HMS Condor (1876)

HMS ''Condor'' was the name-ship of the Royal Navy ''Condor''-class gun-ship carrying 3 guns.

Construction

Designed by Nathaniel Barnaby, the Royal Navy Director of Naval Construction, her hull was of composite construction; that is, iron keel, frames, stem and stern posts with wooden planking. She was fitted with a 2-cylinder horizontal compound expansion steam engine driving a single screw, produced by John Elder & Co. She was rigged with three masts, with square rig on the fore- and main-masts, making her a barque-rigged vessel. Her keel was laid at Devonport Royal Dockyard on 15 December 1875 and she was launched on 28 December 1876.

Service

After official commission into the Royal Navy on 17 July 1877, ''Condor'' joined the Mediterranean Fleet in 1879, remaining there until at least 1886.

HMS Condor was under the command Lord Charles Beresford and had the war correspondent Frederic Villiers, and Moberly Bell of The Times, on board as a guests. Over and above its three main guns the ship had a Gatling gun mounted on the main-top.

The three standard guns (one 12-pounder and two 64-pounders) were supplemented by three recently added 7 pounders.

Bombardment of Alexandria

Early in 1882 Egypt was struggling to resist a wave of nationalism and independence from Britain under the banner of "Egypt for the Egyptians".

After rioting in Alexandria, during which Europeans were killed, Admiral Seymour aboard HMS ''Invincible'' in company with a fleet of 15 ironclads under his command, was ordered to go to the area in June 1882. He arrived at Alexandria in order to protect the lives and property of British subjects, and safeguard access to the Suez Canal. Local native forces began work to improve the fortifications, and when they failed to respond to Seymour's ultimatum to stop work on 6 July. A second ultimatum on 10 July was more specific that a bombardment would begin on the morning of 11 July unless the harbour defences were relinquished. Foreign ships were asked to leave the harbour, including a large French fleet which moved to Port Said.

Seymour (on HMS Invincible) signalled to ''HMS Alexandra'' to commence firing at the Ras-el-Tin fortifications at 7:00 a.m. on 11 July 1882, followed by the general order to attack the enemy's batteries. The offshore squadron at first conducted the attack while underway, but this proved difficult, and by 9:40, ''Sultan'', ''Superb'' and ''Alexandra'' had anchored off the Lighthouse Fort and concentrated their fire on the heavily armed Ras-el-Tin battery. By 12:30, ''Inflexible'' had joined the attack and the fort's guns were silenced.

The larger ships began an attack on the Fort Mex battery but ''Temeraire'' ran aground. This enabled ''Condor'', commanded by Lord Charles Beresford, to go to her assistance. She was refloated around 8am and resumed the attack.

While the offshore squadron was engaging the forts at long-range, the in-shore group, ''Monarch'', ''Penelope'' were engaging the main harbour and eastern forts including the Maza-el-Kanat battery. However, Fort Marabout to the west, had a raking view across the approaches to the harbour and was equipped with heavy guns capable of jeopardising the entire attack. Beresford stated he would attack Fort Marabout to divert their fire from the main group. ''Condor'' sailed to within 400m of Fort Marabout and began furiously firing at the fort. This great proximity had a strange advantage because the guns in the fort could only awkwardly be repositioned to point downwards.

After two hours of exchanging fire, with Fort Marabout much disabled, Admiral Seymour ordered the smaller gunships, HMS Bittern, HMS Cygnet and HMS Decoy to move in to finish the affray.

When Fort Marabout's guns were disabled, the flag lieutenant Hedworth Lambton on Invincible signalled "Well Done, ''Condor''." ''Condors action allowed the ships to finish off Fort Mex.

Fate

Condor later served in the campaign in the Eastern Sudan in 1885 and was based at Suakin.

After a short career, ''Condor'' was sold to Mr George Cohen in August 1889.

She ended her career at Dead Man's Bay near Plymouth Sound in 1894. Lord Charles Beresford rescued her binnacle as a souvenir.Famous Fighters of the Fleet, Edward Fraser, 1904, p.301

References

Publications

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Condor (1876)
Condor-class gunvessels
Ships built in Plymouth, Devon
1876 ships
Victorian-era gunboats of the United Kingdom