Gunvessels and Gunboats of the 1860s
The latest Dawlish Chronicles free short story, Britannia’s Fist, is set on the Caribbean coast of Columbia in 1862 as a vicious civil war is petering out. (Details on how to get a copy are at the end of this article). A key role is played in this story by a 900-ton wooden gunvessel, HMS Foyle.
One tends to think of the Royal Navy in the mid-Victorian era as consisting of large ironclads, armoured successors to the ships-of-the-line that had dominated warfare in the Age of Fighting Sail. Such huge ships represented the core of Britain’s two main naval forces, the Channel and Mediterranean Fleets, but they were few in number compared with the swarms of smaller gunvessels and gunboats which undertook an almost endless variety of tasks across the globe.
HMS Grinder (R) of Dapper Class chasing Russian boats in the Sea of Azov 1855
One tends to think of the Royal Navy in the mid-Victorian era as consisting of large ironclads, armoured successors to the ships-of-the-line that had dominated warfare in the Age of Fighting Sail. Such huge ships represented the core of Britain’s two main naval forces, the Channel and Mediterranean Fleets, but they were few in number compared with the swarms of smaller gunvessels and gunboats which undertook an almost endless variety of tasks across the globe.
Gunvessels were still wooden-hulled in the 1860s, and they were intended for shore-bombardment, and for landing of small armed parties either for raids or to quell local disturbances. They were not designed to fight other warships and the type had come to be defined during the Crimean War (1854-56) in response to the need for small, shallow-draught, powerfully-armed vessels suited to inshore work. The typical “Crimea Gunvessel” – which was to see battle-service in the Baltic, the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, and the China Coast in the years 1854-60 ranged in tonnage, depending on class, from 450 to 850 tons, depending on class. Main armament was typically two 68-pounder muzzle loaders. Smaller units, classed as “Gunboats”, were in the 200-300-ton range, typically armed with a single 68-pounder and a 32-pounder.
68-pounder bombarding Bomarsund in 1854
Sail-provisions, as well as steam-engines driving screws, were provided in all cases, an essential feature for making such units independent of reliable coal supplies in remote locations. In some classes the propellers could be hoisted from their shafts to lessen water-resistance when under sail, and funnels could also be telescopic. A shift from sail to steam power demanded the command “Up Funnel, Down Screw!” There were in addition small number of paddle-gunboats, a type going out of fashion rapidly due to the vulnerability of their paddle wheel.
The numbers of units in service in 1860 were quite astounding. In the table below the number of units in each class is shown in brackets, those that had been lost in China have been omitted:
The challenge of managing these enormous numbers – in providing supplies, crews and maintenance facilities on a worldwide basis – must have been daunting in the age before computers were available. One cannot but be impressed by the administration achievement.
A notable feature of these ships was that the names assigned to them were often whimsical or even bizarre. Many are called after birds or animals – Redwing, Skylark, Goldfinch, Hyena, Bullfrog etc. – but the idea of calling a warship Clown, Pert, Cheerful, Fancy, Tickler or Coquette is strange to say the least. One can imagine cynical Admiralty clerks or mischievous junior officers slipping in such names when their superiors have growing weary of the task of naming a class as large as the Albacores.
HMS Cherub of Britomart Class
The majority of the vessels mentioned above were taken out of service in the 1860s but the type – especially the gunvessels, which by their larger size made them suited to ocean passages and to extended service on foreign stations. Two classes of such gunvessels were constructed in the 1859 to 1867 period, with details as below:
Philomel Class – 20 units
570-tons, 145-foot, 380-hp Crew: 60
One 110-pounder, one 68-pounder, two 24-pounder howitzers, two 20-pounders
Cormorant Class – 9 units
877-tons, 185-foot, 775-hp Crew: 90
One 110-pounder, one 68-pounder, two 24-pounders
A final class of wooden gunboats – the Britomarts, were also built in this period:
Britomart Class – 20 units
330-tons, 120-foot, 260-hp Crew: 40
Two 68-pounders
Hi again. Sorry for the long delay but, while I have the ship (Britomart) plans in CAD now, I have had other responsibilities to attend to.
Part of my hesitation is that the local museum wants me to keep the model to about 2.5-3′ which makes any detailing very iffy for me.
Here’s an idea for some adventuresome types – we build a 6′ RC scale model with:
1. engine power (battery, gas) ?)
2. rudder control
3. sail control (square 3 ), (f&a mid and rear) involving mini-winches (motors) controlling roll up and swing of sails
4. ‘exploding’ scale guns (they exist)
5. dropable/recoverable ‘anchor’
6. ships boat on davit – lowering/raising
7. smoking chimney funnel
8. read_out (gps, sounder (?), systems status)
built around a Raspberry Pi and radio (multiple?) control
Tell me I’m not dreaming, and it is, at least conceivably, possible
BTW I also now have printable 3D models of the main gun and the engine. (Any takers?)
Just thought it would be useful to let you know that a small team in Canada is in the process of building a museum scale model of HMS Britomart (1860) from copies of the original plans, to be supplied by the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England (expected momentarily).
The story of how 3 such gunboats ended up on the Great Lakes, immediately after the US civil war, is told in Cheryl MacDonald’s book ‘Gunboats on the Great Lakes 1866-1868’. It seems that any remaining photos of a Britomart class gunboat are connected to that event. And there are more showing of crews, winter quarters, and a formal portrait of one captain. We hope to co-operate with the Univ. Western Australia in the future about their prize recovered relic, the engine from a gunboat of that era.
Problems at this time are mostly about finding details of aspects of ship’s operational parts – eg davits, sky -lights, internal lay-out, sail management… Does anyone know of any documents that show, describe, mention .. the elements associated with RN gunboats of that period? We have a pretty good idea of ‘kit’ worn by the crew from the Canadian photographs mentioned above. Nevertheless, does anyone have a steer on a more extensive documenting the kit of the day.
Logs of the gunboats – as for almost all RN ships can be found in the British (National) archives, and we are systematically recovering those of the Britomart (explicitly not of her sister ships Cherub and Heron).
We would love to hear about other sources of information and expertise that could add to ours. Probably the richest source would be from another model built by others that is publicly accessible.
Bryan Kerman
This is fascinating, Bryan and one hopes for success. It will be a sight worth seeing!
Would you perhaps be interested in doing a guest blog about the project? About 1000 words plus say 5 photographs or other illustrations. You can contact me by email on dawlishchronicles@outlook.com
Best Wishes: Antoine
I always enjoy your research and insights.
I’m glad you enjoyed it Terry – I’ll keep the blogs and books (and free short stories) coming!
Regards: Antoine
Antoine: About to give a presentation to local historical society. I’m looking for some material re the Britomart, Cherub and Heron on their voyage to the Azores, Bermuda, Halifax, Quebec and the the Great Lakes. One ship was damaged and repaired in ether Bermuda or Halifax, and the Britomart’s rudder was damaged in a lock I think along the St Lawrence. (Does anybody have a ref? (bkerman@lara.on.ca) I also saw some material re Britomart in Caribbean after Great Lakes – detailed to Havana to support Spanish against American advances as I remember. Any source, anybody?
Hello Bryan:
Apologies for the delay in replying. I’m afraid I can’t help on this one. It wight be worthwhile checking with the National Maritime Museum in Greeenwich – if they don’t know, they may be able to put you on to somebody who does.
Best Wishes: Antoine