HMS ''Hyacinth'' was an 18-gun

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 ...

ship sloop In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' enc ...

. She was launched in 1829 and surveyed the north-eastern coast of Australia under

Francis Price Blackwood Francis Price Blackwood (25 May 1809 – 22 March 1854) was a British naval officer who while posted at several different locations during his time in the Royal Navy, spent much of his time posted in colonial Australia and was an instrumental pion ...

during the mid-1830s. She took part 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 ...

, destroying, with HMS ''Volage'', 29 Chinese junks. She became a coal hulk at Portland in 1860 and was broken up in 1871.

Design and construction

''Hyacinth'' was the second of four s, which were a

ship-rigged 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 s ...

and lengthened version of the 1796 . All four ships of the class were ordered on 10 June 1823 and ''Hyacinth'' was laid down at

Plymouth Dockyard His Majesty's Naval Base, Devonport (HMNB Devonport) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Portsmouth) and is the sole nuclear repair and refuelling facility for the Ro ...

in March 1826. She was launched on 6 May 1829 and commissioned for the West Indies Station on 12 January 1830.

Dimensions

''Hyacinth'' measured along the gun deck by in the beam, and had a tonnage of 429 40/94 bm. She was flush-decked with a small forecastle and quarterdeck.

Armament

She was armed with sixteen 32-pounder

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 and two 9-pounder bow chaser guns.

Service

During her 42-year career, she was stationed in the West and East Indies from 1829–41, took part in the First Opium War from 1841–42, and from 1843-46 was stationed off the west coast of Africa in the suppression of the slave trade. After being reduced to 14 guns in 1848, she later became a coal hulk at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

. On 2 October 1871, ''Hyacinth'' drove ashore and sank in the Clarence Creek. She was subsequently broken up.

Notes

References

External links

*
Career of HMS ''Hyacinth'' at William Loney website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hyacinth (1829) Sloops of the Royal Navy Ships of the West Africa Squadron Ships built in Plymouth, Devon Coal hulks 1829 ships First Opium War ships of the United Kingdom Survey vessels of the Royal Navy Exploration of Australia Maritime exploration of Australia Maritime incidents in October 1871