HMS Constance was a Comus-class steel corvette

Corvette

A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...

 of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

. She was launched from Chatham Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...

 on 9 June 1880.

Design and construction

Constance was one of nine ship class of steel corvettes built in the late 1870s and early 1880s to a 1876 design by Nathaniel Barnaby

Nathaniel Barnaby

Sir Nathaniel Barnaby, KCB was Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy from 1872 to 1885....

. They were later designated as 'third class cruisers'. Six ships of the class were built at the commercial yards of J. Elder & Co.

Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company

The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited was a British shipbuilding company in the Govan area on the Clyde in Glasgow. Fairfields, as it is often known, was a major warship builder, turning out many vessels for the Royal Navy and other navies through the First World War and the...

, at Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, while the remaining three were built by the Royal Dockyards, with Constance being laid down at Chatham Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...

 on 14 September 1878. The three built by these dockyards differed from their sisters in having being barque

Barque

A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...

-rigged, rather than a full ship rig

Full rigged ship

A full rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a sailing vessel with three or more masts, all of them square rigged. A full rigged ship is said to have a ship rig....

, and had 4-cylinder engines rather than 3-cylinder. Constances engines were supplied by by John Penn & Son

John Penn (engineer)

John Penn FRS, was a marine engineer, whose firm was pre-eminent in the middle of the nineteenth century due to his innovations in engine and propeller systems, which led his firm to be the major supplier to the Royal Navy as it made the transition from sail to steam power...

. Constance further differed from her sisters in having feathering rather than hoisting screws, a feature she shared only with . These two ships were also the only two not to be rearmed with 6in breech-loading guns of Mk. III or IV. The Comus-class ships had steel hulls clad with two layers of teak

Teak

Teak is the common name for the tropical hardwood tree species Tectona grandis and its wood products. Tectona grandis is native to south and southeast Asia, mainly India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Burma, but is naturalized and cultivated in many countries, including those in Africa and the...

, while their bottoms were sheathed with copper

Copper sheathing

Copper sheathing was the practice of protecting the under-water hull of a ship or boat through the use of copper plates affixed to the outside of the hull. It was pioneered and developed by the Royal Navy during the 18th century.-Development:...

. They marked a dramatic step forward in basic habitability, with improved below-decks ventilation, a sick bay

Sick bay

A sick bay is a compartment in a ship used for medical purposes — the ship's hospital.The sick bay will contain the ship's medicine chest which may be divided into separate cabinets such as a refrigerator for medicines which require cold storage and a locked cabinet for controlled substances...

, bathroom for ratings and even a ship’s library.

Constance was laid down at Chatham Dockyard on 14 September 1878. She was built on No. 4 Slip, alongside , which was built on No. 5 Slip. Originally scheduled for launch on 26 May 1880, she was launched on 9 June 1880. The christening of the ship was performed by Miss Macdonald, daughter of Vice-Admiral Sir Reginald Macdonald

Reginald Macdonald

Admiral Sir Reginald John James George Macdonald KCB KCSI was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Station.-Naval career:...

, KCSI

Order of the Star of India

The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1861. The Order includes members of three classes:# Knight Grand Commander # Knight Commander # Companion...

, Commander-in-Chief

Commander-in-Chief

A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...

 at the Nore. The launch did not go smoothly, as the ship hung due to a malfunction in the launch system. The ship was eventually launched to loud cheering from the thousands of spectators. On 17 May 1881, Constance was being undocked in a gale when a rope snapped, setting her adrift. She collided with another vessel and the dockyard wall before a tug

Tugboat

A tugboat is a boat that maneuvers vessels by pushing or towing them. Tugs move vessels that either should not move themselves, such as ships in a crowded harbor or a narrow canal,or those that cannot move by themselves, such as barges, disabled ships, or oil platforms. Tugboats are powerful for...

 could take her in tow. Damage was slight. Work on her had been completed by 3 October 1882.

Career

Constance undertook her first sea trials on 8 July 1880. These lasted for six hours, with the ship being under the command of Captain Hunt-Grubbe

Walter Hunt-Grubbe

Admiral Sir Walter James Hunt-Grubbe GCB was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Cape of Good Hope Station.-Naval career:...

 CB

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

, ADC

Aide-de-camp

An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...

. A speed of 13.787 knots (27 km/h) was achieved. In 1882, Constance was fitted with a pair of torpedo

Torpedo

The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...

 carriages of a new design which used compressed air

Compressed air

Compressed air is air which is kept under a certain pressure, usually greater than that of the atmosphere. In Europe, 10 percent of all electricity used by industry is used to produce compressed air, amounting to 80 terawatt hours consumption per year....

 to launch the torpedoes. She was the first ship of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 to be fitted with this design of torpedo launcher. Appointments to Constance in September 1882 included midshipman

Midshipman

A midshipman is an officer cadet, or a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Kenya...

 Charles Vaughan-Lee

Charles Vaughan-Lee

Sir Charles Lionel Vaughan-Lee, KBE, CB was a senior Royal Navy officer in the early 20th century. He served during the First World War, rising to the rank of rear-admiral....

, and Captain Frederic Proby Doughty. Proby Doughty had previously been in command of .

Constance was commissioned on 3 October 1882. She relieved , which was stationed in the Pacific

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

. Her complement of 264 officers and men included a number of Royal Marines

Royal Marines

The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...

 and Royal Marine Artillery. As Constance was scheduled to depart from Chatham

Chatham Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...

 for the Pacific on 16 October, a large number of her crew were granted shore leave on 15 October. Whilst ashore, a fight developed between the crews of Constance and (also scheduled to depart for overseas service) on one side, and on the other. Nearly 100 sailors were involved, with a number of them being arrested by local and military police, assisted by reinforcements sent from the Dockyard. The prisoners were taken to their respective ships. By 20 October, Constance and Linnet were at Sheerness, with departure scheduled for 25 October. By November, Constance was at Spithead

Spithead

Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds, except those from the southeast...

 awaiting further speed trials. The speed trials were undertaken on 21 November under the command of Captain Colomb

Philip Howard Colomb

Vice-Admiral Philip Howard Colomb, RN . Born in Knockbrex, near Gatehouse of Fleet, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, he was a Royal Navy officer, historian, critic and inventor. He was the son of General GT Colomb...

. A speed of 13.71 knots (26.9 km/h) was achieved, which was in excess of that specified by the Admiralty

Admiralty

The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...

 when the contract for building Constance was granted. Constance departed under the command of Captain Proby Doughty on 19 December, bound for the Pacific in order to relieve Thetis.

By September 1883, Constance was on station at Guayaquil

Guayaquil

Guayaquil , officially Santiago de Guayaquil , is the largest and the most populous city in Ecuador,with about 2.3 million inhabitants in the city and nearly 3.1 million in the metropolitan area, as well as that nation's main port...

, Ecuador

Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

, where she was to relieve in patrolling the coasts of Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

 and Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

. Constance arrived at Honolulu, Hawaii

Honolulu, Hawaii

Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...

 on 13 April 1884, and then departed for Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...

. From there she sailed to San Francisco, California

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

. She departed San Francisco on 1 August 1885 bound for Coquimbo

Coquimbo

Coquimbo is a port city, commune and capital of the Elqui Province, located on the Pan-American Highway, in the Coquimbo Region of Chile. Coquimbo lies in a valley south of La Serena, with which it forms Greater La Serena with more than 400,000 inhabitants. The commune spans an area around the...

, Chile via Honolulu, Raratonga, the Hervey Islands and Tahiti

Tahiti

Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...

. She arrived at Honolulu on 29 August. In August 1885, it was reported that Constance was to be relieved by , and was to return to the Medway

River Medway

The River Medway, which is almost entirely in Kent, England, flows for from just inside the West Sussex border to the point where it enters the Thames Estuary....

 for decommissioning. Constance arrived at San Francisco on 20 September 1885, departing on 25 September for Panama

Panama

Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

. On 27 October 1885, Captain Seymour Dacres was appointed to command Constance. From Panama, Constance sailed to Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 via Honolulu. On arrival at Hong Kong, Constance relieved , which was to be paid off. Whilst at Hong Kong, Constance underwent a refit.

In 1886, Constance was serving in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. She departed Yokohama

Yokohama

is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...

 on 13 November bound for Kobe

Kobe

, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...

, Nagasaki

Nagasaki

is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Nagasaki was founded by the Portuguese in the second half of the 16th century on the site of a small fishing village, formerly part of Nishisonogi District...

 and Port Hamilton

Port Hamilton

Port Hamilton or Komundo, officially Geomun-do in Korean is a small group of islands in the Jeju Strait off the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula, located approximately at...

, Korea

Korean Empire

The Greater Korean Empire was an empire of Korea that succeeded the Joseon Dynasty.In October 1897, Emperor Gojong proclaimed the new entity at Gyeongungung Palace and oversaw the partially successful modernization of the military, economy, land system, education system, and various industries...

. On 4 June 1887, Captain Lester Keppel was appointed in command of Constance. During Keppel's command, the ship's mascot was a goat

Goat

The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...

.Constance was refitted at Hong Kong in December 1887. In October 1888, Constance was serving at Goskevitch Bay. The next month, it was reported that was being sent to relieve Constance.

In March 1891, Constance was reported as being out of commission. She was not amongst the list of ships which could be made ready for sea within a week. In December, it was reported that as there was no intention to return Constance to service at the time, new guns allocated to her would instead be installed on . Constance was sold for scrap on 15 December 1899.

Captains

From	To	Captain
3 October 1882	27 October 1885	Frederic Proby Doughty
27 October 1885	4 June 1887	Seymour Dacres
4 June 1887	1889	Lester Keppel