 1866.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.