HMS ''Swinger'' was an composite gunboat of the Royal Navy, built at Pembroke Dockyard and launched on 7 February 1872.Bastock, pp. 93–94. She served at first on the China Station and from 1883 on the Australia Station. She was

hulked A hulk is a ship that is afloat, but incapable of going to sea. Hulk may be used to describe a ship that has been launched but not completed, an abandoned wreck or shell, or to refer to an old ship that has had its rigging or internal equipment ...

in 1895 sold for breaking in 1924.

Design and construction

Sir Edward Reed Sir Edward James Reed, KCB, FRS (20 September 1830 – 30 November 1906) was a British naval architect, author, politician, and railroad magnate. He was the Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy from 1863 until 1870. He was a Liberal politicia ...

Chief Constructor 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 ...

of the Royal Navy, the ''Ariel''-class gunboats were the first gunboats of composite construction. ''Swinger'' was engined by Humphrys, Tennant & Co. with a horizontal single-expansion steam engine (the rest of the class had compound-expansion engines) developing an

indicated horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of Power (physics), power, or the rate at which Work (physics), work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two commo ...

of . She was armed with two 64-pounder (56 cwt) muzzle-loading rifles and two 20-pounder Armstrong breech loaders. All four guns were mounted on traversing carriages. Some of the class were re-armed in the 1880s with two 5-inch and two 4-inch breech loaders. All the ships of the class carried a three-masted barquentine rig.

Operational service

''Swinger'' served at first on the China Station and since it was Royal Navy policy to ship entire crews out to the far-flung stations, she recommissioned at Hong Kong on 18 February 1877. She commissioned at Devonport on 2 October 1883 for service on the Australia Station. She arrived in Australia in 1884 under the command of Lieutenant Marx and was employed in preventing the blackbirding trade. Soon he fell in with the ''Forest King'' to the east of New Guinea, and sent Mr. Millman, the civil magistrate, on board to investigate. On finding 60 illegally taken islanders in the ''Forest King'', he told the master that he would be taken into port the following day, and that he would be sunk if he tried to escape. That night ''Swinger''s quartermaster reported to Marx that the ''Forest King'' was throwing coconuts overboard. Rushing to the deck, Marx could see through binoculars that the blackbirders were throwing their human cargo over the side in order to be rid of the incriminating evidence. Still half naked from their hammocks, ''Swinger''s seamen manned the boats and rescued 18 men from the water; about 20 men had drowned. In the morning Marx boarded the ''Forest King'' and carried her into Brisbane, where the master was tried by the Vice Admiralty Court of Inquiry. Marx was warned not to walk the streets in uniform since considerable vested interests were affected. Nevertheless, after three days the court convicted the master of ''Forest King'' and vindicated Lieutenant Marx.Jones (2008) In 1886 at St. Agnau ''Swinger'' had been trading with some natives, and considering them friendly, Marx decided to go ashore. He was attacked and described the assault: ''Swinger'' recommissioned in Sydney on 4 May 1887. She left the Australia Station in August 1891.

Fate

She was hulked in 1895 and the outbreak of World War I saw her attached to as a store ship.Naval Database website She was sold to Rogers & Company, Plymouth for breaking in June 1924.Preston (2007) p. 161

Notes

References

*Bastock, John (1988), ''Ships on the Australia Station'', Child & Associates Publishing Pty Ltd; Frenchs Forest, Australia. * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Swinger (1872) 1872 ships Ships built in Pembroke Dock Ariel-class gunboats Victorian-era gunboats of the United Kingdom