HMS Fantome was an Cadmus-class sloop

Cadmus class sloop

The Cadmus class was a six-ship class of 10-gun screw steel sloops built for the Royal Navy between 1900 and 1903. Most of the class survived until the 1920s, remaining on colonial stations during World War I.-Design:...

 launched in 1901, transferred to the Royal Australian Navy

Royal Australian Navy

The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

 in 1914, returned to 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...

 in 1920, and sold in 1924. She was the fourth ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name

HMS Fantome

HMS Fantome was an 18-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. Originally a French privateer brig named Fantôme, she was captured by the British Royal Navy in 1810 and commissioned into British service...

, which is from the French fantôme, meaning "ghost".

Design

Fantome was constructed of steel to a design by William White

William Henry White

Sir William Henry White was a prolific British warship designer and Chief Constructor at the Admiralty....

, the Royal Navy Director of Naval Construction

Director of Naval Construction

The Director of Naval Construction was a senior British civil servant post in the Admiralty, that part of the British Civil Service that oversaw the Royal Navy. The post existed from 1860 to 1966....

. Propulsion was provided by a three-cylinder vertical triple expansion steam engine developing 1,400 horsepower

Horsepower

Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...

 and driving twin screws. The Cadmus class

Cadmus class sloop

The Cadmus class was a six-ship class of 10-gun screw steel sloops built for the Royal Navy between 1900 and 1903. Most of the class survived until the 1920s, remaining on colonial stations during World War I.-Design:...

 was an evolution of the Condor-class sloop

Condor class sloop

The Condor class was a six-ship class of 10-gun screw steel sloops built for the Royal Navy between 1898 and 1900. Condor foundered in a gale, prompting the Royal Navy to abandon sailing rigs for its ships...

, carrying more coal, which in turn gave a greater length and displacement. This class comprised the very last screw sloops built for the Royal Navy.

Sail plan

As designed and built the class was fitted with a barquentine

Barquentine

A barquentine is a sailing vessel with three or more masts; with a square rigged foremast and fore-and-aft rigged main, mizzen and any other masts.-Modern barquentine sailing rig:...

-rigged sailplan. After was lost in a gale in 1901, 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...

 abandoned sails entirely. Fantome had a gantry erected over her fore-mast sometime prior to 1909, which would have prevented use of her sails.

Armament

The class was armed with six 4in/25pdr (1 ton) quick-firing Mk III breech loaders and four 3-pounder quick-firing breech loaders

QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss

The QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss was a light 47-mm naval gun introduced in 1886 to defend against new small fast vessels such as torpedo boats, and later submarines...

, as well as several machine guns. Fantome had her armament reduced to two QF 3-pounders for survey work, and later increased again for patrol work during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

.

Construction

Fantome was launched on 23 March 1901 at Sheerness

Sheerness

Sheerness is a town located beside the mouth of the River Medway on the northwest corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 12,000 it is the largest town on the island....

 Royal Dockyard in Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

.

Venezuelan Affair

Fantome served on the North America and West Indies Station, including a period in late 1902 and early 1903 when, under Commodore Montgomerie in , she enforced a blockade of the Venezuelan coast

Venezuela Crisis of 1902–1903

The Venezuela Crisis of 1902 was a naval blockade from December of 1902 to February of 1903 imposed against Venezuela by Britain, Germany and Italy over President Cipriano Castro's refusal to pay foreign debts and damages suffered by European citizens in a recent Venezuelan civil war...

.

Survey ship

From 1906, Fantome was operated by the Royal Naval survey service and conducted survey operations in Australian waters until the outbreak of war in 1914.

Transfer to the Royal Australian Navy

The ship was transferred to the Royal Australian Navy on 27 November 1914 and commissioned as HMAS Fantome, but was paid off in February 1915. She was recommissioned on 27 July 1915 as a patrol vessel armed with two 4-inch and four 12-pounder guns.

From September 1915 to September 1917, she operated in the Bay of Bengal

Bay of Bengal

The Bay of Bengal , the largest bay in the world, forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in shape, and is bordered mostly by the Eastern Coast of India, southern coast of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to the west and Burma and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the...

 and South China Sea

South China Sea

The South China Sea is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Singapore and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around...

 as part of the Far East Patrol. The duty was broadly uneventful and monotonous, and only concluded after the United States of America entered the war. Conditions aboard were hot and cramped, vermin were rife, supplies were of low quality, and in 1916, the sloop was plagued with influenza; at one point only 19 of the 88 enlisted personnel were fit for duty. In addition, the ship's commanding officer was both a strict disciplinarian and had little understanding of disciplinary regulations, and had been advised on several occasions that he had overstepped boundaries. In mid 1917, the commanding officer initiated drilling practice, which was seen as an additional hardship by the sailors, particularly the overworked engine room personnel. On 26 July, eight of the fifteen off-duty stokers disobeyed orders to assemble for practice, while the engine room personnel about to go on duty refused to do so until drilling practice ceased. The eight off-duty and four of the on-duty stokers were arrested and charged with mutiny

Mutiny

Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...

: they were sentenced by court martial to two years imprisonment in Goulburn Gaol, although the sentences were later commuted. The commanding officer was criticised for his treatment of the ship's company considering the conditions they were operating in, and the British 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...

 organised the assignment of ten recruits to the ship to assist the engine room personnel.

From late 1917, Fantome was based at Suva, Fiji and operated in the South Pacific performing police duties. She conducted a punitive raid on Malekula in the New Hebrides

New Hebrides

New Hebrides was the colonial name for an island group in the South Pacific that now forms the nation of Vanuatu. The New Hebrides were colonized by both the British and French in the 18th century shortly after Captain James Cook visited the islands...

 in October 1918.

Return to the Royal Navy

Fantome paid off on 14 January 1919 and was recommissioned into the Royal Navy in April 1920 for service as a survey ship. After being converted for survey duties, the ship was heavily overcrowded (a vessel designed with a ship's company of 113 was required to carry 134 personnel in addition to surveying equipment), and post-war personnel shortages meant that a little over half the number of sailors required for general seaman duties were aboard. In November 1920, after three months surveying work on the Great Barrier Reef

Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the world'slargest reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately...

, Fantome returned to Cairns. The overworked general seamen hit the town hard, with seven court-martialled for drunkenness and related behaviour, while another nine deserted. An inquiry concluded that the age and condition of the sloop was inappropriate for the expected duties, and the ship was marked for replacement at earliest opportunity.

Decommissioning and fate

Fantome operated in Australian waters until she was paid off for disposal on 17 April 1924. Survey duties in Australian waters were taken over by .

The ship was sold for scrap at Sydney on 30 January 1925. Her hull was stripped to a bare hulk and used as a barge, mainly in Tasmania

Tasmania

Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...

. She was finally sold for demolition in 1956.