HMS Reynard (1848)

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

The ship's company of Reynard on a raft, with the ship aground behind them near Pratas Island in 1851
History
Royal Navy EnsignUnited Kingdom
NameHMS Reynard
Ordered
  • 25 April 1847
  • Re-ordered 12 August 1847
BuilderDeptford dockyard
Cost
  • £10,262 (hull)
  • £8,625 (machinery and fitting)
Laid downAugust 1847
Launched21 March 1848
Commissioned4 July 1848
FateWrecked 31 May 1851
General characteristics
TypeScrew sloop
Displacement656 tons
Tons burthen516 37/94 bm
Length
  • 147 ft 0 in (44.8 m) gundeck
  • 128 ft 4+1⁄2 in (39.1 m) keel for tonnage
Beam27 ft 10 in (8.5 m) maximum, 27 ft 6 in (8.4 m) for tonnage
Draught11 ft 6 in (3.5 m) mean
Depth of hold14 ft 6 in (4.4 m)
Installed power
Propulsion
  • 2-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engine
  • Single screw
Speed8.2 kn (15.2 km/h) under power
Complement100
Armament
  • 8 guns:
  • 2 × 32-pdr (56cwt) muzzle-loading smooth-bore guns
  • 6 × 32-pdr (25cwt) muzzle-loading smooth-bore guns

HMS Reynard was part of the 1847 Program, she was ordered on 25 April as a steam schooner from Deptford Dockyard with the name ‘Plumper’.[1] The vessel was reordered on 12 August as an 8-gun sloop as designed by John Edye. She was launched in 1848, conducted anti-piracy work in Chinese waters and was wrecked near Pratas Island in the South China Sea on 31 May 1851.[2]

Reynard was the seventh named vessel (spelt Renard or Reynard) since it was introduced for a 18-gun sloop captured from the French on May 1780 by HMS Brune in the West Indies and broken in 1784.[3]

Construction

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Reynard’s keel was laid in August 1847 at Deptford Dockyard and launched on 21 March 1848. Her gundeck was 147 ft 0 in (44.8 m) with her keel length reported for tonnage calculation of 128 ft 4.5 in (39.1 m). Her maximum breadth was 27 ft 10 in (8.5 m) reported for tonnage was 27 ft 6 in (8.4 m). She had a depth of hold of 14 feet 6 inches 14 ft 6 in (4.4 m). Her builder’s measure tonnage was 516 tons and displaced 656 tons. Her light draught forward was 10 ft 1.5 in (3.1 m) and 11 ft 8 in (3.6 m) aft.[1][2]

Her machinery was supplied by George & John Rennie. She shipped two rectangular fire tube boilers. Her engine was a 2-cylinder horizontal single expansion (HSE) steam engine with cylinders of 28 in (711.2 mm) in diameter with a 24 in (609.6 mm) stroke, rated at 60 nominal horsepower (NHP). She had a single 8 ft 3 in (2.5 m) screw propeller.[1][2]

Her main armament consisted of two Blomefield 32-pounder 56 hundredweight (cwt) muzzle loading smooth bore (MLSB) 9 ft 6 in (2.9 m) solid shot guns and six Blomefield (bored up from 18-pounders) 32-pounder 25 cwt MLSB 6-foot 6 ft 0 in (1.8 m) solid shot guns on broadside trucks. The 56 cwt guns had a 6.41 inch bore whereas the 25 cwt guns had a bore of 6.3. Both fired a 32-pound solid shot.[1][2]

Trials

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During steam trials her engine generated 165 indicated horsepower (IHP) for a speed of 8.238 knots.[1][2]

Reynard was completed for sea on 1 August 1848 at a cost for hull £10,262 and machinery and fitting £8,625.[1][2]

Commissioned Service

[edit]
Map of Tung-sha Tao (Pratas Island) showing the location of the wreck of HMS Reynard near the SE Bend (NAVOCEANO, 1969)
The original plans of Reynard

She was commissioned on 4 July 1848 at Woolwich under Commander Peter Cracroft, RN for Particular Service[4] with Sir Charles Napier’s Western Squadron. On 15 September 1848, she ran aground at Cobh, County Cork. She was refloated.[5] Reynard took part in an abortive amphibious landing against Riff pirates in February 1849.[6]

On leaving the Channel Fleet. she sailed for the East Indies, leaving Singapore in company with HMS Cleopatra for Labuan and China on 10 October 1849,[7] and arriving in Hong Kong on 14 November. She served on the China Station in an anti-piracy role, recapturing two junks and apprehending 15 Chinese pirates on 23 March 1850.[8] She left Hong Kong to return to Woolwich to pay off, but on her way was required to accompany the brig HMS Pilot to rescue the crew of the brig Velocipede, which had run aground on Pratas shoal, 170 miles (150 nautical miles; 270 kilometres) southeast of Hong Kong.[9][10]

Fate

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In rescuing the crew of Velocipede, Reynard herself was wrecked near Pratas Island in the South China Sea on 31 May 1851. The whole crew survived the sinking. HMS Pilot rescued them and also the crew of Velocipede.[9][10] Reynard could not be saved, and she was paid off as a total loss on 27 February 1852.[9]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Winfield
  2. ^ a b c d e f Lyon Winfield, page 213
  3. ^ Colledge
  4. ^ The Navy List, Item 487
  5. ^ "Ireland". The Morning Chronicle. No. 24619. London. 16 September 1848.
  6. ^ Piracy and Maritime Crime, Historical and Modern Case Studies, Naval War College Press, Newport, Rhode Island. Newport Paper 35, January 2010. ISBN 978-1-884733-65-9.
  7. ^ "Shipping News". The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser. Newspapers.nl.sg. 6 November 1849. p. 3. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
  8. ^ "Expedition against pirates - the Reynard". South Australian. Adelaide. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  9. ^ a b c "HMS Reynard". William Loney website. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  10. ^ a b "The Navy". The Standard. No. 8430. London. 18 August 1851.

References

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  • Lyon Winfield, The Sail & Steam Navy List, All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815 to 1889, by David Lyon & Rif Winfield, published by Chatham Publishing, London © 2004, ISBN 1-86176-032-9
  • The Navy List, published by His Majesty's Stationery Office, London
  • Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail (1817 – 1863), by Rif Winfield, published by Seaforth Publishing, England © 2014, eISBN 9781473837430, Chapter 12 Screw Sloops, Vessels ordered or reordered as steam screw sloops (from 1845), Reynard
  • Colledge, Ships of the Royal Navy, by J.J. Colledge, revised and updated by Lt Cdr Ben Warlow and Steve Bush, published by Seaforth Publishing, Barnsley, Great Britain, © 2020, e ISBN 978-1-5267-9328-7 (EPUB), Section P (Plumper, Renard, Reynard)

20°36′38″N 116°51′48″E / 20.61056°N 116.86333°E / 20.61056; 116.86333

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