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HMS Inconstant (1868)
Encyclopedia
HMS Inconstant was an iron screw frigate 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 on 12 November 1868 and became a training ship in 1906, renamed Impregnable II. She became the Navy's torpedo school ship in January 1922 and was renamed Defiance IV, and Defiance II in December 1930, before being finally scrapped in 1956. She was the first of three steam-assisted but fully masted frigates with iron hulls, sheathed with a double layer of wood, that were built for the Royal Navy.
The Inconstant was designed by Sir Edward Reed
Edward James Reed
Sir Edward James Reed , KCB, FRS, was a British naval architect, author, politician, and railroad magnate. He was the Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy from 1863 until 1870...
; she had a displacement of 5,782 tons, a length of 337 ft 4 in (between perpendiculars), a beam of 50 in 4 in (15.34 m), and a draught of 25 in 6 in (7.77 m) On her trials, her 2-cylinder horizontal single expansion trunk engine produced 7360 ihp, producing a speed of 16.2 knots (31.7 km/h). She carried a complement of 600 officers and men.
Building Programme
The following table gives the build details and purchase cost of the Inconstant and the other two iron frigates of the Royal Navy: Raleigh and ShahHMS Shah (1873)
The first HMS Shah was a 19th century unarmoured iron hulled, wooden sheathed frigate of Britain's Royal Navy designed by Sir Edward Reed. She was originally to be named HMS Blonde but was renamed following the visit of the Shah of Persia in 1873....
. Standard British practice at that time was for these costs to exclude armament and stores. (Note that costs quoted by J.W. King were in US dollars.)
| Ship | Builder | Maker of Engines |
Laid Down | Launch | Completion | Cost according to | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BNA 1887 Brassey's Naval Annual The Naval Annual was a book that sought to bring together a large amount of information on naval subjects, which had hitherto been obtainable only by consulting numerous publications and chiefly from foreign sources... |
King | ||||||||
| Hull | Machinery | Total excluding armament |
|||||||
| Inconstant | Pembroke Dockyard | John Penn & Son | 27 Nov 1866 | 12 Nov 1868 | 14 Aug 1869 * | £138,585 | £74,739 | £213,324 | $1,036,756 |
| Raleigh | Chatham Dockyard | Humphrys, Tennant & Co | 8 Feb 1871 | 1 Mar 1873 | 13 Jan 1874 * | £147,248 | £46,138 | £193,386 | $939,586 |
| Shah HMS Shah (1873) The first HMS Shah was a 19th century unarmoured iron hulled, wooden sheathed frigate of Britain's Royal Navy designed by Sir Edward Reed. She was originally to be named HMS Blonde but was renamed following the visit of the Shah of Persia in 1873.... |
Portsmouth Dockyard | Ravenhill | 7 Mar 1870 | 10 Sep 1873 | 14 Aug 1876 | £177,912 | £57,333 | £235,245 | $1,119,861 |
Career
The following information on Inconstant's career is fragmentary.Inconstant was first commissioned at Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
on 12 August 1869 by Captain Elphinstone D'Oyly D'Auvergne Aplin, who commanded her until September 1870. During this time Inconstant served in the Channel Squadron.
Inconstant's next captain was Charles Waddilove
Charles Waddilove
Admiral Charles Lodowick Darley Waddilove was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, The Nore.-Naval career:...
. She served in the 1871 Detached Squadron, commanded by Rear Admiral Frederick Beauchamp Paget Seymour, which she joined at Gibraltar and then travelled to Portland (13 Aug) - Copenhagen (23 - 27 Aug) - Carlscrone (1 - 4 Sep) - Christiania (9 - 14 Sep) - Trontheim - Bergen (25 - 27 Sep) - Kirkwall - Firth of Forth (4 - 7 Oct), finally arriving at Spithead on 11 October 1871. The vessels in the squadron were as follows:
- HMS Narcissus (flag), William Codrington
- HMS Immortalité, Francis William Sullivan
- HMS Cadmus, William Henry Whyte
- HMS Volage, Michael Culme-SeymourSir Michael Culme-Seymour, 3rd BaronetAdmiral Sir Michael Culme-Seymour, 3rd Baronet was a senior Royal Navy officer. On 17 September 1880 he became 3rd Baronet, on the death of his father...
- HMS Inconstant (joined at Gibraltar), Charles WaddiloveCharles WaddiloveAdmiral Charles Lodowick Darley Waddilove was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, The Nore.-Naval career:...
- HMS TopazeHMS Topaze (1858)HMS Topaze was a 24-gun Liffey class wooden screw frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 12 May 1858, at Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth. Her crew assisted in the building of the Race Rocks Lighthouse in British Columbia, Canada, and laid a bronze tablet in 1863 at the Juan Fernández Islands...
(joined at Gibraltar, left at Portland), Radulphus Bryce Oldfield
From 5 February to 11 March 1880, Inconstant was commanded by Captain Lord Walter Talbot Kerr, and served as the flagship of Vice-Admiral Frederick Beauchamp Paget Seymour, in the Mediterranean Fleet.
From August 1880 to 1882 Inconstant was again in the Detached Squadron, this time as flagship first of Rear Admiral Richard James, 4th Earl of Clanwilliam until he was invalided out at Hong Hong, and then from 6 December 1881 to 17 October 1882 of Rear Admiral Sir Francis Sullivan.Inconstant's captain at this time was Charles Cooper Penrose Fitzgerald
Charles Cooper Penrose Fitzgerald
Charles Cooper Penrose-Fitzgerald was a Vice-Admiral in the Royal Navy.-Family:His father was Robert Uniacke Penrose who married Francis Matilda Austin, daughter of the Revd Robert Austin, prebendary of Cloyne Cathedral. Charles married Henrietta Elizabeth Hewson on 29 November 1882, daughter of...
. The Detached Squadron left Spithead on 17 October 1880 travelling to: Vigo (24 - 31 Oct) - Madeira (6 - 10 Nov) - St Vincent (20 Nov) - Montevideo (22 Dec - 9 Jan 1881) - Falkland Islands (24 - 25 Jan) - Cape of Good Hope (16 Feb - 9 Apr; 1st Boer war) - Melbourne (22 May) - Adelaide (9 Jul) - Sydney (14 Jul - 9 Aug) - Brisbane (16 - 20 Aug) - Fiji (3 - 10 Sep) - Yokohama (21 Oct - 1 Nov) - Kobe (4-12 Nov) - Shimonoseki (14 - 16 Nov) - Shanghai (23 Nov ) - Amoy (15 Dec) - Hong Kong (20 Dec - 11 Feb 1882) - Singapore (2 Mar) - Anjer, Java (6 - 8 Mar) - Capetown (16 May) - St Vincent (20 - 22 June) -Spithead (10 Oct 1882). It is claimed that on 11 July 1881, Prince George of Wales (later King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
of England) sighted a phantom ship whilst travelling on the Inconstant between Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
and Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
. Two other ships, travelling with the Inconstant, HMS Tourmaline and HMS Cleopatra, also reported seeing the phantom ship. The Detached Squadron consisted of:
- HMS Inconstant (flag), Charles Cooper Penrose-Fitzgerald
- HMS Cleopatra (left at Hong Kong), Francis Durrant
- HMS Carysfort, Henry Frederick Stephenson
- HMS BacchanteHMS Bacchante (1876)HMS Bacchante was a Bacchante-class ironclad screw-propelled corvette of the Royal Navy. She is particularly famous for being the ship on which the Princes George and Albert served as midshipmen....
(joined at Ferrol, left at Hong Kong), Lord Charles Montagu Douglas Scott - HMS Tourmaline (joined at Ferrol), Robert Peel Dennistoun
In 1898 Inconstant was reduced to harbour service. She was renamed Impregnable III in 1907, then Defiance IV in 1922, and Defiance II in 1930. She was scrapped in 1956.