HMS Royal William (1833)

HMS Royal William was a 120-gun first rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 2 April 1833 at Pembroke Dock.[1]

History
UK
Name:	HMS Royal William
Ordered:	30 December 1823
Builder:	Pembroke Dockyard
Laid down:	October 1825
Launched:	2 April 1833
Fate:	Burnt, 1899
General characteristics [1]
Class and type:	Broadened Caledonia-class ship of the line
Tons burthen:	2694 bm
Length:	205 ft 5.5 in (62.624 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	54 ft 6 in (16.61 m)
Depth of hold:	23 ft 2 in (7.06 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full-rigged ship
Armament:	120 guns: Gundeck: 30 × 32 pdrs, 2 × 68-pdr carronades Middle gundeck: 34 × 32 pdrs Upper gundeck: 34 × 32 pdrs Quarterdeck: 2 × 18 pdrs, 14 × 32 pdr carronades Forecastle: 2 × 18 pdrs, 2 × 32 pdr carronades

Figurehead of the Royal William at HMNB Devonport

Royal William was fitted with screw propulsion in 1860.[1] She later was lent to the Liverpool Roman Catholic Reformatory Society, who renamed her Clarence.[2] Clarence was destroyed by arson on 26 July 1899 on the River Mersey near New Ferry on the Wirral Peninsula in England.[2][3]

The figurehead of Royal William (in its original state) was for many years placed beside the historic 1775 Mutton Cove "covered slip number 1" in Plymouth harbour. In the 1990s it was replaced by a fiberglass copy, the wooden original is now preserved in The Box, Plymouth.

Notes

1. Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1, p190.
2. "A Reformatory Ship Destroyed By Fire". The Times (35892): Col A, p. 6. 27 July 1899.
3. Anonymous, Reports from Commissioners, Inspectors, and Others: Reformatories and Industrial Schools; Public Record; Public Records (Ireland), Volume XLIII, 1900, p. 46.

References

• Lavery, Brian (2003) The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.
• Lyon, David and Winfield, Rif (2004) The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815-1889. Chatham Publishing, London. ISBN 1-86176-032-9.