HMS Actaeon (1831)

History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Actaeon
Ordered: 23 October 1827
Builder: Portsmouth Dockyard
Laid down: September 1828
Launched: 31 January 1831
Commissioned: 16 April 1831
Reclassified:
Fate: Sold for breaking up in February 1889
General characteristics
Class and type: Sixth-rate frigate
Tons burthen: 620 bm
Length:
  • 121 ft 6 in (37.03 m) (overall)
  • 100 ft 4 in (30.58 m) (keel)
Beam: 34 ft (10.4 m)
Draught: 9 ft 7 in (2.92 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Complement: 175
Armament:
  • 26 guns
  • Upper deck: 20 × 32-pounder gunnades
  • Quarter deck: 4 × 32-pounder carronades
  • Forecastle: 2 × 9-pounder (or 2 × 32-pounder carronades)

HMS Actaeon was a 26-gun sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.

Career

Actaeon was designed in 1827 by the School of Naval Architecture, and launched from Portsmouth Dockyard on 31 January 1831. She was first commissioned in November 1830 under Captain Frederick William Grey for service in the Mediterranean, followed by service off South America from November 1834 under Captain Lord Edward Russell where she was involved in the chartering of the Acteon Group: a group of islands named by Russell after this vessel. By 1838 she was back in Portsmouth under the command of Robert Russell, who sailed her back to South America in August that year.

On 23 July 1840, she ran aground at Buenos Aires, Argentina whilst on a voyage from that port to Monte Video, Uruguay. She was refloated with assistance from USS Marion, French Navy and Royal Navy vessels.[1]

West Africa Squadron

Actaeon wasreturned to Plymouth in 1844, before departing under Captain George Mansel in December 1844 to join the West Africa Squadfam. Whilst serving on this post, she captured the slavers Astrea and Theresa on 9 September 1847.

Survey vessel

She was paid off at Portsmouth in 1848, but was recommissioned again in 1857 to serve as a survey vessel off "the coast of China and Tartary", under the command of Captain William Thornton Bate. She was then present at the bombardment of Canton in 1857, during the Second Opium War, where Bate was shot and killed on 29 December. He was replaced by Robert Jenkins on 30 December, and then by John Ward on 1 March 1858. Ward carried out surveys for further military operations in August 1859, before returning to Britain. Actaeon was at Shanghai on the night of Sunday, 7 April 1861 for the British census. Actaeon Sound in the Queen Charlotte Strait region of British Columbia, Canada, was named for the Actaeon in 1865,[2] with many neighbouring features named in association with its crew and captain in the general area of Drury Inlet.[3]

Actaeon was then out of commission at Portsmouth in 1866, becoming a hospital ship. She was hulked in 1870 and lent to the Cork Harbour Board, before being sold at Portsmouth in February 1889 for breaking up.

References

  1. ↑ "The Portsmouth, Portsea, and Gosport Herald". Hampshire Advertiser and Salisbury Guardian (906). Southampton. 28 November 1840.
  2. ↑ "Actaeon Sound". BC Geographical Names.
  3. ↑ BC Names/GeoBC entry "Drury Inlet
  • Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.
  • Lyon, David and Winfield, Rif, The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815-1889, pub Chatham, 2004, ISBN 1-86176-032-9
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