HMS ''Torch'' was an ''Alert''-class sloop 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 ...

, built at

Sheerness Dockyard Sheerness Dockyard also known as the Sheerness Station was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the Sheerness peninsula, at the mouth of the River Medway in Kent. It was opened in the 1660s and closed in 1960. Location In the Age of Sail, the Roy ...

and launched in 1894. She served in Australia and New Zealand and was transferred to New Zealand as a training ship in 1917, being renamed HMS ''Firebrand'' at the same time. She was sold in 1920 and converted to a refrigerated ship with the new name ''Rama''. She ran aground in the Chatham Islands in 1924 and was abandoned.

Design

''Alert'' and ''Torch'' were constructed of steel to a design by William White, the

Director of Naval Construction The Director of Naval Construction (DNC) also known as the Department of the Director of Naval Construction and Directorate of Naval Construction and originally known as the Chief Constructor of the Navy was a senior principal civil officer resp ...

. They were powered by a three-cylinder vertical triple expansion steam engine developing 1,400

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are t ...

and driving a single screw.

Sail Plan

The class was originally designed and built with

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 sails, but both ships were re-rigged as

barquentine A barquentine or schooner barque (alternatively "barkentine" or "schooner bark") is a sailing vessel with three or more masts; with a square rigged foremast and fore-and-aft rigged main, mizzen and any other masts. Modern barquentine sailing ...

s before 1900 by removing the main yards.

Armament

Both ships of the class were armed with four 4-inch and four 3-pounder guns, and three

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...

Construction

''Torch'' was laid down at Sheerness Dockyard on 18 December 1893 and launched almost a year later on 28 December 1894.Bastock 1988, pp. 112–113. She was commissioned in October 1895.

Service in Australian waters

''Torch'' joined the Australian Station in February 1897, serving in New Zealand waters in 1898 and 1899. She was part of the naval escort for the visit of the

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

and Duchess of York to Australia and New Zealand aboard the chartered Royal liner HMS ''Ophir'' during 1901. After a refit, she recommissioned at Sydney on 29 November 1913. In July 1914 ''Torch'', in company with the French cruiser ''Kersaint'', was involved with a native uprising on the Island of Wala, Vanuatu. Five men were killed and four injured, and one native prisoner was captured. In August 1914 she became part of the

New Zealand Division The New Zealand Division was an infantry division of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force raised for service in the First World War. It was formed in Egypt in early 1916 when the New Zealand and Australian Division was renamed after the detachmen ...

of the

Pacific Station The Pacific Station was created in 1837 as one of the geographical military formations into which the Royal Navy divided its worldwide responsibilities. The South America Station was split into the Pacific Station and the South East Coast of ...

Training ship ''Firebrand''

On 16 August 1917 she was transferred to the

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Government as the training ship HMS ''Firebrand''. ''Torch'' paid off for the last time on 23 November 1914.

Refrigerated ship ''Rama''

She was sold in 1920, renamed ''Rama'' and fitted out as a

refrigerated The term refrigeration refers to the process of removing heat from an enclosed space or substance for the purpose of lowering the temperature.International Dictionary of Refrigeration, http://dictionary.iifiir.org/search.phpASHRAE Terminology, ht ...

ship for the

Chatham Islands The Chatham Islands ( ) (Moriori: ''Rēkohu'', 'Misty Sun'; mi, Wharekauri) are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about east of New Zealand's South Island. They are administered as part of New Zealand. The archipelago consists of about te ...

fishing trade.

Fate

While leaving harbour at Kaingaroa, on

Pitt Island Pitt Island is the second largest island in the Chatham Archipelago, New Zealand. It is called ''Rangiauria'' in Māori and ''Rangiaotea'' in ''Moriori.Government of New Zealand, Dept. of Conservation (1999) Chatham IslandsConservation Managem ...

in the

on 17 November 1924 she struck an uncharted rock, and was beached and abandoned.Ingram, C. W. N., and Wheatley, P. O., (1936) ''Shipwrecks: New Zealand disasters 1795–1936.'' Dunedin, NZ: Dunedin Book Publishing Association. p. 465.

Notes

References

*Bastock, John (1988), ''Ships on the Australia Station'', Child & Associates Publishing Pty Ltd; Frenchs Forest, Australia. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Torch (1894), Hms 1894 ships Ships built in Sheerness Alert-class sloops Victorian-era sloops of the United Kingdom Shipwrecks of New Zealand Chatham Islands History of the Chatham Islands 1924 in New Zealand