HMS ''Beagle'' was a wooden-hulled second-class screw

gunvessel A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-stea ...

launched in 1854 and sold in 1863. She was the third vessel of 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 ...

to use the name.

Design

The

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

sparked a sudden need for shallow-draught, manoeuvrable vessels for inshore work in the Baltic and the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

. The ''Arrow'' class of six wooden-hulled screw steamers were built during 1854 to a design by the Surveyor's Department. Construction was undertaken at two commercial yards on the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

, R & H Green and C J Mare & Company, both of

Leamouth Leamouth is a locality in the Blackwall area of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The area takes its name from the former ''Leamouth Wharf'' and lies on the west side of the confluence of the Bow Creek stretch of the Lea, at its confluence ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Two further designs of Crimean War gunvessel were ordered during 1855, the and the . The class was built as despatch vessels, but in 1856 were re-designated as second-class gunvessels.

Propulsion

A two-cylinder horizontal single expansion steam engine supplied by Humphrys, Tennant and Dykes provided through a single

screw A screw and a bolt (see '' Differentiation between bolt and screw'' below) are similar types of fastener typically made of metal and characterized by a helical ridge, called a ''male thread'' (external thread). Screws and bolts are used to f ...

Sail plan

All ''Arrow''-class gunvessels were

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...

-rigged.

Armament

The ''Arrow'' class were provided with two 68-pounder Lancaster muzzle-loading rifled guns weighing on pivot mounts, and four 32-pounder guns.

Construction and career

''Beagle'' was laid down at the Leamouth yard of C J Mare & Company on 15 April 1854 and launched on 20 July the same year. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy two months later on 3 September. ''Beagle'' took part in the Crimean War from 1854 to 1856. During the Crimean War, two of her ship's company were awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

(VC) for their actions: Joseph Trewavas was awarded the VC for his actions in the Sea of Azov, and an acting-mate in ''Beagle'', William Hewett, was awarded the VC for his actions in defending a shore battery. ''Beagle'' was sold to the Satsuma Domain (薩摩藩) of Japan at

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

in 1863 to be used as a training vessel, and was renamed ''Kenko'' (乾行) in 1865. She was broken up in 1889.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Beagle (1854 Arrow-class gunvessels Ships built in Leamouth 1854 ships Victorian-era gunboats of the United Kingdom Crimean War naval ships of the United Kingdom Naval ships of Japan