HMS Exmouth was a 91-gun screw-propelled Albion-class second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.
Design and construction
HMS Exmouth was ordered on 12 March 1840 as a 90-gun Albion-class sailing ship from Devonport Dockyard, where her keel was laid on 13 September 1841.[1] After over a decade on the stocks, on 30 October 1852 she was ordered to be completed as a 91-gun two-decker with steam screw propulsion, and conversion began on 20 June 1853.[2]
On 12 July 1854 Exmouth was launched by the daughter of Admiral Stopford, Admiral-superintendent of the dockyard, in the presence of a crowd estimated at 2–3,000.[2][3] She was fitted out at Devonport Dockyard, and finally commissioned for service on 15 March 1855, having cost a total of £146,067, with £76,379 being spent on the hull as a sailing ship, and a further £24,620 spent on the machinery.[2]
Naval service
In 1855, during the later stages of the Crimean War, she served in the Baltic Sea as flagship of Sir Michael Seymour.[4] On 12 May 1857, Exmouth ran aground in Crewgreace bay, west of The Lizard, Cornwall. She was refloated. Her captain, Harry Ayres was convicted of negligence by a Court Martial and was admonished. Her master, Edward Fancourt Cavell was also convicted. He was sentenced to be reprimanded and admonished.[5] She was a guard ship at Devonport by 1859, when future admiral Robert Spencer Robinson was her captain between 1 February 1858 and May 1859.
Training ship
From 1877, the Admiralty lent Exmouth to the Metropolitan Asylums Board as a training ship, based at Grays, Essex, replacing the similar Goliath, which had been destroyed by fire in December 1875.[6] These ships were recommended for boys supervised by the poor law authorities as an economic means of providing them with a career which also benefited the country.[7][8]
Disposal
Exmouth was sold by the Admiralty to George Cohen on 4 April 1905 and then broken up at Penarth, South Wales.[2]
References
- ^ Lyon & Winfield, p. 94
- ^ a b c d Lyon & Winfield, p. 187
- ^ "Launch of Her Majesty's Screw-ship Exmouth, 91 Guns". Morning Herald. No. 22172. London. 14 July 1854. p. 6. Retrieved 17 October 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ Clowes 1901, p. 478.
- ^ "The Stranding of Her Majesty's Ship Exmouth". The Times. No. 22688. London. 23 May 1857. col C, p. 12.
- ^ Lyon & Winfield, pp. 190–191
- ^ Drage, Geoffrey (February 1904). "Training ships". Children's Homes. Central Poor Law Conference. Archived from the original on 9 October 2024. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
- ^ "Training Ships". The Workhouse. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
Bibliography
- Clowes, William Laird (1901). The Royal Navy: A History from the Earliest Times to the Present. Vol. VI. London: Sampson Low, Marston and Company.
- 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.
- Lavery, Brian (1983) 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, The Sail and Steam Navy List, All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815-1889, Chatham Publishing, 2004, ISBN 1-86176-032-9
External links
- Higginbotham, Peter. "Training Ship "Exmouth", Grays, Essex". Children's Homes. Archived from the original on 13 July 2024. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
Media related to HMS Exmouth (ship, 1854) at Wikimedia Commons
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