HMS ''Amethyst'' was the

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very complex and may ...

of the s 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 ...

in the early 1870s. She participated in the

Third Anglo-Ashanti War The Anglo-Ashanti wars were a series of five conflicts that took place between 1824 and 1900 between the Ashanti Empire—in the Akan interior of the Gold Coast—and the British Empire and its African allies. Though the Ashanti emerged victorio ...

in 1873 before serving as the senior officer's ship for the South American side of the South Atlantic. The ship was transferred to 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 ...

in 1875 and fought in the

Battle of Pacocha The Battle of Pacocha was a naval battle that took place on 29 May 1877 between the rebel-held Peruvian monitor ''Huáscar'' and the British ships and . The vessels did not inflict significant damage on each other, however the battle is notab ...

against the rebellious Peruvian

ironclad warship An ironclad is a steam-propelled warship protected by iron or steel armor plates, constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. Th ...

two years later. This made her the only British wooden sailing ship ever to fight an armoured opponent. After a lengthy refit, ''Amethyst'' again served as the senior officer's ship on the South American station from 1882 to 1885. She was sold for scrap two years later.

Design and description

''Amethyst'' was long between perpendiculars, had a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and had a draught of . The ship displaced and had a burthen of 1,405 tons. Her crew consisted of 225 officers and ratings.Lyon & Winfield, p. 288 Unlike her iron-hulled contemporaries, the ship's wooden hull prevented any use of watertight transverse bulkheads. The ship had one two-cylinder horizontal compound expansion steam engine made by J. & G. Rennie, driving a single propeller. Six cylindrical boilers provided steam to the engine at a working pressure of . The engine produced a total of which gave ''Amethyst'' a maximum speed of during her

sea trial A sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a " shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and ...

s. The ship carried of coal, enough to steam between at . ''Amethyst'' was

ship rig 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 ...

ged and had a sail area of . The lower masts were made of iron, but the other masts were wood. The ship, and her

sisters A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

, were excellent sailors and their best speed under sail alone was approximately that while under steam. Ballard says that all the ships of this class demonstrated "excellent qualities of handiness, steadiness and seaworthiness". Her propeller could be hoisted up into the stern of the ship to reduce drag while under sail. During her refit in 1878, ''Amethyst'' was re-rigged as a

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 ...

.Ballard, p. 443 The ship was initially armed with a mix of 64-pounder 71-cwt"cwt" is the abbreviation for

hundredweight The hundredweight (abbreviation: cwt), formerly also known as the centum weight or quintal, is a British imperial and US customary unit of weight or mass. Its value differs between the US and British imperial systems. The two values are distingu ...

, 64 cwt referring to the weight of the gun. and 64-cwt rifled muzzle-loading guns. The twelve 71-cwt guns were mounted on the

broadside Broadside or broadsides may refer to: Naval * Broadside (naval), terminology for the side of a ship, the battery of cannon on one side of a warship, or their near simultaneous fire on naval warfare Printing and literature * Broadside (comic ...

while the two lighter 64-cwt guns were mounted underneath the

forecastle The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is the phrase " be ...

and

poop deck In naval architecture, a poop deck is a deck that forms the roof of a cabin built in the rear, or " aft", part of the superstructure of a ship. The name originates from the French word for stern, ''la poupe'', from Latin ''puppis''. Thus ...

as chase guns. In 1878, the ship's 71-cwt guns were replaced by 64-cwt guns.

Service

''Amethyst'' was laid down at Devonport Dockyard on 28 July 1871. She was launched on 19 April 1873 and completed in July 1873. Her sisters cost approximately £77,000 each. The ship was first assigned as the senior officer's ship for the South American side of the South Atlantic, but she was diverted en route to

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

to support British forces during the Third Anglo-Ashanti War. ''Amethyst'' remained on the South American station until she was transferred to the Pacific Station in 1875 after she was relieved by . In May 1877, the crew of the Peruvian ironclad ''

Huáscar Huáscar Inca (; Quechua: ''Waskar Inka''; 1503–1532) also Guazcar was Sapa Inca of the Inca Empire from 1527 to 1532. He succeeded his father, Huayna Capac and his brother Ninan Cuyochi, both of whom died of smallpox while campaigning near Q ...

'' rebelled against the government and began harassing British shipping. ''Amethyst'' and the unarmored frigate were ordered to capture the rebel ship and finally found her in the late afternoon of 29 May off the port of

Ilo The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and ol ...

. After ''Huáscar'' refused an offer to surrender, the British ships fired upon her in what came to be known as the

. ''Shah''s deep draught forced her to keep to seaward, therefore ''Amethyst'' was ordered into shallower inshore waters south of the Peruvian ironclad to deter her from escaping into neutral Chilean waters. The corvette's 64-pounder guns were unable to significantly damage the ironclad in any way, but her opponent's gunnery was atrocious and neither British ship suffered more than some damage to their rigging. ''Huáscar'' escaped with little damage after nightfall and surrendered to the Peruvian government the following day.Wilson, I, pp. 306–10 ''Amethyst'' was tasked with rescuing the 43 survivors of the wreck of the British steamship at Los Velos Point, Chile on 15 July. She was unable to do so due to the weather conditions at the time. ''Amethyst'' returned home in July 1878 for a lengthy refit and was recommissioned in 1882 to return as the senior officer's ship for southeastern South America until she returned in late 1885 and was paid off. The ship was sold for scrap in November 1887.

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amethyst (1873) 1873 ships Ships built in Plymouth, Devon Amethyst-class corvettes Victorian-era corvettes of the United Kingdom