HMS ''Congo'' was the first steam-powered warship built for 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 ...
. She was classified as a steam sloop and was built in 1816 at
Deptford Dockyard
Deptford Dockyard was an important naval dockyard and base at Deptford on the River Thames, operated by the Royal Navy from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. It built and maintained warships for 350 years, and many significant events a ...
specifically for an exploration of the
Congo River
The Congo River ( kg, Nzâdi Kôngo, french: Fleuve Congo, pt, Rio Congo), formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the second largest river in the world by discharge ...
. Trials with her engine proved disappointing, and it was removed before she embarked on her first voyage.
Design and construction
''Congo'' was ordered on 13 April 1815 to a design by
Sir Robert Seppings. She was laid down in October 1815 and launched on 11 January 1816. The steam engine is recorded as weighing 30 tons and was capable of developing 20 Horse Power.
Trials proved that this power, when transmitted to the
paddle wheel
A paddle wheel is a form of waterwheel or impeller in which a number of paddles are set around the periphery of the wheel. It has several uses, of which some are:
* Very low-lift water pumping, such as flooding paddy fields at no more than about ...
s, could only propel the vessel at about three
knot
A knot is an intentional complication in cordage which may be practical or decorative, or both. Practical knots are classified by function, including hitches, bends, loop knots, and splices: a ''hitch'' fastens a rope to another object; a ' ...
s. Such a rate of progress, coupled with unsatisfactory handling characteristics (she was described as ''very crank'') resulted in the engine and paddle wheels being removed. Examination of the situation by
James Watt Junior
James Watt junior, FRS (5 February 1769 – 2 June 1848) was a Scottish engineer, businessman and activist.
Early life
He was born on 5 February 1769, the son of James Watt by his first wife Margaret Miller, and half-brother of Gregory Wat ...
, son of
James Watt
James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fun ...
, could only come up with a recommendation to use the engine for pumping out docks at
Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
. Thus, ''Congo'' sailed to her destination without the steam engine, rigged as a
schooner
A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...
. A sectional profile, deck plan and body plan of ''Congo'' are reproduced from draughts held by the National Maritime Museum (Greenwich) in
Marquardt's book ''The Global Schooner''.
The Congo expedition
The expedition, under
James Hingston Tuckey
James Hingston Tuckey (August 1776 – 4 October 1816) was an Ireland, Irish-born United Kingdom, British explorer and a captain (Royal Navy), captain in the Royal Navy. Some sources mistakenly refer to him as James Kingston Tuckey.
Tuckey w ...
, was the first attempt to map the Congo River, and did little beyond prove that the lower river was not navigable beyond from the sea. The other thing it proved was that such expeditions were little more than suicide until medical science had improved - 38 of the 56 expedition members perished, including all of the officers and scientists and the crew that accompanied them inland. The cause of death was a "tropical fever", probably
yellow fever
Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...
. Most of the survivors were seamen who had stayed with the support vessel ''Dorothy'' at the rapids that blocked further progress. It was to be another fifty years before
Henry Morton Stanley
Sir Henry Morton Stanley (born John Rowlands; 28 January 1841 – 10 May 1904) was a Welsh-American explorer, journalist, soldier, colonial administrator, author and politician who was famous for his exploration of Central Africa
Cen ...
mapped the river. A full account of the fitting out of the ship and the circumstances of the disastrous expedition are chronicled in Leydon's ''Historical account of discoveries and travels in Africa'' (1817).
Later career
''Congo'' was fitted out as a hulk in 1819 and laid up in
the Swale
The Swale is a tidal channel of the Thames estuary that separates the Isle of Sheppey from the rest of Kent. On its banks is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest which stretches from Sittingbourne to Whitstable in Kent. It is also ...
. She was sold at
Rye to a J. Harvey on 15 March 1826 for the sum of £146.
Citations
Further reading
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Congo (1816)
Paddle steamers of the United Kingdom
Schooners of the Royal Navy
1816 ships
Ships built in Deptford