HMS Galatea (1859)

HMS Galatea was a Jason-class[1] 26-gun, sixth-rate, wooden screw frigate in the Royal Navy, launched in 1859 and broken up 1883.

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

HMS Galatea pictured c.1868.
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Galatea
Ordered: 9 April 1856
Builder:
Laid down: 2 February 1857
Launched: 14 September 1859
Completed: By February 1862
Fate: Broken up in June 1883
General characteristics
Class and type: Jason-class corvette
Displacement: 4,686 tons
Tons burthen: 3,227 bm
Length:
  • 280 ft (85.3 m) (overall)
  • 245 ft 8 in (74.9 m) (keel)
Beam: 50 ft (15.2 m)
Depth of hold: 19 ft 4 in (5.89 m)
Propulsion:
  • Sails
  • 2-cyl. horizontal single expansion
  • Rectangular boilers
  • Single screw
  • 800 nhp
  • 3,061 ihp = 11.796 kn
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Complement: 450
Armament:
  • Middle deck: 24 x 10 in (85 cwt) MLSB shell guns (broadside)
  • Upper deck: 2 x 68 pdr (65 cwt) MLSB (pivot-mounted)
  • Later replaced by slide-mounted 110 pdr Armstrong BLs

Service

She was first assigned to the Channel Squadron in 1862 under Captain Rochfort Maguire. From there she served both in the Baltic and the Mediterranian.[2] Then from 1863 to 1865 to the North America and West Indies Station based in Bermuda and Halifax.

On 9 November 1865 the Galatea and HMS Lily participated in a reprisal raid on Cap-Haïtien, bombarding the forts defending the harbour and landing government troops. The raid was provoked by rebel forces having attacked the British Consulate on 23 October 1865 and the loss of HMS Bulldog (1845) that same day in the fighting that followed.

In 1866, after a refit, she went on a world cruise, under the command of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh.

On 2 November 1868, she ran aground in Plymouth Sound and was damaged. It was estimated that it would take several days to repair her.[3] While in Sydney, Galatea was placed in the Fitzroy Dock at Cockatoo Island Dockyard in 1870.[4]

Paintings

While in Halifax, Galatea inspired a trio of dramatic paintings by ship portrait artist John O'Brien.[5] In 1866, after a refit, she went on a world cruise, under the command of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh.

Notes
  1. https://books.google.com/books?id=imFEBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA195&dq=Jason-class+corvette&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjgj5PjyP7lAhWNnp4KHXrtBIgQ6AEwAHoECAMQAg#v=snippet&q=Galatea&f=false
  2. The visit of the Duke of Edinborough, Daily Southern Cross, New Zealand, 10 May 1869, Page 5
  3. "Multiple News Items". Sheffield Independent (4780). Sheffield. 3 November 1868.
  4. Gillett, p.14.
  5. "O'Brien, John Daniel O'Connell" entry in Dictionary of Canadian Biography

References
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.