Great Britain

Naval Fleets circa 1859 Part II – Great Britain

From information provided by Angus McLellan

World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

Contents

INTRODUCTION 3

GREAT BRITAIN 4

THE ROYAL NAVY AS AT APRIL 1859 5 STEAM VESSELS 5 SCREW GUN BOATS 21 SAILING VESSELS 22 MORTAR VESSELS AND MORTAR FLOATS 29 NOTES 29 SHIP DESIGN 29 LIES, DAMN LIES AND STATISTICS 29 USEFUL TRIVIA 30 GUNS 30 MERCHANT SHIPPING, MACHINERY, SHIPBUILDING, IRON, STEEL & COAL 33

PART I 34

Page 2 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

Introduction

Hans Busk wrote a book entitled “The Navies of the World” in 1859. This book was reprinted twice, in the 1950's and as a facsimile of the original in 1974. It provides possibly one of the best discussions and descriptions of early modern navies, covering as it does the navies in transition from the wooden wall, the ship of the line with a number of broadside cannons to the turreted vessels of the 20th Century. Angus McLellan has provided a summary of the contents of the book and this summary is presented across a number of parts in Thomo’s Hole at http://thomo.coldie.net/. At the same time, I have combined them all here into a single PDF file.

Navies of the World, although surveying at some length the fleets of significant maritime powers, is primarily concerned with a detailed evaluation of the strength, performance, and administration of the British and French navies and to draw attention to the threat posed by the latter. There have been two reprints of the 1859 original, in 1959 and 1971. The work is of great interest to the student of naval history in the nineteenth century. The author, Hans Busk the younger (1815-1882) was one of the main originators of the volunteer movement in England. The book contains the following chapters:

o Introduction o Analysis of the Leipsic Article o Comparison of the Navies of England and France o Navies of Other Nations o Of Steam and the Screw-Propeller o Naval Ports and Arsenals of France o Of Manning the Navy o Naval Tactics and Gunnery, and Modern Improvements in Artillery o The Board of Admiralty o Conclusion o Appendices

There are generally copies of the work available at online bookstores with all three editions generally available. I have seen first editions available for between £55.00 and £75.00 in the United Kingdom, EUR 65.00 in Germany and US$ 140.00 in the United States. Reprints (either the 1959 or the 1971 facsimile) I have seen available for from US$ 5.00. A search of Abebooks.com at http://www.abebooks.com/ on the name “Hans Busk” will return details of both the “Navies of the World” as well as his other publication, “THE RIFLE: and how to use it. Comprising a description of that invaluable weapon in all its varieties, and an account of its origin”.

Page 3 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

Hans Busk’s “Navies of the World” was based on the world naval situation in 1859, or on those parts of it that Busk thought would help his case for an even bigger Royal Navy, official support for the volunteer movement and an enlarged Militia. The first two did happen, but it’s unlikely that Busk deserves blame or credit for this turn of events.

Only for a few navies does Busk list every ship. Since the information on British ships is easily available in print and on the web, McLellan starts with Napoleon III's navy. Through the text “2M” means “2 mortars”, etc. Where possible, McLellan has added the displacement in tons and dimensions of some ships. I will update those figures further if I obtain further information.

If there are any obvious errors, or things that don't make any sense, please don't hesitate to ask or to let me know at mailto:[email protected] and I'll pass your comments and questions on to Angus. Great Britain According to a statement made to Parliament, on the first day of 1863 the Royal Navy had some 1,014 ships in total of which 790 had fewer than 20 guns. As at 1st January 1859, Busk gives the number of ships in commission, their crews and guns as follows.

Station Ships Guns Men East Indies, China & Australia 49 389 5051 Cape of Good Hope 8 104 1239 West Coast of Africa 18 100 1885 Brazil 9 146 1672 Pacific 12 281 2845 North America & West Indies 21 320 3470 Mediterranean 22 532 5876

Subtotal 139 1872 21948

Plymouth, Portsmouth, Sheerness, Woolwich, Cork & 45 979 7958 Pembroke Dock Coast Guard Service 26 623 3612 Channel Squadron 7 498 4697 Particular Service 12 86 1496 Surveying Service, Packet Service, Yachts, Fitting Out, 21 458 5265 Ordered Home Flag Officers & Retinue, Supernumaries & Kroomen 1244 Marines in China 1813 Marines on Shore in England 6282

Grand Total 267 4649 56048

The East Indies station was much larger than usual as a result of the war with China. Under normal circumstances the main fleet was deployed on the Mediterranean station. The Channel Squadron, although not large in numbers of ships, was relatively powerful as it was usually limited to battleships, frigates and corvettes.

Page 4 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

All tonnages are tons burthen (builders old measurement) unless noted otherwise, all horsepower nominal. The Admiralty did not adopt displacement tonnage until 1873 after considering the adoption of Moorsom Rule (Gross Register) tonnage instead. The original order of ships in Busk's lists has been changed so an attempt to group ships of the same class together and to include ships under construction or converting at the appropriate place. The list is quite long enough without having to look in multiple places.

The Royal Navy as at April 1859

Steam Vessels

Name When Horse Guns Ton- Trial Station Built Power nage Speed Screw Ships of the Line Three-deckers (* building or converting) *Victoria 1859 1000 121 4116 11.797 *Howe 1860 1000 121 4236 -

Duke of 1852 700 131 3771 10.13 Portsmouth Wellington Royal Sovereign 1857 800 131 3760 - Portsmouth Marlborough 1855 800 131 3853 11.06 Mediterranean *Prince of Wales 1860 800 131 3994 - Royal Albert 1854 500 121 3726 10.0 Channel Squadron Windsor Castle 1858 500 102 3099 - Devonport

All except Victoria and Howe were laid down as sailing ships.

All ships are in Lambert's "Battleships in Transition" while his "Last Sailing Battlefleet" gives a great deal of information on the development of the battle fleet before steam, most of which is relevant through the early 1860s. These ships required large crews, 1000 men and more, and were expensive, Victoria cost over 150,000 pounds (about 750,000 dollars). The advantages of battery height and concentrated firepower in battle were felt to be worth the cost by all three Surveyors after the Napoleonic Wars and by the great majority of sea officers.

Details from Lambert for the pre-ironclad steam battle fleet are on Bob Cordery's website under Victorian & Edwardian Military Miscellany at: http://www.colonialwargames.org.uk/

This includes all three- and two-decker battleships, all blockships and the frigates Mersey & Orlando. It seems pointless to repeat them here.

Royal Sovereign was ordered converted to a turret ship based on Captain Coles' ideas, modified by Isaac Watts to make them practicable, in April 1862. A number of senior officers favoured carrying out many more such conversions. But converting Royal

Page 5 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

Sovereign had been expensive at £180,000 (900,000 gold US dollars) and the experiment was not repeated. There is a reasonable reference to the Royal Sovereign in 1857 at: http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/hms_royal_sovereign_1857.htm including an illustration.

Name When Horse Guns Ton- Trial Station Built Power nage Speed Two-deckers (* building or converting) Conqueror 1855 800 101 3224 10.806 Mediterranean Donegal 1859 800 101 3200 11.912 Devonport St Jean d'Acre 1853 600 101 3200 11.190 Channel Squadron *Gibraltar 1859 800 101 3715 13.338 *Duncan 1860 800 101 3715 - James Watt 1853 600 91 3083 9.361 Devonport Victor 1855 600 91 3208 11.922 Mediterranean Emmanuel Edgar 1858 600 91 3094 11.371 Sheerness Hero 1858 600 91 3148 11.707 Sheerness Agamemnon 1852 600 91 3074 11.243 Portsmouth Renown 1857 800 91 3317 10.87 Channel Squadron *Revenge 1859 800 91 3318 11.53 *Atlas 1860 800 91 3318 - *Anson 1860 800 91 3318 - *Defiance 1861 800 91 3475 - *Bulwark NEVER 800 91 3715 - Orion 1854 600 91 3281 12.50 Mediterranean *Hood 1859 600 91 3232 - Caesar 1853 400 90 2767 10.274 North America Algiers 1854 600 91 3168 - Channel Squadron Princess Royal 1853 400 91 3129 11.031 Mediterranean Hannibal 1854 450 91 3136 - Portsmouth Nile 1839 500 91 2622 8.2 Queenstown *London 1840 500 91 2626 - Devonport *Rodney 1833 500 91 2770 - Chatham *Nelson 1814 500 91 2736 - Royal George 1827 500 89 2616 9.375 Sheerness *Prince Regent 1823 500 89 2672 - *St George 1840 500 89 2830 10.933 Devonport *Royal William 1833 500 89 2849 - *Neptune 1832 500 89 2830 - Portsmouth *Waterloo 1833 500 89 2830 9.934 *Trafalgar 1841 500 89 2830 10.908 Exmouth 1854 400 91 3083 9.1 Devonport

Page 6 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

Name When Horse Guns Ton- Trial Station Built Power nage Speed Aboukir 1848 400 91 3109 - Devonport *Albion 1842 400 91 3109 Devonport *Queen 1839 500 86 unk - Sheerness *Frederick 1860 500 86 unk - William Cressy 1853 400 80 2540 7.2 Sheerness *Lion 1847 400 80 2580 - *Collingwood 1841 400 80 2589 Portsmouth Majestic 1853 400 80 2566 - Sheerness Mars 1853 400 80 2576 - Sheerness Meeanee 1849 400 80 2600 - Sheerness Centurion 1844 400 80 2590 8.50 Mediterranean Brunswick 1855 400 80 2484 7.742 Channel Squadron Goliath 1842 400 80 2599 - Chatham *Irresistible 1859 400 80 2500 10.01 Colossus 1848 400 80 2590 9.152 Sheerness Sans Pareil 1851 400 70 2339 9.3 Devonport

*Powerful see below *Bombay 1828 400 81 2783 10.157

Ships from Orion downwards on the list were converted from sailing ships after launch or while under construction. Tonnages of 3249 for Queen and 3241 for Frederick William, ex Royal William, are as 110 gun sailing 1st rates; post conversion tonnages would likely be 2700 to 2900 tons burthen.

HMS Waterloo was renamed Conqueror after the original Conqueror was wrecked at the end of 1861. Many of these ships were never commissioned. HMS Nile, later Conway, almost survived into the age of colour TV. She was wrecked when her tow parted in the Menai Strait in April 1953.

Bombay was about the last ship converted, rather later than expected. The ship originally selected was HMS Powerful. On being opened up for conversion Powerful was found to be in poor condition and Bombay was substituted. Several other ships might have been converted had the ironclad battle fleet not replaced the wooden one, most obviously the other 84 gun sailing 2-deckers. Bombay was lengthened from 194' oa, 160' kl to 234' oa, 198' kl gaining around 500 tons burthen in the process.

Bulwark was intended to be the lead ship of a class of twelve based on previous 101 gun ships. Three ships, Pitt, Kent and Blake, were cancelled in 1863 without having been laid down; Bulwark and Robust remained on the stocks until 1872 but were never completed. The remaining ships - Triumph (renamed Prince Consort), Ocean, Caledonia, Royal Oak, Zealous, Royal Alfred & Repulse - were armoured while under construction.

Page 7 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

Senior sea officers felt that Walker's regulation armaments were excessive. The damage to the upper works of HMS Agamemnon and the French steam battleship Ville de Paris at Sevastopol in particular had convinced many that guns on the upper deck were very vulnerable to shellfire and should be reduced. Upper deck armaments were cut during the 1860s so that Bombay carried about 65 guns rather than 81 in 1864 and Victoria carried 102 rather than 121 in 1866.

Armaments before 1862 would be as given by Lambert although many ships mounted two 68-pr pivot guns rather than the one listed. In many ships 2 68-pr and 6 32-pr guns on the upper deck were landed and 2 110-pr and 2 40-pr Armstrong’s put in their place. Nile in May 1862 had 78 guns of which 16 were Armstrong’s, 2 110-pr, 4 70-pr and 10 40-pr. The other 62 guns were a mix of 32-pr 56cwt and 8-inch 65cwt pieces.

Name When Horse Guns Ton- Trial Station Built Power nage Speed Screw Coast-Guard Block Ships (all converted to steam after launch) Blenheim 1813 450 60 1832 5.816 Portland Roads Edinburgh 1811 450 60 1772 8.873 Leith Hogue 1811 450 60 1846 7.809 Greenock Ajax 1809 450 60 1761 6.458 Kingstown Cornwallis 1813 200 60 1809 7.188 The Humber Russell 1822 200 60 1751 6.68 Falmouth Hastings 1818 200 60 1763 6.702 Liverpool Hawke 1820 200 60 1754 6.525 Ireland Pembroke 1812 200 60 1758 7.602 Harwich

These ships are detailed in Lambert's "Battleships in Transition". The first four ships were extremely cramped. The last five were basic conversions produced during the Crimean War. To leave more room without an expensive conversion, they were fitted with larger versions of the high pressure, compact and light but high maintenance engines used in gunboats. Their masts, spars and ground tackle were provided from whatever second hand material happened to be in store.

These ships were part of the Coast Guard Service dispersed around major ports. Ajax had 28 32-pr 56cwt on the gun deck, 26 8-inch 52cwt on the main deck and 2 68-pr 95cwt and 4 10-inch 67cwt on the upper deck. The later conversions carried 24 32-pr 56cwt and 4 8-inch 65cwt on the gun deck, 26 32-pr 50cwt on the main deck and 2 68-pr 95cwt and 4 10-inch 85cwt on the upper deck. The screw frigates Arrogant and Termagant were probably serving with the Coast Guard at this time. Each of these block ships or frigates had one or more gunboats and a number of cruising and watch vessels as tenders. The gunboats were the screw gunboats described later.

Coast Guard cruisers and watch vessels are rather mysterious. They included old Cherokee class brig sloops, Icarus being a cruiser and Cadmus a watch vessel, of around 235bm, 90' x 25', originally armed with 8 18-pr and 2 6-pr. Other Cherokee class sloops were serving with the Excise in 1859, some being passed on to the Coast Guard later. Larger Cruiser class brig sloops such as Pelican were around 385bm, 101' x 31', 16 32-pr carronades and 2 6-pr guns. The old frigate Amphritite of the Leda class, see under Sailing Frigates (chapter on Sailing Vessels starting on page 22) for

Page 8 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain details, was probably a cruiser. Other ships included the more recent Star class packet brigs Star and Philomel, see sailing brigs for details, the packet brig Pandora and brig Britomart. Britomart was 330bm, 93' x 29' x 13' depth of hold and rated at 8 guns.

Name When Horse Guns Ton- Trial Station Built Power nage Speed Screw Frigates (* building, **begun after April 1859) Orlando 1858 1000 50 3700 13.0 Devonport Mersey 1858 1000 50 3726 13.29 Portsmouth *Ariadne 1859 800 26 3214 13.1 *Galatea 1859 800 26 3227 11.8 Doris 1857 800 32 2479 11.52 Devonport Diadem 1856 800 32 2479 12.47 North America *Immortalite 1859 600 51 3059 12.3 *Newcastle 1860 600 51 3035 10.5 *Undaunted 1861 600 51 3039 12.92 *Bristol 1861 600 51 3027 11.27 *Glasgow 1861 600 51 3037 11.54 *Liverpool 1860 600 51 2656 - *Aurora 1861 400 51 2558 10.2 *Narcissus 1859 400 51 2665 10.6 **Endymion 1865 500 51 2486 11.25 Emerald 1856 600 51 2913 13. Sheerness *Phoebe 1854 unk 51 2960 - *Severn 1856 unk 51 2767 - *Bacchante 1859 600 51 2679 - Liffey 1856 600 51 2658 - Channel Sqdn Topaze 1858 600 51 2651 untried Devonport Shannon 1855 600 51 2651 11.807 Portsmouth *Phaeton 1848 unk 51 2396 - Converting Imperieuse 1852 360 51 2355 10.673 Portsmouth Forte 1858 400 51 2355 untried Sheerness Euryalus 1853 400 51 2371 - Mediterranean Chesapeake 1855 400 51 2384 10.45 East Indies Arrogant 1848 360 47 1872 8.646 Southampton Amphion 1846 300 36 1474 7.14 Chatham Tribune 1853 300 31 1570 10.41 Pacific Curacao 1854 350 31 1571 10.7 Partic. Serv. Dauntless 1848 580 31 1575 10.16 Portsmouth Termagant 1848 310 25 1547 8.78 Portland *Sutlej 1855 unk 51 3066 11.8 *Octavia 1849 unk 51 3161 11.53 *Arethusa 1849 unk 51 3141 11.7 *Constance 1846 unk 51 3213 10.8 *Leander 1848 400 51 2760 - Converted 1861

For other data, as follows: o Mersey & Orlando, displacement 5640 tons, 336' oa x 52', 28 10" & 12 68-pr.

Page 9 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

o Ariadne & Galatea, displacement 4400-4600 tons, 280' oa x 50', 24 10" & 2 68-pr. o Doris & Diadem, displacement 3700-3900 tons, 280' oa x 48', 20 10" & 10 32- pr. o Immortalite, Newcastle, Undaunted, Bristol & Glasgow, displacement c4000 tons, 250-251' oa x 50', 30 8", 20 32-pr & 1 68-pr. o Aurora & Narcissus, displacement 3500 tons, 227' oa x 51', 10 8", 40 32-pr, 1 68-pr. o Endymion, displacement 3200 tons, 240' oa x 48', 10 8", 40 32-pr & 1 68-pr. o Emerald, displacement 3500 tons, 237' dk, 202' kl x c50' x 16'8" depth of hold, 30 8", 20 32-pr & 1 68-pr. o Severn, Bacchante, Liffey, Shannon, displacement 3600-3700 tons, c240' oa x 48', 28 8", 22 32-pr & 1 68-pr. o Topaze, Liffey, displacement 3900 tons, c250' oa x c50', 30 8", 20 32-pr & 1 68-pr. o Imperieuse, Forte, Euryalus & Chesapeake, displacement 3100-3400 tons, c212' x 50', 28 8" & 22 32-pr. o Arrogant, displacement 2565 tons, 200' x 45', 32 32-pr, 12 8" & 2 68-pr. o Amphion, displacement 2025 tons, 177' x 43', 6 8", 14 32-pr, 4 10" & 2 68-pr. o Tribune & Curacao, displacement c2250 tons, 192' (dk or wl) x 43', unknown armament. o Dauntless, displacement 2650 tons, 210' x 40', 18 32-pr, 4 10"& 2 68-pr. o Sutlej & Octavia, displacement c3800 tons, 252-254' oa x 52-54', 28 10" & 22 32-pr. o Arethusa & Constance, displacment c3750 tons, 252-254' oa x 53', 10 8" & 40 32-pr. o Leander, no post-conversion data except tonnage. o Termagant, no data except displacement 2400 tons, may have been begun as a paddle frigate. o Phaeton, no data except tonnage.

Leander and Liverpool are missing from Conway’s. Apart from the frigates Ister, Dartmouth, Blond and Astraea mentioned in Conway’s as cancelled, at least five more ships of the Immortalite type were ordered, of which Dryad was certainly begun and Belvedira may have been. Those cancelled before laying down included Briton, Bucephalus and Barham.

As with the battle fleet, and for the same reasons, frigate upper deck armaments were reduced in the 1860s. By 1862, Mersey and Orlando were reduced to 40 guns including 4 110-pr and 4 smaller Armstrong guns and Immortalite was reduced to 35 guns, 13 of them Armstrongs.

With the exception of Amphion, cramped and underpowered, and Mersey & Orlando, too expensive to run with a crew of 600 men and without a clear purpose apart from being larger that the USN's equally flawed Merrimack class frigates, these were generally successful designs. All British screw frigates were essentially auxiliary steamers with lifting screws and sail as the main means of propulsion.

Name When Horse Guns Ton- Trial Station Built Power nage Speed

Page 10 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

Screw Corvettes (* building) *Orestes 1860 400 21 1717 11.15 *Barrosa 1860 400 21 1700 11.51 *Orpheus 1860 400 21 1706 11.15 *Jason 1859 400 21 1711 12.04 *Rattlesnake 1861 400 21 11.66 *Wolverine 1863 400 21 10.21 *Charybdis 1859 400 21 1506 - Racoon 1857 400 22 1467 10. Channel Sqdn Pearl 1855 400 21 1469 11.313 East Indies Pelorus 1857 400 21 1464 - East Indies Challenger 1858 400 21 1465 - Sheerness Satellite 1855 400 21 1462 11.4 Pacific Scout 1856 400 21 1462 untried Sheerness Scylla 1856 400 21 1460 untried Sheerness Clio 1854 400 21 1458 untried Sheerness Cadmus 1854 400 21 1461 - Chatham Pylades 1854 350 21 1278 10.119 Pacific Esk 1854 250 21 1169 9.25 East Indies Highflyer 1851 250 21 1153 9.39 East Indies Tartar 1854 250 20 1389 untried North America Cossack 1854 250 20 1296 untried Sheerness

Tartar and Cossack had been ordered by the Imperial Russian Navy in Britain and were seized on the outbreak of the Crimean War.

The corvettes of the Jason class detailed by Conway’s were little different from the previous 400 NHP corvettes measuring 2300-2400 tons displacement, 225' x 41' x 19', armament 20 32-pr and 1 68-pr or 110-pr. As with frigates, there were cancellations of corvettes and Favorite became a small and unsuccessful armoured ship. After the Jasons, few more large wooden corvettes were built, and none before the 1870s. Challenger was 200' long (presumably on the waterline) and 2290 tons displacement, speed 11 knots. Cadmus was 2216 tons displacement, Pearl 2187, Clio 2350 & Pelorus 2330 tons.

For pre-Cadmus class sloops, the differences were not large. Pylades was armed with 1 10-inch pivot and 20 8-inch guns when new. She measured 1991 displacement tons, 193' long on deck, 38'5" beam and 19'7" draft. Her reported best speed was 12.6 knots. Esk and Highflyer were a foot shorter, displaced 90 tons less and carried the same armament.

Name When Horse Guns Ton- Trial Station Built Power nage Speed Screw Sloops Malacca 1853 200 17 1034 9.19 Sheerness Miranda 1851 250 15 1039 10.75 Sheerness Brisk 1851 250 16 1087 7.35 Devonport Niger 1848 400 13 1072 9.906 Australia Desperate 1849 400 8 1037 9.43 Devonport

Page 11 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

Name When Horse Guns Ton- Trial Station Built Power nage Speed Conflict 1846 400 8 1038 9.51 West Africa *Cameleon 1860 200 17 952 9.36 *Pelican 1860 200 17 952 10.0 *Rinaldo 1860 200 17 951 9.8 *Mutine 1859 200 17 882 - *Greyhound 1859 200 17 880 - Hornet 1854 100 17 753 7.75 East Indies Harrier 1854 100 17 748 - South America Fawn 1856 100 17 747 8.32 Sheerness Falcon 1854 100 17 748 untried Portsmouth Cruiser 1852 60 17 753 6.54 South America Alert 1856 100 17 753 untried Pacific Encounter 1846 360 14 953 10.69 Devonport Archer 1849 292 13 973 - West Africa Wasp 1850 100 13 970 6.02 Sheerness Cordelia 1856 150 11 580 untried Australia Gannet 1857 150 11 577 untried Mediterranean Icarus 1858 150 11 578 - Woolwich *Pantaloon 1860 150 11 574 - Racer 1858 150 11 579 6.824 North America Ariel 1854 60 9 486 6.823 Mediterranean Curlew 1854 60 9 485 untried Devonport Lyra 1857 60 9 484 untried South Africa Swallow 1854 60 9 486 6.53 Sheerness Sharpshooter 1846 202 8 503 9.32 West Africa Phoenix 1832 260 6 809 7.67 Sheerness Renard 1847 200 4 516 8.23 Sheerness Rifleman 1846 100 8 486 7.15 Woolwich Arrow 1854 160 4 477 11. Devonport Wrangler 1854 160 4 477 untried Sheerness Viper 1854 160 4 477 11.86 West Africa Snake 1854 160 4 477 untried Sheerness Beagle 1854 160 4 477 untried Portsmouth Lynx 1854 160 4 477 untried South Africa

Malacca, Miranda and Brisk were reclassed as corvettes by 1862 and Conway’s says Encounter, Archer and Wasp were also reclassed. Malacca was built at Moulmein in Burma and is detailed in Conway’s as the Japanese Tsukuba, 1947 tons normal displacement, 192'6" wl, 198' oa x 34'9" x 18'.

The Cameleon class are detailed in Conway’s, 1300-1400 tons displacement, 185' x 33'2" x 14'8" with 12 32-pdr and 5 40-pdr guns. Cameleon was to have been a sister to Greyhound and Mutine but was lengthened by 12 feet. Several ships of the Cameleon class were cancelled including Imogene and Harlequin. Trent and Circassian became small, cramped and unsuccessful ironclads as Research and Enterprise.

Page 12 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

An early screw sloop was HMS Cruizer of 160' long on deck, 1073 tons displacement and armed with 17 32-pr guns. It seems logical to assume that Greyhound, Mutine and, as designed, Cameleon, were also fitted for 17 32-pr guns.

The six 160 NHP sloops of the Arrow class are usually described as gun vessels. These were 160' x 24'4" x 11'8" max and were originally armed with 2 68-pr 95cwt Lancaster guns and 4 12-pr howitzers. The elliptical bore "rifled" Lancaster gun was a failure and these would have been replaced by normal 68-pr 95cwt guns. The 100 NHP Rifleman was about 150' x 27' and also classed as a gun vessel.

Name When Horse Guns Ton- TRIAL Station Built Power nage SPEED Paddle-Wheel Steam Frigates, Corvettes, Sloops and Tugs Frigates Retribution 1844 400 28 1641 c10 East Indies Sidon 1846 560 22 1328 10.47 Portsmouth Terrible 1845 800 21 1847 11. Mediterranean Leopard 1850 560 18 1435 11.25 North America Odin 1846 650 16 1616 9. Portsmouth Magicienne 1849 400 16 1255 10. East Indies Furious 1850 400 16 1286 10. East Indies Valorous 1852 400 16 1250 9. North America Penelope 1829 650 12 1616 c11

First class paddle frigates and those second-class ones with a main deck battery. In spite of the frigate designation most were barque rigged. Paddle steamers spent more time under steam, or steam and sail, than as sailing ships. In general, they were fairly poor as sailing ships.

As built, Terrible had four funnels and the four boilers produced much more steam than the engines could use. Two funnels and two boilers were removed with no loss of speed. In 1862, Terrible was armed with 5 110-pr 82cwt RBL pivots and 2 68-pr 95cwt guns on the upper deck and 4 110-pr 82cwt RBL and 10 8-inch 65cwt on the main deck. Retribution carried 18 32-pr 50cwt on the main deck and 1 68-pr 95cwt and 9 8-inch 65cwt on the upper deck. Around 1859, Valorous and Magicienne were armed with 10 32-pr 50cwt guns on the main deck and 4 more 32-pr 50cwt and 2 10- inch 84cwt pivots on the upper deck. Other ships were armed in similar fashions.

Penelope was an unusual (or perhaps unique) paddle frigate converted from sail. John Edye's calculations were flawed and she was overweight with the main deck port sills only 5' above the water but other than this, she was largely successful. She was originally a Leda class sailing frigate (see Sailing Frigates for details) with the midbody lengthened by 65'. Before conversion she displaced 1468 tons, planned to be 2549 tons after conversion but overweight at 2766 tons, 1044 tons of which was coal and machinery and 1293 tons the hull. Her first armament was 2 42-pr 84cwt guns and 10 42-pr 22cwt carronades on the main deck and 10 8" 65cwt on the upper deck. In 1856 she carried 10 8" 65cwt on the main deck and 4 8" 52cwt and 2 10" 84cwt

Page 13 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain pivot guns on the upper deck. In the early 1860s she was armed with 8 32-pr 50cwt on the main deck and 2 110-pr 82cwt RBL and 4 64-pr 71cwt RML on the upper deck. Edye proposed converting up to 30 more Leda class and similar frigates to paddle propulsion on the same lines but the development of screw propulsion made this unnecessary.

Name When Horse Guns Ton- Trial Station Built Power nage Speed Corvettes Vulture 1843 470 6 1190 - Mediterranean Gladiator 1844 430 6 1210 9.5 Devonport Centaur 1845 540 6 1279 9.5 Devonport Sampson 1844 467 6 1297 - South America Firebrand 1843 410 6 1190 9. Deptford Dragon 1845 560 6 1295 10. Chatham Cyclops 1839 320 6 1195 10. East Indies

Second class paddle frigates without main deck batteries. Armament was usually 2 68-pr 95cwt pivot guns and 4 10-inch 65cwt or 84cwt with 110-pr 82cwt RBL guns replacing 68-pr guns by 1861-1862.

Name When Horse Guns Ton- Trial Station Built Power nage Speed Sloops Inflexible 1847 378 6 1122 9.5 East Indies Barracouta 1851 300 6 1048 10.5 Woolwich Basilisk 1848 400 6 980 - North America Buzzard 1849 300 6 997 10. South America Virago 1842 300 6 1060 9.5 Devonport Vesuvius 1840 280 6 1060 9.5 West Africa Trident 1846 350 6 848 9. West Africa Hydra 1838 220 6 817 8.5 West Africa Hecate 1839 240 6 816 9. Woolwich Hecla 1839 240 6 817 9. Devonport Geyser 1841 280 6 1060 - Devonport Gorgon 1837 320 6 1108 8.5 Woolwich Hermes 1835 220 6 830 8.5 South Africa Stromboli 1839 280 6 970 9. Portsmouth Spiteful 1842 280 6 1050 10. Woolwich Styx 1841 280 6 1057 9.5 North America Vixen 1840 280 6 1054 9.5 Pacific Sphinx 1842 500 6 1058 10.5 Portsmouth Bulldog 1845 500 6 1124 10.2 Portsmouth Fury 1845 515 6 1124 10.5 East Indies Scourge 1844 420 6 1124 11. Mediterranean Salamander 1832 220 6 818 7.2 Woolwich

Page 14 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

Name When Horse Guns Ton- Trial Station Built Power nage Speed Devastation 1841 400 6 1058 10. North America Merlin 1838 312 6 889 9. Devonport Medina 1845 312 4 886 9.5 Mediterranean Medusa 1839 312 4 880 9. West Africa Medea 1833 350 6 836 9. Portsmouth Rosamond 1844 280 6 1059 9.5 Portsmouth Driver 1841 280 6 1056 9. Sheerness Argus 1849 300 6 975 10. Mediterranean Alecto 1839 200 5 800 8.2 Woolwich Ardent 1841 200 5 800 8.5 Wooolwich Prometheus 1858 200 5 796 8.2 Woolwich Firefly 1832 220 4 550 - Woolwich Spitfire 1845 140 5 432 - West Africa Pluto 1831 100 4 365 - West Africa Rhadamanthus 1832 220 5 813 - Partic. Serv. Alban 1825 100 4 405 - Portsmouth Tartarus 1836 136 4 523 - Mediterranean Jackal 1844 150 4 340 - Sheerness Volcano (fact) 1836 140 3 720 - East Indies Triton 1847 260 3 650 - West Africa Antelope 1846 260 3 649 - West Africa Oberon 1847 260 3 650 - South America Avon 1825 160 3 361 - Devonport Cuckoo 1831 100 3 234 - Sheerness Myrmidon 1846 150 3 374 - West Africa Locust 1840 100 3 284 - Partic. Serv. Porcupine 1844 132 3 284 - Partic. Serv. Otter 1831 120 3 237 - Sheerness Bloodhound 1845 150 3 378 - Woolwich Lizard 1844 150 1 346 - Sheerness Caradoc 1847 350 2 650 16 Mediterranean Dasher 1837 100 4 260 - Portsmouth Harpy 1845 200 1 345 - Woolwich Princess Alice 1844 120 1 270 - Woolwich Coromandel 1854 unk 4 450 - East Indies Dover 1843 90 1 294 - River Gambia Adder 1827 100 1 241 Chatham Weser 1853 160 6 560 - Mediterranean Recruit 1853 100 6 560 - Mediterranean

The details of all of these vessels are to be found in Brown's "Paddle Warships". Some were iron hulled. By the standards applied to sailing ships, many were not effective as warships, nor had they ever been. They were all useful for towing, transporting, scouting and carrying despatches and were important, even vital, to the operation of the navy.

Page 15 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

Barracouta was an example of an "effective" sloop armed with 1 68-pr 95cwt pivot and 1 10-inch 84cwt pivot plus 4 32-pr 42cwt guns. Some ships had two 10-inch pivots but none had 2 68-pr guns. Spitfire had a 32-pr 50cwt pivot gun and 4 32-pr 25cwt guns. Lizard had only a single 32-pr 17cwt carronade.

Recruit and Weser were double-ended paddle gun vessels with 8 inches of teak backing behind the iron hull. They were originally ordered by the Prussian Navy and exchanged for a sailing frigate during the Crimean War when the British urgently needed shallow draft vessels. They were armed with 4 32-pr 56cwt guns and 2 12-pr 10cwt field howitzers, although in wartime they might have reverted to their earlier armament of 4 8-inch 65cwt and 2 32-pr 25cwt.

Volcano served as a steam factory ship in the China campaign repairing the temperamental high-pressure machinery fitted in gun boats.

The quoted speed of 16 knots for Caradoc is an exaggeration. Her half sister Banshee (see Paddle-Wheel Tenders) did make just over 16 knots on the measured mile, but Caradoc was the slower ship. Caradoc, Prince Alice, Dover, Merlin, Medina and Medusa were ex-Post Office packets used as despatch boats and ferries, and their armament would be limited to carronades or small guns.

A new class of six paddle despatch vessels were begun in 1861. The Helicon class were about 835 tons burthen, 985 tons displacement, 220' x 28'2" x 10'6" loaded. Their 250 NHP engines produced between 1300 and 1800 ihp and they had trial speeds of 13 or 14 knots. Their designed armament was 2 20-pr 15cwt guns. At least one other paddle vessel was built in the 1860s, the strange iron turret stern-wheel ship Pioneer, built in Sydney for the Maori Wars. The turrets mounted 12-pr 8cwt RBL guns and some reports say she was armoured. She is reported as 295 tons burthen, 153' oa x 20' with a speed of about 9 knots.

Name When Horse Guns Ton- Trial Station Built Power nage Speed Tugs Comet 1822 80 3 238 - Portsmouth Kite 1835 170 3 300 - Woolwich Pigmy 1827 100 3 227 - Portsmouth Lucifer 1825 180 2 380 - Portsmouth Redpole 1853 160 1 360 - Gibraltar Prospero 1829 144 - 249 - Devonport Pike 1837 50 - 111 - Devonport Fearless 1831 76 - 165 - Sheerness Thais 1854 80 - - - Devonport Wallace 1854 100 - 128 - Portsmouth Widgeon 1837 90 - 164 - Woolwich Monkey 1821 130 - 212 - Woolwich Echo 1827 140 - 295 - Woolwich Confiance 1827 140 - 295 - Devonport African 1828 90 - 295 - Sheerness Hearty 1854 100 - 295 - Malta Bustler 1854 100 - 217 - Woolwich

Page 16 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

Name When Horse Guns Ton- Trial Station Built Power nage Speed Zephyr - 100 3 237 - Devonport Some of these tugs served into the 1860s and 1870s including the very early paddle steamers Comet and Pigmy. Monkey had been a very early packet steamer, older than listed by Busk, originally called Lightning, then Royal Sovereign, then Sovereign and finally Monkey when in naval service. Screw Gun Vessels (see also Screw Sloops) *Philomel 1860 80 5 428 8-11 *Ranger 1859 80 5 428 8-11 Intrepid 1855 350 6 851 - Devonport Victor 1855 350 6 851 11.583 Sheerness Flying Fish 1855 350 6 868 11.58 Portsmouth Roebuck 1856 350 6 857 - East Indies Pioneer 1856 350 6 868 11.366 Portsmouth Nimrod 1856 350 6 859 - East Indies Vigilant 1856 200 4 680 - Mediterranea n Wanderer 1855 200 4 670 10.733 Mediterranea n Foxhound 1856 200 4 681 - Sheerness Surprise 1856 200 4 670 11.149 West Africa Sparrowhawk 1856 200 4 670 11.065 East Indies Assurance 1856 200 4 670 11.142 Portsmouth Alacrity 1856 200 4 670 10.87 Sheerness Cormorant 1856 200 4 677 - East Indies Coquette 1855 200 4 670 10.853 Mediterranea n Mohawk 1856 200 4 670 9.925 East Indies Lapwing 1856 200 4 670 11.021 Mediterranea n Ringdove 1856 200 4 670 10.824 Portsmouth Osprey 1856 200 4 670 - Mediterranea n Minx 1846 10 3 303 5.441 Woolwich Teazer 1846 40 2 296 6.315 Woolwich

The Philomel class are listed in Conway’s as 570 displacement tons, 145' x 25' x 11- 12', 1 68-pr or 110-pr, 2 24-pr howitzers and 2 20-pr. Vigilant and her sisters were about 181' long and 28'6" beam, displacement around 850 tons, probably armed with 2 68-pr and 2 smaller guns when new, later with 1 110-pr, 1 68-pr and 2 20-pr. The larger Intrepids were reported as 201' long between perpendiculars, 30'3" beam, 14'6" draft and about 1040 tons displacement with 2 pivots and 4 broadside guns.

Name When Horse Guns Ton- Trial Station Built Power nage Speed Screw Mortar Ships Forth 1833 200 12 1228 - Devonport Seahorse 1830 200 12 1212 9.298 Devonport Eurotas 1829 200 12 1168 - Sheerness

Page 17 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

Name When Horse Guns Ton- Trial Station Built Power nage Speed Horatio 1807 250 12 1090 8.85 Portsmouth

Originally frigate block ships for Coast Guard service. Reputedly when armed and stored for sea, and with the engines filling the hold, there was no room left for any coal. Apart from the space problem, they were quite well liked in spite of being ugly ships, so their armament was reduced to save weight and space and reduce the crew required. In service as a screw frigate Horatio carried 18 8-inch guns on the main deck and 4 10-inch guns on the upper deck.

When the Crimean War began, the British found they were short of mortar vessels. The frigate block ships and the small screw frigate Fox were proposed as screw mortar frigates. Fox became a transport instead and is listed there. Horatio, the only one to be commissioned as a mortar frigate, carried 2 68-pr 95cwt on the upper deck with 8 32-pr 42cwt guns and 2 13-inch mortars on the main deck.

Name When Horse Guns Ton- Trial Station Built Power nage Speed Screw Floating Batteries Thunderbolt 1856 200 16 1973 4 Chatham Terror 1856 200 16 1971 4 Bermuda Erebus 1856 200 16 1954 4 Portsmouth Aetna 1856 200 14 1588 4 Chatham Trusty 1855 150 14 1539 4 Chatham Thunder 1855 150 14 1469 - Sheerness Glatton 1855 150 14 1535 4.5 Portsmouth Meteor 1855 150 14 1469 5.77 Portsmouth

Armoured boxes built to attack Russian fortresses like the French batteries. The original design was French.

The first three listed were built with iron hulls, the rest wood. They were armed with 68-pr 95cwt guns. Dimensions were 172'6" x 45'2" x 8'8" for the 1855 ships, 157'10" x 44' x 6' for Aetna and 186' x 48'6" x 8'10" for the three iron ships. The iron ships were more ship like and seaworthy but all were towed over any distance. The armour on these ships was of poor quality compared to later material, too hard and brittle, and was reported to be thinner than the 4 inches called for.

These ships served as guard ships, floating experimental targets to test armouring schemes and, in the case of HMS Trusty, as test ship for Captain Coles' armoured cupolas. The cupola differed from later turrets only in having sloped sides. The one tested aboard Trusty in September 1861 had been ordered in 1859 by Scott Russell and was completed at Woolwich. It mounted a 40-pr Armstrong gun. The sides were sloped at around 45 degrees, measuring about 15 feet across at the base and around 6 feet at the roof covered with four and a half inches of iron, tongued and grooved, doubled around the gun port. The turret stood up fairly well to 5 hits from 100-pr shot with 5lb charges and 26 hits (from 34 shots fired, this in a calm against a stationary target) with 12lb charges and finally to 4 68-pr shot with 16lb charges. Two rounds broke in the gun port and would have caused heavy casualties to the crew.

Page 18 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

A wooden model of a larger cupola, mounting 2 100-pr Armstrong guns, was tested aboard the old sloop Hazard in February, March and June 1862 and worked well. Between times, in January 1862, £120,000 was added to the estimates to cover work on an iron armoured cupola ship, which would enter service as HMS Prince Albert.

Name When Horse Guns Ton- Trial Station Built Power nage Speed Steam Transports Dee 1832 200 4 704 - Partic. Serv. Fox 1829 200 42 1080 - Portsmouth Simoom 1849 350 8 1980 8.897 Partic. Serv. Megaera 1849 350 6 1391 - Partic. Serv. Vulcan 1849 350 6 1747 8.936 Portsmouth Perseverance 1854 360 2 1967 - Partic. Serv.

Dee was a wooden paddle steamer, formerly a 2nd class sloop. Fox was small and cramped screw frigate conversion, which had been considered as a mortar frigate but became a transport instead.

The remaining ships were large screw steamers. Perseverance was a former Russian steamer seized while under construction. Simoom, Megaera and Vulcan had been ordered as iron screw frigates. While they were being built the Admiralty had second thoughts about iron hulls for unarmoured warships. Tests were not favourable so these ships, along with Greenock, sold in 1852, and the iron paddle frigate Birkenhead, wrecked in 1852, became transports.

Simoom displaced 2920 tons and measured 246' x 41' x 17'6", Megaera was 2025 tons displacement and 207' x 37'10" x 16', while Vulcan had a displacement of 2474 tons and measured 220' x 41'5" x 17'6". As a frigate, Simoom would have carried 12 long 32-pr guns on the main deck with 4 32-pr and 2 68-pr guns on the upper deck and would have had a speed of about 12 knots. All of the iron frigates had their engines replaced by smaller ones to increase carrying capacity and endurance. After spending some years in store, the original engines were reused, Simoom's for Duke of Wellington, Vulcan's for James Watt, Greenock's for Hannibal and Megaera's for Algiers, all of which were the worse in service for their second-hand engines.

Name When Horse Guns Ton- Trial Station Built Power nage Speed Steam Store Ships (* iron, date is entered service not built) *Buffalo 1855 60 - 440 - West Africa *Wye 1855 100 - 700 - Chatham *Supply 1854 80 2 638 - Woolwich *Industry 1854 80 2 638 - Partic. Serv. *Adventure 1855 400 - 1593 - East Indies *Himalaya 1854 700 - 3453 12.8 Partic. Serv. Assistance 1855 400 - 1793 - East Indies Hesper 1850s 120 - c300 - East Indies *Urgent 1855 400 - 1981 - Partic. Serv. *Chasseur 1855 unk - 543 - Sheerness (factory)

Page 19 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

Chasseur was a paddle steamer, the rest screw steamers. Hesper is listed as a tug and tank vessel. Buffalo and Wye were transferred from the Excise, the rest bought in. Himalaya was a former P&O liner used a troop ship, 4690 tons displacement, 340' x 56'2". Due to her size and speed, she was sometimes referred to as a frigate. Some said her purchase was a mistake and predicted that she would wear out quickly. She lasted until 1894 in service and then lay as a coal hulk in Portland harbour. She was finally sunk by German Junkers 88 bombers in June 1940.

Name When Horse Guns Ton- Trial Station Built Power nage Speed Paddle-Wheel Tenders Bee 1842 10 - 42 - Portsmouth Lightning 1823 100 3 296 - Pembroke Vivid 1849 160 2 352 - Woolwich Banshee 1846 350 - 670 18.5 Woolwich Myrtle 1831 50 - 116 - Sheerness Asp 1825 50 1 112 - Pembroke Sprightly c1833 100 - 234 - Portsmouth Advice 1827 100 - 240 - Queenstown Wildfire 1826 unk - 186 - Sheerness Bann 1856 80 2 267 10 Woolwich Brune 1856 80 2 267 10 West Africa Fire Queen 1847 120 1 312 14 Portsmouth

These vessels are almost all covered in "Paddle Warships". Banshee's speed was apparently 16 knots on trials. Bee was only 60' long and unusual in that she was fitted with both paddle wheels and screw. She served as an instructional tender at the Naval College in Portsmouth.

Bann and Brune had been built as smaller versions of the paddle gun vessels Recruit and Weser, 291 tons displacement, 140' x 20' x 8'6" depth of hold. They were designed for 2 8-inch 65cwt guns and 2 32-pr 25cwt guns but mounted only the 32-prs as despatch vessels.

Name When Horse Guns Ton- Trial Station Built Power nage Speed Yachts Victoria & Albert 1855 600 2 2345 18 Portsmouth Osborne 1844 430 1 1040 15 Portsmouth Fairy 128 - 312 13.2 Portsmouth Elfin 1849 40 1 90 - Portsmouth Black Eagle 1831 260 1 540 - Woolwich Emperor Partic. Serv. Portsmouth Portsmouth Plymouth Plymouth Steam and Sail Surveying Vessels Plumper 1848 60 12 490 - Pacific Herald 1823 n/a 8 500 - Feejee Islands Scorpion 1832 n/a 6 228 - Chatham

Page 20 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

Name When Horse Guns Ton- Trial Station Built Power nage Speed Sparrow 1828 n/a 2 160 - Devonport Resolute 1850 n/a - 424 - Chatham Acteon 1830 n/a - 620 - Coast of China and Barbary Rose 1857 n/a - 37 - Cutter Indian 1855 n/a - unk - Schooner Sylvia 1827 n/a 6 70 - Cutter Enterprize 1848 n/a 4 471 - Chatham Saracen 1831 n/a 4 228 - East Indies Volage 1847 n/a 28 516 -

Sylvia measured 53' x 18', Acteon 122' x 35', Plumper 140' x 28'. Neither Volage nor Plumper will have carried as many guns as listed in survey service.

Screw Gun Boats Some 156 screw gun boats were ordered during the Crimean War. Many were badly built but a good number of these boats remained in service into the 1870s and some continued to serve much longer in private hands. The three basic types were 60, 40 and 20 NHP boats.

All 20s were of the Cheerful class, 20 built, 212 tons burthen, 100' x 22'10" x 4'6", 2 32-pr guns, a single-cylinder high-pressure engine producing 92ihp at 225rpm gave them a speed of 6.75 knots.

All 40s were of the Clown class, 12 built, 233 tons burthen, 110' x 21'x 10" x 4', 1 68- pr Lancaster RML gun & 1 32-pr gun, a larger single-cylinder engine produced 145ihp at 220 rpm, top speed 8 knots.

There were three quite similar sorts of 60s, 124 in all, of which the Albacore class were the most common. An Albacore class screw gunboat carried 2 68-pr Lancaster RML guns, measured 233 tons burthen and 106' x 22' x 6'9". There were two different sorts of 60 NHP engines but both produced about 270 ihp at 190 rpm for a best speed of 7.5 knots.

As said, the Lancaster gun was a failure and was later replaced by the standard 68-pr 95 cwt smoothbore in those ships already armed. In peacetime ships usually carried only one gun, normally a 68-pr. Some boats carried Armstrong 40- or 110-pr RBL guns and those that lasted long enough received 64-pr RML guns.

New screw gunboats of the Britomart class followed the design of the 60s, lengthened by about 10' and, more importantly, with a foot and half deeper draft and more freeboard for improved seaworthiness. A more v-shaped hull improved top speed to about 9 knots in a flat calm. These carried 2 68-pr guns when new and later RBL and RML guns. Dimensions 120' x 22' x 8', 260 tons burthern, displacement 330 tons.

Page 21 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

These ships sailed all round the world, although not with their guns aboard. The engines had a reputation for requiring lots of maintenance although the issue was really with the 35psi locomotive boilers. The engines themselves soldiered on long after the gunboats themselves were only a memory and some may have lasted into the 20th century. As these gunboats were paid off, the engines were reused with improved boilers in subsequent gunboats. Some later twin-screw gun vessels had a 60 NHP gunboat engine driving each shaft.

Sailing Vessels (Only sailing ships marked * were considered effective by Busk or his informants. All ships ordered converted or converting are listed under screw ships.)

Name When Guns Ton- Station Built nage Ships of the Line Britannia 1820 120 2616 Portsmouth Impregnable 1810 104 2406 Devonport Hibernia 1804 104 2530 Malta Royal Adelaide 1828 104 2446 Devonport Princess Charlotte 1825 104 2443 Hong Kong, Receiving Ship St Vincent 1815 102 2612 Portsmouth Victory 1765 101 2162 Portsmouth Superb 1842 80 2583 Chatham Indus 1839 78 2653 Bermuda, Guard Ship Foudroyant 1798 78 2062 Devonport, Guard Ship Achille 1798 78 1981 Sheerness Hindostan 1841 78 2029 Devonport Armada 1810 74 1749 Devonport Wellington 1816 72 1756 Devonport Implacable 1801 72 1882 Devonport Egmont 1810 72 1760 Portsmouth Wellesley 1746 72 1746 Chatham, Guard Ship Agincourt 1817 72 1747 Devonport, Receiving Ship Sultan 1807 72 1751 Portsmouth, Receiving Ship Canopus 1797 84 2257 Devonport *Thunderer 1831 84 2279 Devonport *Ganges 1821 84 2248 Pacific *Clarence 1827 84 2288 Devonport *Asia 1824 84 2289 Portsmouth, Guard Ship *Monarch 1832 84 2255 Chatham *Formidable 1829 84 2289 Sheerness *Vanguard 1835 80 2609 Devonport *Cumberland 1842 70 2214 South America *Boscawen 1844 70 2212 South Africa

Many of these ships were in fact, if not in name, store and accommodation hulks. Ships of 101 guns and up were 3-deckers.

Page 22 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

Achille, Implacable and Canopus were ex-French ships. Implacable was scuttled just after WWII in spite of requests from the great and good of Rochefort, where she was built as the Duguay-Trouin, that she should be returned there to become a museum. Canopus, built as Franklin, was probably the most copied and most influential of all the large ships captured during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Of these ships, the 84 gun ships were the most useful and of these Bombay and Powerful were also serving in 1859 (see Screw Ships of the Line). Effective in Busk's list does not mean in good order or fit for sea service, ineffective ships were in commission and at sea, it simply means ships retaining some military value.

Boscawen and Cumberland were the only sail battleships in commission for sea service. The 72 gun armament warrant of 1834 for these ships called for 24 32-pr 56cwt and 2 8-inch shell guns on the gun deck, 26 32-pr 48cwt and 2 8-inch on the main deck and 10 32-pr 25cwt, 2 32-pr 42cwt and 4 18-pr 10cwt carronades on the upper deck.

Name When Guns Ton- Station Built nage Frigates *Vernon 1832 50 1832 Chatham *Indefatigable 1848 50 2044 Devonport *Nankin 1850 50 2049 East Indies *Chichester 1843 50 1468 Sheerness *Worcester 1844 50 1468 Sheerness *Flora 1844 40 1634 Devonport *Active 1845 40 1627 Chatham *Sybille 1847 40 1633 Devonport *Cambrian 1842 40 1622 East Indies *Pique 1841 40 1633 Devonport Warspite 1807 50 unk Chatham, Razee Vindictive 1813 50 unk Portsmouth, Razee Gloucester 1812 50 unk Chatham, Razee Alfred 1811 50 unk Portsmouth, Razee Eagle 1804 50 unk Pembroke Dock, Razee America 1809 50 unk Devonport President 1829 50 1537 Chatham Winchester 1822 50 1487 Chatham Southampton 1820 50 1476 Sheerness Lancaster 1823 50 1476 Devonport Java 1814 50 1460 Portsmouth Portland 1822 50 1476 Devonport Isis 1819 44 1321 Chatham Hotspur 1828 44 1171 Devonport Leda 1828 44 1171 Devonport Africaine 1828 44 1173 Chatham Endymion 1797 44 1277 Devonport Stag 1830 44 1218 Devonport Maeander 1840 44 1221 Devonport Andromeda 1829 44 1215 Devonport

Page 23 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

Name When Guns Ton- Station Built nage Nemesis 1826 44 1128 Devonport Unicorn 1824 42 1084 Woolwich Trincomalee 1819 42 1066 Chatham Thalia 1830 42 1082 Portsmouth Hamadryad 1823 42 1082 Devonport Fisgard 1819 42 1068 Woolwich Clyde 1828 42 1081 Sheerness Circe 1827 42 1079 Devonport Cerberus 1827 42 1079 Devonport Diana 1822 42 1083 Chatham Minerva 1820 42 1082 Portsmouth Mercury 1826 42 1084 Chatham Melampus 1820 42 1089 Portsmouth Leonidas 1807 42 1067 Sheerness Latona 1821 42 1071 Chatham Prosperine 1830 42 1063 Devonport Laurel 1813 42 1088 Sheerness Sirius 1813 42 1090 Portsmouth

The sailing frigates left in 1859 were mostly old or small or both. Apart from the few effective ships, they would have required major reconstruction to turn them into useful ships of war. Shortly after Busk wrote many of these ships were hulked or became training ships.

As a 50 gun sailing frigate Leander carried 40 32-pr and 10 8-inch guns and was 181' x 50'. Indefatigable - and presumably her sister Nankin also - carried 28 8-inch 65cwt guns on the main deck and 22 32-pr 45cwt guns on the upper deck, measuring 2626 tons displacement, 215' long oa, 189'6" on the upper deck, 51'6" beam and 16'6" depth of hold. Vernon was the first British frigate built, as opposed to razeed, with a 32-pr main deck battery.

For smaller effective frigates, Pique and Cambrian measured 160' x 48' x 14', length being measured on waterline or deck. Thetis, of similar age and rate and slightly smaller at 1560 tons bm, displaced about 1900 tons.

The small 50 gun frigates, of which only Chichester and Worcester were effective, were armed with 24-pr guns and had relegated to trade protection decades earlier. The razee 50 gun frigates were made from 74 gun 3rd rates of about 1700-1800 tons burthen and were armed with 32-pr guns on the main deck and probably with 32-pr carronades on the upper deck. They were generally better regarded the 24-pr 50s.

Most of the 42 gun frigates listed by Busk were Leda class ships. The Ledas were about 150' long on the lower deck, 125' on the keel, 40' beam, displacement around 1500 tons. These were originally 18-pr frigates with 28 of these and various smaller guns and carronades. By the 1840s many of these ships were rated as 6th rate spar deck corvettes. In service Trincomalee, and presumably others, carried 26 guns including 14 32-prs. The surviving Leda class frigates Unicorn and Trincomalee are worth a visit if you are nearby. Unicorn is at Dundee http://www.frigateunicorn.org/

Page 24 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain and Trincomalee is at Hartlepool http://www.hms-trincomalee.co.uk/. Lambert has written a book about Trincomalee and I am told that Unicorn Trust is producing a CD of information on the ship, which should be available soon.

Laurel and Sirius were 42 gun frigates, which were not Ledas. They were part of the Lively class, 154' on the lower deck, 39'5" beam and 13'6" depth of hold.

Name When Guns Ton- Station Built nage Corvettes and Sloops Castor 1832 36 1293 Chatham *Niobe 1849 28 1051 Devonport *Diamond 1848 27 1051 Chatham Amazon 1821 26 1078 Liverpool Amphitrite 1816 24 1064 Devonport Daedalus 1828 20 1083 Chatham Brilliant 1814 20 954 Chatham Havannah 1811 19 949 Pacific *Amethyst 1845 26 923 Pacific *Juno 1843 26 923 Portsmouth Vestal 1833 26 913 Chatham Cleopatra 1835 26 918 Chatham *Alarm 1845 26 910 Pacific *Iris 1841 26 906 Australia *Creole 1845 26 911 Devonport *Spartan 1841 26 911 Devonport *Eurydice 1843 26 908 Chatham Daphne 1838 18 726 Chatham Dido 1836 18 734 Sheerness *Calypso 1845 18 731 Pacific *Arachne 1847 18 602 North America *Terpsichore 1847 18 602 Chatham *Frolic 1842 16 511 Chatham Modeste 1837 18 562 Sheerness Siren 1841 16 549 South America *Camilla 1847 16 549 East Indies *Helena 1843 16 549 Portsmouth *Musquito 1851 16 549 Devonport *Rover 1853 16 560 Devonport Pilot 1838 12 485 Devonport *Heron 1847 12 482 West Africa *Kangaroo 1852 12 483 Devonport *Elk 1847 12 482 Australia Grecian 1838 12 484 Devonport Bittern 1840 12 484 East Indies Fantome 1859 12 483 Chatham Persian 1839 12 484 South Africa Acorn 1838 12 485 East Indies *Martin 1850 12 481 Devonport *Mariner 1846 12 481 Chatham

Page 25 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

Name When Guns Ton- Station Built nage *Albatross 1842 12 484 Chatham *Despatch 1851 12 483 Chatham *Arab 1847 12 481 Chatham Contest 1846 12 459 Portsmouth Electra 1837 14 462 Chatham Comus 1828 14 462 Chatham Larne 1829 14 463 Sheerness Champion 1824 14 456 Portsmouth *Espiegle 1844 12 443 Sheerness *Squirrel 1853 12 428 Devonport *Daring 1844 12 426 Chatham *Liberty 1850 12 428 Devonport Hyacinth 1829 14 435 Portsmouth Hazard 1837 14 431 Portsmouth Favourite 1829 14 434 Devonport Racehorse 1830 14 438 Devonport Childers 1827 12 385 Chatham

Many corvettes and sloops became Coast Guard watch vessels, training ships and hulks in the early 1860s.

Among 6th rates, Eurydice was 141' long and 39' beam, armed with 2 8" 52cwt and 16 32-pr 40cwt on the main deck and 2 32-pr 42cwt and 632-pr 25cwt on the quarterdeck. Niobe was sold to the Prussians and Groener lists her as 1590 tons displacement, 43m29 on the waterline, 12m80 beam and 5m39 deep draft. Castor displaced 1800 tons, dimensions unknown, Brilliant about 1410 tons. Castor was originally an enlarged 44 gun frigate, but the general increase in weight of armaments meant she became a 36 armed with 32-pr guns: 22 long guns of 55cwt on the main deck and 14 17cwt carronades on the upper deck. Castor's sister Ambuscade was renamed Amphion and converted to a screw frigate while on the stocks.

As for sloops, Musquito and Rover were also sold to Prussia and were 627 tons displacement, 34m10 long on the waterline, 10m30 beam and 4m60 draft. Champion was 110' x 31', originally armed with 16 32-pr and 2 9-pr carronades. Pilot class sloops, ships from Pilot to Arab inclusive in the list, were about 105' on deck, 82' keel x 33-34' beam and originally armed with 16 32-pr or 14 32-pr and 2 18-pr, presumably the 32-pr guns would be 17cwt carronades or 25cwt short guns.

Name When Guns Ton- Station Built nage Brigs *Atalanta 1847 16 549 North America *Jumna 1848 16 549 Chatham *Kingfisher 1845 12 446 Devonport Swift 1835 6 361 unk, Packet Brig Ferret 1840 8 358 Devonport, Packet Brig Heroine 1839 8 359 Devonport, Packet Brig Crane 1839 6 359 Devonport, Packet Brig

Page 26 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

Name When Guns Ton- Station Built nage Hound 1846 8 358 Devonport, Packet Brig Express 1835 6 362 Devonport, Packet Brig Sealark 1843 8 319 Portsmouth Waterwitch 1837 8 319 Sheerness, ex-Yacht Rattlesnake 1822 8 503 Chatham Hercules - 2 - Hong Kong

The Packet Brigs of the Star class were 95' long on the lower deck, 75' on the keel, 30'3" beam, 14'10" depth of hold. As Brigs they were armed with 6 or 8 32-pr guns, as packets they had carried 3 small guns.

Brigantines and Schooners Dolphin 1836 3 319 Chatham Bonetta 1836 3 319 Deptford Spy 1841 3 320 South America Kertch 1855 2 94 Azov 1855 2 94 Devonport CUTTERS Seaflower 1830 4 116 Portsmouth Snipe 1828 2 122 Devonport Gossamer 1821 - 48 Sheerness Hulks, Store and Depot Ships Carnatic 1823 72 1790 Portsmouth, Store Ship *Calcutta 1831 84 2299 East Indies, Coal Hulk Dreadnought 1808 120 2616 Greenwich, Hospital Ship Imaum 1826 72 1776 Jamaica, Receiving Ship Thisbe 1824 42 1083 Devonport, unknown service Nereus 1821 42 1095 Valparaiso, Store Ship Naiad 1797 42 1020 Callao, Coal Depot Inconstant 1836 36 1422 Cork, unknown service Tortoise 1806 12 962 Ascension Island Resistance 1805 10 181 Chatham, Diving Bell Vessel Crocodile 1825 8 500 Off the Tower of London Belleisle 1819 6 1706 East Indies, Hospital Ship Tyne 1826 4 600 Chatham, Store Ship Atholl 4 Greenock, unknown service Aeolus 1825 46 1035 Portsmouth, Store Ship Minden 1810 - 1721 Hong Kong, Hospital Hulk Madagascar 1822 46 1167 Rio de Janiero, Store Ship Volage 1825 28 581 Chatham, Powder Depot Seringapatam 1819 46 1152 South Africa, Coal Hulk Mermaid 1825 46 1085 Woolwich, Powder Hulk Water-rail no information North Star 1824 28 501 Chatham, unknown service Saturn 1786 72 unk Pembroke, Quarantine Hulk Melville 1817 74 1768 East Indies, Hospital Ship Africa 1803 36 946 Gibraltar, Hulk Pallas 1816 36 951 Devonport, Coal Hulk

Page 27 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

Name When Guns Ton- Station Built nage Conquestador 1810 50 unk Woolwich, Razee, Powder Hulk Conway 1832 26 652 Liverpool, Training Ship Carysfort 1836 26 911 Portsmouth, Receiving Ship Talbot 1824 22 500 Sheerness, Powder Hulk Dublin 1812 50 1772 Devonport, Receiving Hulk Pitt 1816 74 1751 Portsmouth, Coal Hulk Orestes 1824 18 460 Portsmouth, Coal Hulk Columbine 1826 18 492 East Indies, Coal Hulk Aigle 1801 36 990 unknown loc., Coal Hulk Alligator 1821 28 500 unknown Andromache 1832 28 709 Pembroke, Powder Hulk Bacchus 1817 46 1085 Devonport, Coal Hulk Blanche 1819 46 1074 Portsmouth, Receiving Hulk Blonde 1819 46 1103 Portsmouth, Receiving Hulk

This is a rather incomplete list. Defying the usual fate of hulks, Calcutta was commissioned as a experimental gunnery ship at Portsmouth from 1865.

Gunnery Training Ships Illustrious 1803 74 1746 Portsmouth, carries 26 guns Excellent 1810 101 2289 Portsouth, carries 46 guns Cambridge 1815 78 2139 Devonport, carries 48 guns Queen Charlotte 1810 104 2155 Sheerness, in ordinary Tenders Woodlark no information, Woolwich Thames 1805 - 65 Sheerness, Cutter Hope 1824 - - Sheerness, Packet Sloop Hart 1822 - - Sheerness Gipsy 1836 - - Queenstown, Cutter Adelaide 1848 - 140 Sierra Leone Ceres - - - Portsmouth Sylph 1827 - 70 Devonport, Cutter Fanny 1831 - 136 Portsmouth, Yacht Mercury 1837 - 70 Portsmouth, Cutter Netley 1823 8 122 North America, Cutter Kingston 1858 - 109 Jamaica, Schooner Gulnare 1855 - 31 Survey Cutter Cuba - - - Jamaica, Schooner Rolla 1829 6 231 Portsmouth, Sloop Nautilus 1830 6 233 Devonport, Training Ship Cerus (Ceres ?) - - - Portsmouth Chatham 1813 - 1691 Chatham, Sheer Hulk Badger 1808 10 240 Capetown, Mooring Vessel Bramble 1822 10 161 Diving Bell Vessel

Page 28 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

Mortar Vessels and Mortar Floats Busk reports that there were 46 mortar vessels of between 120 and 170 tons burthen and 150 mortar floats. At least 56 mortar vessels and 50 floats were built during the Crimean War; others were bought or converted from harbour service craft.

The most common type of mortar vessel was of 166 tons burthen, 75' long, 23'4" beam and 9'4" depth of hold. The initial type of float, built in iron, was 60' long, 20' beam and 5'8" draft. Both carried a 13-inch sea service mortar fixed at 45 degrees elevation, range being altered by varying the charge. The mortar shell weighed 196lb 12oz and ranged to 4200yds with a 20lb charge. A shell took 31 seconds to cover that distance.

Notes

Ship Design

Surveyor Sir Baldwin Walker responsible for setting out the design of ships with Assistant Surveyors John Edye and Isaac Watts doing the technical work with their assistants. Watts and Edye were experienced shipwrights, Walker an experienced sea officer and former commander of the Ottoman Navy. Engineering design was the responsibility of Chief Engineer Thomas Lloyd, his assistants and the civilian contractors who built the engines. Construction and detailed design work was the province of the Master Shipwrights in the dockyards. In April 1859, these were Richard Abethell at Portsmouth, James Peake at Portsmouth, H. Cradock at Pembroke, Oliver W. Lang at Chatham, William Henwood at Sheerness, W.M. Rice at Woolwich and H. Chatfield at Deptford. Excepting Walker, who did not design ships, Edye and the younger Lang, these men were all graduates of the School of Naval Architecture. Lang had received a comparable technical and scientific education privately from his father. Only Edye fits the received image of the self- taught Victorian engineer.

Walker retired, returning to sea service, in 1861. Edye too retired at about that time. The Surveyorship was abolished with Rear-Admiral Robert Spencer Robinson as Controller effectively replacing Walker. Isaac Watts became the first Chief Constructor, a post that later became the Director of Naval Construction. Edward James Reid followed Watts in 1863 and Reed's brother-in-law Nathaniel Barnaby headed the constructors’ corps from 1870 to 1885.

Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics

British ships usually, but not always, underwent measured mile speed trials before their engines were accepted. It is often asserted that measured mile trials have no relation to speed at sea. In fact, at least as far as larger ships were concerned, speeds on the measured mile and speeds on the occasional longer trials, hours and sometimes days at sea, were remarkably similar. But for small ships, sea speeds in the North Atlantic or the Channel would be a great deal less than those achieved in sheltered waters.

Page 29 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

The Admiralty employed builders’ old measurement to indicate the tonnage of their ships well into the ironclad age. Unfortunately, unless someone actually measured the displacement of a ship, there is no way to relate burthen to displacement.

Nominal horsepower were employed to order engines and to describe ships. Although the indicated horsepower was in no way directly related to the nominal power, experience with different contractors gave a good idea of the indicated power that could be expected. Price was closely related to nominal power. Circa 1860, machinery was said by Busk to weigh around 14cwt per nominal horsepower and Meade gave the same rule of thumb in 1869. For large simple expansion engines, say 500 NHP and up, this appears to work well, but it does not give accurate results for small simple expansion engines nor for compound engines.

Useful Trivia

Brown gives a table of data, usually only found in Groener's encyclopaedia, showing tons per one-inch increase in displacement at the load line for various sorts of ships. For circa 1840 ships, the values were as follows: 120 gun, 24 tons; 80 gun, 21.5 tons; 74 guns, 17.75 tons; 50 gun razee frigate, 17 tons; 52 gun frigate, 16 tons; 46 gun frigate, 16 tons; 26 gun razee corvette, 11.5 tons; 28 gun frigate, 7.5 tons; 18 gun corvette, 7 tons; 18 gun gun brig, 5.75 tons; 10 gun gun brig, 4.5 tons; schooner, 3.5 tons; cutter, 2.75 tons; 92 gun ship London, 23.5 tons; 36 gun frigate Castor, 14.7 tons; 50 gun frigate Vernon, 18.5 tons; 18 gun corvette Rover, 7.25 tons; 16 gun sloop Snake, 5.75 tons. Also, the paddle frigate Penelope, 20 tons per inch at load displacement.

For line of battle ships, shot and powder at 100 rounds per gun weighed less than guns and carriages. But for small ships the actual weight of guns and carriages was less, sometimes much less, than the weight of powder and shot.

Guns

The Admiralty neither made nor developed artillery until long after the ironclad period had ended. Until 1856 that was done for both services by the Ordnance and afterwards by the Ordnance Board of the War Office. Those guns referred to as shell guns were, so far as the Ordnance were concerned, howitzers although naval sources usually only use this word to describe smaller 12- and 24-pr field howitzers aboard ships. Since there were no naval guns as such, the same basic weapons were used ashore and afloat, up to and including the 68-pr and the 10-inch howitzer or shell gun, with only very minor differences between land and sea service guns.

The main smooth bore guns in 1859 and afterwards were 32-pr, 8- and 10-inch pieces.

32-pr weapons included: 9'6" long guns, 6.41-inch, weighing 63, 58 and 56 hundredweights, with the 58cwt gun being the standard piece; 9' long guns, 6.41-inch, weighing 50cwt, both new guns and bored-up 24-prs; 8' long guns, 6.35-inch, weighing 42cwt for new pieces and 41cwt for bored up guns; 6' long guns, 6.3-inch, weighing 25cwt for new guns and for bored-up 18-prs;

Page 30 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

4' long carronades, 6.25-inch, weighing 17cwt.

As well as 32-pr solid shot all 32-pr guns could fire 26lb shell although the scale of issue is unknown. Grape shot was issued at a scale of less than one round in forty aboard a 3-decker and probably even fewer on smaller ships.

8-inch guns included: 10' long, 8.12-inch, 68-pr guns, 95cwt for new guns and 112cwt for most old ones; 9' long, 8.05-inch, shell guns weighing 65cwt; 8' long, 8.05-inch, shell guns weighing 52cwt.

Solid shot weighed 67-72lbs, hollow shot 56lb and shell 50lb. To begin with, 8-inch shell guns were issued with about 5 hollow shot for every 3 shells on a 3-decker and half each in everything smaller. The 8-inch shell guns were sometimes referred to as 68- or 56-pr guns and could fire 68-pr solid shot with reduced charges. If the weight of the piece is quoted there can be no confusion. If not, a broadside battery of "68-pr" guns almost certainly means 65cwt shell guns rather than 95cwt solid shot guns. The certain exceptions to this rule were a few very large ships such as Mersey, Orlando and early armoured frigates.

The only other large smooth bore gun found afloat by 1859 was the 10-inch shell gun. The 10' long version weighed about 85cwt and the shorter version about 67cwt. These may have been referred to as 98-pr guns and were called 84-pr guns in some reports. They fired hollow shot weighing 84lbs and shell weighing 80lbs. The calibre is reported as 10 inches, but 9.5 inches seems rather more likely, especially if the 10- inch 85cwt is the otherwise mysterious 98-pr. Measuring a gun, or the plans for one, would settle the matter.

The 56-pr 7.65-inch 97cwt and 42-pr 7-inch 84cwt guns and the 42-pr 22cwt and 68- pr 36cwt carronades had seen little use in the 1850s and saw none later. Tucker, relying on General Douglas, says that the 56-pr was a very popular weapon but that is simply not borne out by the evidence unless Douglas meant the 8-inch shell gun rather than Monk's solid shot piece that Tucker thinks he meant. Some 18- and 24-pr long guns and carronades were in still use but most had been converted to 32-prs or melted down for scrap. The only sea service mortar was the 13-inch of 101cwt already described.

HMS Excellent's firing trials against the old 74 Leviathan and canvas screen targets in 1847 gave the following results, with the firing at 1500 & 2000 yards being from shore and the longer ranges from HMS Excellent: the average for all guns at 1500 yards was 75% hits and at 2000 yards 45%; at 2500 yards 32-pr solid shot with 10 lb charges, 56-pr solid shot with 14lb charges and 68-pr solid shot with 14 or 15lb charges got 25% hits and at 3000 yards 11-12%; 8- and 10-inch hollow shot with 10 and 12 lb charges respectively and 32-pr shot with 7 or 8 lb charges got 22% hits at 2500 yards and 8-9% at 3000 yards. The accuracy of shell was about 25% lower at all ranges. Further, a significant proportion of time-fused shells did not explode after passing through the sides of a ship.

Page 31 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

These figures represent firing in near ideal conditions with crack crews. In 1980, the accuracy of a modern stabilised high-velocity naval gun fell to one-third of the ideal in moderate seas. For low-velocity mid-C19th guns, the reduction would be very much greater. If we consider shell guns fired at sea, at 3000 yards there would be around 6-7% chance of hitting a 74-sized target in a flat calm and nearer 2% in any sort of seaway. As for smaller guns, a 24-pr long gun would be unlikely to penetrate the sides of a modern wooden battleship at ranges of half a mile.

Congreve rockets were used aboard some small paddle steamers and on ships' boats. These were augmented by similar Boxer rockets in the 1860s and very shortly afterwards the spun Hale rocket replaced the Boxer and the Congreve. For details of British service rockets see http://www.rockets.org.uk/ .

The Armstrong rifled breech loading gun had been selected by the War Office as a replacement for smoothbore muzzle loading pieces. The Armstrong guns appeared in sizes from 6- to 110-pr, of which the smallest and largest were the least successful. The 7-inch 110-pr was of built up construction. All sea service guns weighed 82cwt and the bore was 14 calibres long. The rifling had 76 groves with a twist of one turn in 37 calibres. Initially, the only ammunition provided was 102lb segment shell which could be fired with or without a 3lb 2oz bursting charge. Later natures included solid shot of about 110lb, 12 inches long, common shell of 106lb, 18 inches long and 67lb case shot. The range and accuracy of the gun was good so long as the barrel was kept scrupulously clean, otherwise it rapidly became a smooth bore piece. The gun barrels were strongly built but the breech mechanism was complex and very far from sailor- proof.

The most common Armstrong afloat was the 40-pr, rather more useful and reliable than it's larger siblings. The 4.75-inch 40-pr weighed 32cwt, 35cwt in later guns with improved breech, and was 10' long. The bore was 22 calibres long with 56 grooves. Segment shell weighed 39lb, solid shot 41lb, common shell and case shot 31lb.

The 3.75-inch 20-pr 15cwt was used on many smaller ships. The less common 13cwt model was a boat gun for large launches. The 3-inch 12-pr of 8cwt, 28 calibres long for early guns and 24 for later ones, was issued for smaller launches while the lighter horse artillery 3-inch 9-pr of 6cwt was standard for barges and pinnaces. The 9- and 12-pr guns were also used with landing parties as was the 2.5-inch 6-pr 3cwt pack gun, which had turned out to be too heavy for the average mule. For the smaller guns only common and segment shell were produced, case effect being produced by setting the time fuses to zero. For any ship not issued with Armstrongs, boats might carry 12- or 24-pr carronades, 6-pr brass field guns or 24-pr field howitzers.

Armstrong's RML "Shunt" guns were not used in any significant number and neither was the 6.4-inch 70-pr (63cwt ?) RBL. Whitworth's hexagonal bore rifled guns were not used at all, nor were any Blakely guns or any rifled howitzers. Somerset 100- and 156-pr guns were introduced as a stop-gap while rifled muzzle-loading guns were developed and neither was ever very common.

Page 32 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain

Merchant Shipping, Machinery, Shipbuilding, Iron, Steel & Coal

The British Empire's merchant marine was the largest in the world, around half a million tons larger than the American one if US inland shipping is included, over twice as large when only oceangoing tonnage is considered. As already mentioned, claims that the US merchant marine as collapsed as a result of the Civil War completely ignore the vast fleets of American ships on the lakes and rivers.

The United Kingdom had 4.2 million gross tons of sailing ships registered in 1860 and 454 thousand tons of steamers, with another 1.1 million tons of sailing ships and 46 thousand tons of steamers registered in British possessions. Sailing tonnage rose slightly through 1870 and then fell off, the tonnage of steamers roughly doubled every decade from 1860 to 1890 and doubled again between 1890 and 1910. In 1859, the British led in building seagoing merchant steamers. They certainly did not lead in steamers as a whole and American sailing merchant ships were probably superior to British ones so long as sail remained important.

The Royal Navy did not built engines, private industry supplied naval requirements. There were large workshops for repair at Woolwich and other navy yards. In 1859, John Penn and Maudslay, Son & Field were the favoured contractors for large engines. Penn specialised in trunk engines, Maudslay in return connecting rod ones. Among the other engine builders, Humphreys, Tennant & Dyke were probably the next most favoured and preferred direct acting engines. Of the shipbuilders, only Napiers & Scotts did much business supplying engines for other people's warships. British machinery powered Russian, Turkish, Danish, Prussian, Italian, Spanish and even some French warships.

As a matter of policy, the Admiralty tried to avoid ordering large ships from private shipyards. The dockyards at Pembroke Dock, Portsmouth, Devonport, Chatham, Sheerness, Woolwich and Deptford were large and well equipped although none had any experience of building iron ships. The Admiralty made much use of steam power and machinery in working these yards, including ordering some early steam traction engines to work at Woolwich. The overseas bases at Cork (aka Queenstown), Malta, Gibraltar, Bermuda, Jamaica, Cape Town, Antigua, Halifax, Quebec, Trincomalee, Bombay and Kingston on Lake Ontario included a Master Shipwright among the staff, but none built any significant ships in this period.

There was a large private shipbuilding industry and many smaller ships were ordered from private yards. The Thames shipbuilders faced rising competition from the newer industries on Clyde, the Tyne & Tees and the Mersey, but it was still the most important area in 1859 so far as the Admiralty were concerned. The two largest shipbuilding companies were the Scott Russell yard, later the Millwall Iron Works, and the Thames Iron Works, formerly Ditchburn & Mare. Scott Russell's yard employed over 4000 workers, covered 27 acres and had a frontage of 1900'. Thames was slightly smaller. Both of these yards produced their own iron although Thames Iron did not have a large rolling mill.

Away from the Thames, Rogerson on the Tyne owned an iron works at Consett, which supplied his yard and it's 11 or 12 building berths. The Laird Brothers yard on the Mersey covered 19 acres and included a rolling mill, a 410' dry dock and half a

Page 33 of 34 World Navies circa 1859 – from Hans Busk and Other Sources – Part II – Great Britain dozen building slips. Napiers on the Clyde were of similar size. Other major iron shipbuilders included J & G Thompson, Connel, Palmers, Mitchell, Mare and the Samuda Brothers. Some of the Mersey builders, led by Jones & Quiggin, experimented with building ships from Bessemer semi-steel in the early 1860s although naval use of steel was very limited. Mitchell & Swan, whose yard was later bought by Armstrong, owned a shipyard in St Petersburg. Wigrams and Greens were the last of the old wooden warship builders of the Napoleonic Wars still doing much work for the Admiralty. Of major iron founders, only Fawcett, Preston & Co were involved in ship building by this time. The only major late Victorian & Edwardian naval shipyards, which did not exist in some form in 1859 appear to be Vickers' Barrow yard and Yarrows.

British iron and steel led the world; output being about four times as large as the next country - France - and over twice as large as the combined output of France and the USA. Over one-third of the iron was exported. Germany, the Netherlands, France and the United States accounted for three quarters of the pig iron exports and the United States took a quarter of the bar and railroad iron exported. Britain's lead in steel over France was considerably less than for iron with Britain producing about 60,000 tons and France about 30,000 tons. By way of comparison, the US produced about 10,000 tons and imported more than that from Britain.

Britain produced more coal than any other country by a large margin, around 80 million tons. Apart from the USA, with plentiful supplies of excellent Pennsylvania anthracite, most significant naval powers relied on British sources for good steam coal at this time. This was a matter that particularly worried the French. Poor quality steam coal would turn even the best of steamers into a plodder and make the lives of engineers and stokers a misery. Trial speeds and other best reported speeds would always have been achieved burning good quality anthracite coal. Part I Part I (a separate document) continues with the Navies of the rest of the world.

Page 34 of 34