HMS Gannet (1878)
Encyclopedia
HMS Gannet was a 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...
screw sloop
Sloop
A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....
launched on 31 August 1878. She became a training ship in the Thames in 1903, and was then lent as a training ship for boys in the Hamble from 1913. She was preserved in 1987 and is now part of the Core Collection of the UK's National Historic Fleet.
Design
The Doterel class were a development of the Osprey-class sloopsOsprey class sloop
The Osprey class was a Royal Navy class of screw-driven sloops built between 1874 and 1877. Nine additional ships were built to a revised design, the . They were the first class of ship in the Royal Navy to use glass scuttles.-Design:...
and were of composite construction, with wooden hulls over an iron frame. The original 1874 design by the Chief Constructor
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....
, William Henry White
William Henry White
Sir William Henry White was a prolific British warship designer and Chief Constructor at the Admiralty....
was revised in 1877 by Sir Nathaniel Barnaby and nine were ordered. Of 1,130 tons displacement and approximately 1,100 indicated horsepower, they were capable of approximately 11 knots and were armed with two 7" muzzle loading rifled guns on pivoting mounts, and four 64-pound guns
RML 64 pounder 64 cwt gun
The RML 64 pounder 64 cwt gun was a Rifled, Muzzle Loading naval, field or fortification artillery gun manufactured in England in the 19th century, which fired a projectile weighing approximately...
(two on pivoting mounts, and two broadside). They had a crew of around 140 men.
Construction
Gannet was laid down at SheernessSheerness
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 1877 and launched on 31 August 1878. She was commissioned on 17 April 1879, and was classified as both a sloop of war and a colonial cruiser. She was capable of nearly 12 knots under full steam
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
or 15 knots under sail.
History
The primary purpose of ships of the Gannet's class was to maintain BritishUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
naval dominance through trade protection, anti-slavery, and long term surveying.
Shadowing the War of the Pacific
From the time of launching until 1883, the Gannet was assigned to the Pacific OceanPacific 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...
under Admiral De Horsey
Algernon Frederick Rous de Horsey
Admiral Sir Algernon Frederick Rous de Horsey KCB was a Royal Navy officer who served in the nineteenth century.-Early life:...
and spent much time shadowing the events of the War of the Pacific
War of the Pacific
The War of the Pacific took place in western South America from 1879 through 1883. Chile fought against Bolivia and Peru. Despite cooperation among the three nations in the war against Spain, disputes soon arose over the mineral-rich Peruvian provinces of Tarapaca, Tacna, and Arica, and the...
. In 1883 the ship returned to Sheerness and underwent a two year refit.
The Mediterranean and the Mahdist War
After the refit was complete, the Gannet was assigned to the Mediterranean as an anti-slaver. On 11 September 1888, she was ordered to relieve HMS Dolphin at the besieged port of SuakinSuakin
Suakin or Sawakin is a port in north-eastern Sudan, on the west coast of the Red Sea. In 1983 it had a population of 18,030 and the 2009 estimate is 43, 337.It was formerly the region's chief port, but is now secondary to Port Sudan, about 30 miles north. The old city built of coral is in ruins...
, Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
where she engaged anti-Anglo-Egyptian forces led by Osman Digna
Osman Digna
Osman Digna was a follower of the Mahdi in Sudan, and hailed from the Hadendoa tribe of the Beja people. His birthplace is unknown; Suakin was said to be the town where he was born. When he was called Osman Ali, Osman Digna lived in Alexandria, Egypt, where he dealt in the selling of slaves...
for nearly a month. After the battle, the Gannet was assigned to perform surveying work throughout the Mediterranean, and then hydrographic work in the Red Sea until she returned to Sheerness and was decommissioned on 16 March 1895.
Harbour service
After four months out of commission, in December 1895 the Gannet was transferred to harbour service in ChathamChatham, Medway
Chatham is one of the Medway towns located within the Medway unitary authority, in North Kent, in South East England.Although the dockyard has long been closed and is now being redeveloped into a business and residential community as well as a museum featuring the famous submarine, HMS Ocelot,...
where she remained until 1900 when she was placed on the list of non-effective vessels. In the autumn of 1900, the Gannet was leased to the South Eastern & Chatham Railway Company
South Eastern and Chatham Railway
The South Eastern and Chatham Railway Companies Joint Management Committee , known by its shorter name of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway was a working union of two neighbouring rival railways, the South Eastern Railway and London, Chatham and Dover Railway , that operated services between...
as an accommodation hulk at Port Victoria railway station
Port Victoria railway station
Port Victoria railway station is a disused station in Kent, United Kingdom which opened on 11 September 1882 and closed in 1951. It was located at the head of a long timber pier reaching in the River Medway estuary....
on the Isle of Grain
Isle of Grain
The Isle of Grain, in the north of Kent, England, is the easternmost point of the Hoo Peninsula. No longer an island, the Isle is almost all marshland and the Grain Marshes are an important habitat for birdlife...
.
Training ship President
In 1903 Gannet was ordered to relieve HMS PresidentHMS President (1829)
HMS President was ordered in May 1818 to be built as a 58-gun frigate to the exact lines of the previous President, captured from the Americans in January 1815; this prize ship was re-classed as a 60-gun fourth rate in February 1817 but was taken to pieces in June 1818...
, the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
Royal Naval Reserve
The Royal Naval Reserve is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. The present Royal Naval Reserve was formed in 1958 by merging the original Royal Naval Reserve and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve , a reserve of civilian volunteers founded in 1903...
drill ship, and underwent major alterations to convert her into a drill ship. Renamed HMS President, she took up her new duties as the Headquarters ship of the London Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in the South West India Docks in June 1903. In 1909 the ship was renamed President II and in the spring of 1911, was relieved by HMS Buzzard
HMS Buzzard (1887)
HMS Buzzard was a Nymphe-class composite screw sloop and the fourth ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name.-Design:Developed and constructed for the Royal Navy on a design by William Henry White, Director of Naval Construction, she was launched at Sheerness Dockyard on 10 May 1887.-Foreign...
, again finding herself on the list of non-effective vessels.
Training ship on the Hamble
In 1913 Gannet was loaned to C. B. Fry, and was stationed in the River HambleRiver Hamble
The River Hamble is a river in Hampshire, England. It rises near Bishop's Waltham and flows for some 7.5 miles through Botley, Bursledon and Swanwick before entering Southampton Water near Hamble-le-Rice and Warsash....
, and became a dormitory ship for the Training Ship Mercury
TS Mercury
The Training Ship Mercury, or the TS Mercury, was a shore-based naval training establishment at Hamble in Hampshire.-History:The T S Mercury was one of a number of similar, mostly static training ships located round the coasts of Britain and founded during the Victorian period to provide boy...
(where she retained her name President). The school took young boys who otherwise might not have many options in life, and trained them to join the Royal Navy. The ship served in this capacity until 1968 when the school was closed.
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Preservation
Back in Royal Navy stewardship, the ship was turned over to the Maritime Trust so that she could be restored. In 1987 the Chatham Historic DockyardChatham Historic Dockyard
Chatham Historic Dockyard is a maritime museum on part of the site of the former royal/naval dockyard at Chatham in Kent, England.Chatham Dockyard covered 400 acres and was one of the Royal Navy's main facilities for several hundred years until it was closed in 1984. After closure the dockyard was...
chartered Gannet from the Maritime Trust and started a restoration programme to return the ship to its 1888 appearance — the only time she saw naval combat. In 1994 ownership of the vessel was passed to the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, where, listed as part of the National Historic Fleet, Core Collection
National Historic Fleet, Core Collection
The National Historic Fleet, Core Collection is a list of museum ships located in the United Kingdom, under the National Historic Ships register.The vessels on the National Historic Fleet are distinguished by:...
, she remains today on display as a museum ship
Museum ship
A museum ship, or sometimes memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public, for educational or memorial purposes...
.
In the news, March 2009
The Prime Minister of the United KingdomPrime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
, Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
, on his first visit to President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
in the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
in March 2009, gave the President a gift of a pen holder made from the wood of the Gannet, referencing her role in Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
anti-slavery efforts. This gift was reciprocated with 25 DVDs of classic US feature films.