The ''Conway''-class sixth rates (later re-designated as ''Conway''-class corvettes) were a class of three 28-gun ships built for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

in the early 1830s. ''Alarm'' was cancelled in 1832 and ''Imogene'' accidentally burnt in 1840, leaving the sole survivor of the class, ''Conway'', to survive until 1871.

Design and construction

Sir Robert Seppings Sir Robert Seppings, FRS (11 December 176725 April 1840) was an English naval architect. His experiments with diagonal trusses in the construction of ships led to his appointment as Surveyor of the Navy in 1813, a position he held until 1835. Bi ...

in 1828, the ''Conway'' class were a broader version of of 1826. They were intended as sixth rates, which placed them in a category of ships with more than 24 but less than 36 guns, and commanded by an officer of the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. These ships were constructed of wood in traditional shipbuilding fashion, although iron braces and trusses were used for increased longitudinal strength. They were armed with a traditional arrangement of broadside, smoothbore muzzle-loading guns, and in common with contemporary Royal Navy practice for small ships, these guns were

carronade A carronade is a short, smoothbore, cast-iron cannon which was used by the Royal Navy. It was first produced by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, and was used from the mid-18th century to the mid-19th century. Its main func ...

s (with the exception of a pair of small long guns on the focsle as chasers). Twenty 32-pounder carronades were mounted on the upper deck and a further six 18-pounder carronades were placed on the quarterdeck. The sail plan was an entirely conventional

ship rig A full-rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a sailing vessel's sail plan with three or more masts, all of them square-rigged. A full-rigged ship is said to have a ship rig or be ship-rigged. Such vessels also have each mast stepped in three seg ...

, and they were complemented with 175 men and boys.

Operational lives

HMS ''Imogene''

''Imogene'' was commissioned in 1831 for the East Indies. She travelled as far as New South Wales and saw action in China in 1834 against the

Bogue forts The Humen, also Bocca Tigris or Bogue, is a narrow strait in the Pearl River Delta that separates Shiziyang in the north and Lingdingyang in the south near Humen Town in China's Guangdong Province. It is the site of the Pearl River's discharge in ...

. She returned to England in 1835 and was recommissioned for the South America station in 1836. In 1840 she was placed in reserve and was destroyed by fire on 27 September 1840.

HMS ''Conway''

''Conway'' was commissioned in 1832 for the North Sea, Lisbon, and South America. She recommissioned in 1835 for the Pacific, and during this time she carried some of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...

's letters and specimens back to the United Kingdom. She paid off in 1835, recommissioning the next year for the East Indies. This commission saw her travel as far as Australia and New Zealand, and during this time she saw action in the

First Opium War The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of the ...

, including the

capture of Chusan The First Capture of Chusan () by British forces in China occurred on 5–6 July 1840 during the First Opium War. The British captured Chusan (Zhoushan), the largest island of an archipelago of that name. Background The Kangxi Emperor esta ...

. In 1842 she carried home the United Kingdom's share of the $6,000,000 indemnity paid by the Chinese at the end of the war. From 1843 to 1847 she served on the Cape of Good Hope Station. There was a long break until her next commission, which was from 1854 to 1858 at Queenstown, Ireland (now

Cobh Cobh ( ,), known from 1849 until 1920 as Queenstown, is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland. With a population of around 13,000 inhabitants, Cobh is on the south side of Great Island in Cork Harbour and home to Ireland's ...

in County Cork). She was lent to the Mercantile Marine Association of Liverpool in February 1859 to act as a training ship for boys, and gave her name to , a series of ships and a shore-based school. When ''Winchester'' took her place as the training ship in 1861, the two ships swapped names. Under her new name of ''Winchester'' she became the Aberdeen Royal Naval Reserve ship on 28 August 1861. She was broken up in 1871.

Design and construction

Operational lives

HMS ''Imogene''

HMS ''Conway''

Ships

Notes

Citations

References