HMS Vulcan (1849)

HMS Vulcan was an iron-hulled screw frigate of the British Royal Navy. Launched in 1849, she was converted to a troopship in 1851, and sold in 1867 as the barque Jorawur. Weighing 1,747 tons she had 14 gunports, was fitted with fore, main and mizzen masts, a funnel, a stump bowsprit, and a figurehead depicting a male figure holding a hammer. Following a trial on a target representing the side of the ship, it was decided that iron vessels were unsuitable for war purposes, and so Vulcan was completed as a transport.[2]

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

History
Name: HMS Vulcan
Namesake: Vulcan
Builder: Ditchburn & Mare, Blackwall, London
Launched: 27 January 1849
Fate: Sold, 1867
General characteristics [1]
Type: Transport / troopship
Tons burthen: 1,747 tons bm
Length:
  • 220 ft 8 in (67.26 m) (o/a)
  • 195 ft 4 in (59.54 m) (keel)
Beam: 26 ft 10 in (8.18 m)
Draught: 14 ft (4.3 m)
Propulsion: 350 hp (260 kW) steam engine, single screw
Armament: 14 guns

Ship history

From 1852 until 1855 she was under the command of Edward Pelham Brenton von Donop.[1]

Edward Sholto Douglas, R.N., son of the late Major Sholto Douglas, and nephew of the Marchioness of Queensberry, master of HMS Winchester, from which ship he was invalided at Rangoon, was lost from HMS Vulcan off Ascension Island on 27 February 1853. His body was recovered and he was buried on the island.[3]

During the Crimean War, Vulcan operated in the Black Sea, transporting wounded troops from the battle of the Alma to Constantinople in September 1854,[4] and returning with reinforcements in November.[5] A year later, in November 1855, she was taking Russian prisoners to Constantinople.[6]

In May 1858 HMS Vulcan carried 18 officers, 30 sergeants, 16 drummers, and 499 men (also 37 women and 38 children) of the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Regiment of Foot (The Buffs), from England to Malta.[7]

Augustus Chetham Strode was appointed to command her in 1859 to serve in the East Indies and China Station,[1] seeing action in combined operations under the command of Brigadier general Charles William Dunbar Staveley during the Taiping Rebellion in 1862.[8][9] On 25 January 1863, she rescued all 45 crew and 669 passengers from the merchant ship India, which had been wrecked in the Strait of Malacca three days earlier.[10][11]

References
  1. "NMM, vessel ID 378658" (PDF). Warship Histories, vol xi. National Maritime Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
  2. National Maritime Museum
  3. "Death Notices from the Wigtownshire Free Press". freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com. February 2006. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  4. "No. 21607". The London Gazette. 8 October 1854. p. 3056.
  5. "No. 21618". The London Gazette. 5 November 1854. p. v.
  6. "No. 21820". The London Gazette. 27 November 1855. p. 4526.
  7. "The British Army Garrison in Malta 1851-1880". Malta Family History. 2010. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  8. "No. 22645". The London Gazette. 18 July 1862. p. 3578.
  9. "No. 22697". The London Gazette. 9 January 1863. p. 115.
  10. "Loss of the Ship India". The Times (24521). London. 1 April 1863. col F, p. 5.
  11. "Military and Naval Intelligence". The Times (24547). London. 1 May 1863. col B, p. 12.
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