HMS ''Indus'' was an 80-gun two-deck

second-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a second-rate was a ship of the line which by the start of the 18th century mounted 90 to 98 guns on three gun decks; earlier 17th-century second rates had fewer guns ...

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...

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 F ...

, launched on 16 March 1839 at

Portsmouth Dockyard His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is l ...

. The design of ''Indus'' was based upon the

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

, captured during the

Second Battle of Copenhagen The Second Battle of Copenhagen (or the Bombardment of Copenhagen) (16 August – 7 September 1807) was a British bombardment of the Danish capital, Copenhagen, in order to capture or destroy the Dano-Norwegian fleet during the Napoleonic War ...

. She was originally ordered in 1817 as a

74-gun The "seventy-four" was a type of two- decked sailing ship of the line, which nominally carried 74 guns. It was developed by the French navy in the 1740s, replacing earlier classes of 60- and 62-gun ships, as a larger complement to the recently-de ...

ship, but the order was amended in 1820 to an 80-gunner. She was attached to the Mediterranean fleet, and commanded by Captain

Houston Stewart Admiral of the Fleet Sir Houston Stewart, (3 August 1791 – 10 December 1875) was a Royal Navy officer and briefly a Liberal Party Member of Parliament. After serving as a junior officer in the Napoleonic Wars, Stewart became commanding officer ...

until 30 October 1840, when Captain James Stirling took over as captain, serving until June 1844. Captain John Charles Dalrymple Hay had her until 25 November 1856, during which time she served as Rear-Admiral Houston Stewart's

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

, based at Devonport. Captain

William King-Hall Admiral Sir William King-Hall, (11 March 1816 – 29 July 1886) was a Royal Navy officer who served as Commander-in-Chief, The Nore from 1877 to 1879. Naval career King-Hall joined the Royal Navy in 1829, and took part in operations off the ...

was her next commander, and she continued to serve as Houston Stewart's flagship, now on the North American and West Indian stations. In 1860 ''Indus'' was converted to serve as a

guardship A guard ship is a warship assigned as a stationary guard in a port or harbour, as opposed to a coastal patrol boat, which serves its protective role at sea. Royal Navy In the Royal Navy of the eighteenth century, peacetime guard ships were usual ...

. She was sold out of the service in 1898.

Notes

References

Mid-Victorian RN vessel HMS ''Indus''
Retrieved 20 November 2007.
The Royal Navy in Nova Scotia Waters - HMS ''Indus''
Nova Scotia Archives & Records Management. Retrieved 29 August 2016. * Lavery, Brian (2003) ''The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. .

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Indus (1839) Ships of the line of the Royal Navy Battleships of the Royal Navy Ships built in Portsmouth 1839 ships Victorian-era battleships of the United Kingdom