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HMS Phaeton (1883)
Encyclopedia
HMS Phaeton was a second class cruiser of the Leander class
which served with the Royal Navy
.
However by September 1886, it was decided that "due caution was not observed in certain particulars by those responsible for taking over the engines of the Phaëton from the contractors. The several officers concerned have been censured by the Admiralty, and the chief engineer has been removed from the ship."
In the 1880s, what normally happened with a ship was, "the staff necessary for the efficient maintenance of the machinery is supplied by the Steam Reserve, and when orders are received to commission the ship the men who have been employed upon her are as far as possible selected to compose her engine-room staff. In the case of the Phaëton the men who had been so employed had, from various causes, been drafted away before the order was received to commission her, with the exception of three stokers who formed part of her staff. None of the accidents that subsequently occurred in the ship can be attributed to this cause."
In addition the steam steering gear broke down on 25 May. The Phaeton left Plymouth on 27 May to continue her cruise. By June 1887 was serving in the Mediterranean.
In her initial months of service, the Phaeton suffered from a series of break-downs of her engines. For instance in one accident a piston-rod broke due to a manufacturing defect, and when it broke, cracked one of the cylinders.
The January 1887 Navy List listed her commissioned and warrant officers as follows:
On 1 August 1900, the Phaeton narrowly avoided colliding with the USS Iowa
coming up the straits approaching Victoria (British Columbia)
in a dense fog.
The July 1898 Navy List listed her commissioned and warrant officers as follows:
on 10 October 1900, to serve on Pacific Station. She paid off on 28 April 1903. This commission was the subject of a book in the 'Log' series
, entitled: HMS Phaeton, Pacific Station, 1900-1903.
The March 1901 Navy List listed her commissioned and warrant officers as follows:
from 1904 to 1913, where she was used for training stokers and seamen. Her officers were borne on the books of HMS Vivid.
In 1913 her "stripped out hull" was sold for £15,000 to a charitable institution that ran a training ship for boys based at Liverpool. The charity was founded in 1864 by John Clint, a Liverpool shipowner, with the aim of training the sons of sailors, destitute and orphaned boys to become merchant seamen. The charity's first training ship was the former HMS Indefatigable, an old wooden frigate which served the charity as TS Indefatigable from 1864 to 1914. Mr Frank Bibby, gave the charity money to buy the Phaeton and to refit her at Birkenhead as a training ship. The Phaeton was renamed TS Indefatigable and moored off New Ferry in Liverpool on 15 January 1914. The previous Indefatigable had been condemned by the Inspector of Training Ships in 1912 as unfit, and was towed to the West Float at Birkenhead on 5 January 1914, and sold for scrap on 26 March. The figurehead of William IV from the old Indefatigable was transferred to the ex-Phaeton. An Admiralty warrant for a Blue Ensign defaced with a liver bird for TS Indefatigable was issued on 31 December 1927.
"Life on board was tough. Breakfast consisted of one slice of bread and margarine washed down with 'cocoa flush' which had been prepared in the galley by dropping solid slabs of cocoa, unsweetened, in a cauldron of boiling water. The liquid was drawn off into kettles which were lowered to the mess decks where the boys drank it from basins. Cups were never seen on board! Dinner consisted of varieties of 'buzz'. There was pea buzz, Irish buzz and mystery buzz. Buzzes were neither soups nor stews but had the characteristics of both and were served in the same basins as the cocoa flush. A small pile of broken ship's biscuits was placed beside each plate. Boiled cod was the 'treat' on Fridays!"
The Phaeton served as TS Indefatigable until 1941, when due to German bombing of English towns, both the TS Indefatigable and the TS Conway
were ordered to be evacuated. The charity committee decided that the time had come to move the training ship to a shore base, it moved for a time to a temporary base in North Wales. The Indefatigable (ex-Phaeton) was then sold to a Preston firm for scrap.
However, she was repurchased by the Admiralty in 1941 and renamed Carrick II, and served as an accommodation hulk at Gourock
throughout World War II.
In 1946 she was sold for breaking up to Wards in Preston, where she arrived on 24 January 1947.
Leander class cruiser (1882)
The Leander Class were a four ship cruiser programme ordered by the Admiralty in 1880. The class comprised HMS Leander, HMS Phaëton, HMS Amphion and HMS Arethusa.-Genesis:...
which served with 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...
.
Construction
She was built by Napier in Glasgow, being laid down in 1880, launched in 1883 and completed in 1886.Acceptance Trials
"The Phaeton has been tried in the Solent. At the previous six hour' full power trial of the Phaeton there was a difficulty experienced in maintaining steam from want of draught in the stokeholds. (Only the Leander of this class has been fitted with fans for forced draught.) The funnels were afterwards raised from 60 ft (18.3 m) to 68 ft (20.7 m) (the same height as those of the first-class cruisers), while the space between the firebars was increased. The effect of these changes at the trial was very marked, the engines being provided with an abundance of steam without their being any necessity for resorting to the blast. The trial was intended to have been for six hours, but during the eleventh half hour, the expansion gear of the starboard engine heated and snapped, and the run was brought to a premature close. As, however the machinery worked without any hitch of any kind, and was developing power largely in excess of the Admiralty contract, it was agreed by the officers superintending the trial to accept the means of the five hours as a sufficient test of performance. These afforded the following data: Steam in the boilers, 85.35 lbs [588.5 kPa]; vacuum, 25.3 in (642.6 mm) starboard and 24.8 in (629.9 mm) port; revolutions, 100; mean pressures, starboard, 43.7 and 11 lb. [301 kPa and 76 kPa] and 43 and 11.7 lb. [300 kPa and 81 kPa] port; collective horsepower, 5574.88 ihp or nearly 600 horses [450 kW] beyond the contract. The mean speed registered by runs on the measured mile was 18.684 knots (36.6 km/h), which was remarkable, notwithstanding her light draught. The coal consumption did not exceed 2.39 lbs. per unit of power per hour [1.45 kg coal per hour per kiloWatt]."However by September 1886, it was decided that "due caution was not observed in certain particulars by those responsible for taking over the engines of the Phaëton from the contractors. The several officers concerned have been censured by the Admiralty, and the chief engineer has been removed from the ship."
1885-1886
The December 1885 Navy List lists her as at Chatham, with her commissioned and warrant officers borne in the Pembroke as follows:| Post | Name | Date of appointment |
|---|---|---|
| Lieutenant | (N) William Way | 29 July 1885 |
| Chief Engineer | Charles Ware | 22 September 1885 |
| Gunner | William I. Gale | 1 November 1885 |
| Boatswain | William Blunt | 13 December 1883 |
| Carpenter | John Lakey | 16 January 1883 |
In the 1880s, what normally happened with a ship was, "the staff necessary for the efficient maintenance of the machinery is supplied by the Steam Reserve, and when orders are received to commission the ship the men who have been employed upon her are as far as possible selected to compose her engine-room staff. In the case of the Phaëton the men who had been so employed had, from various causes, been drafted away before the order was received to commission her, with the exception of three stokers who formed part of her staff. None of the accidents that subsequently occurred in the ship can be attributed to this cause."
1886-1890
The Phaeton was commissioned at Chatham by Captain William H.C. St. Clair, on 20 April 1886. Initially she was listed as on particular service. On 25 May 1886, the Phaeton had an accident with a four-barrelled Nordenfeld gun whilst the crew were at quarters and engaged at target practice. The Nordenfeldt gun had been in use, and the crew of seamen who had been engaged in firing it handed it over to a crew of Royal Marines whilst charged, instead of removing the case of cartridges. The Marine crew were engaged in training the gun fore and aft, when someone touched the lever and fired the gun, which swept the deck, at that time crowded with men, four of whom were wounded. At least four cartridges were in the gun, and the bullets went through two iron beams, and two of the ship's bulkheads. The wounded men were not struck by bullets; they were hit by splinters from the bulkheads. At the time of the occurrence the Phaeton was about a hundred miles from Plymouth, for which port she made, and on arrival at Plymouth on 27 May three of the wounded were sent to the Royal Naval Hospital for treatment:- Allen, Able seaman, superficial neck wound ;
- Shaddick, William, boy, contused wound over spine ; and
- Gray, severe injuries to face, with loss of front teeth.
In addition the steam steering gear broke down on 25 May. The Phaeton left Plymouth on 27 May to continue her cruise. By June 1887 was serving in the Mediterranean.
In her initial months of service, the Phaeton suffered from a series of break-downs of her engines. For instance in one accident a piston-rod broke due to a manufacturing defect, and when it broke, cracked one of the cylinders.
The January 1887 Navy List listed her commissioned and warrant officers as follows:
| Post | Name | Date of appointment |
|---|---|---|
| Captain | William H.C. St. Clair | 23 November 1886 |
| Lieutenant | (G) Robert S. Lowry | 20 April 1886 |
| Charles S. Elliot | 20 April 1886 | |
| Hon, Harold A. Denison | 10 August 1886 | |
| Herbert M. Wyatt | 9 September 1886 | |
| Robert H. Anstruther | 20 April 1886 | |
| Staff Commander | William Way | 29 July 1885 |
| Fleet Surgeon | George H. Madeley | 20 April 1886 |
| Fleet Paymaster | Horatio W.P. Kooystra | 20 April 1886 |
| Chief Engineer | Ivie A. Couper | 14 August 1886 |
| Assistant Paymaster | John H. Coulton | 20 April 1886 |
| Engineer | Arthur J. London | 30 June 1886 |
| Assistant Engineer | William J. Anderson | 6 April 1886 |
| Ernest M. Thomson | 20 April 1886 | |
| Gunner | William I. Gale | 1 November 1885 |
| George J. Flux (in lieu of a Sub-Lieutenant) |
14 July 1886 | |
| Boatswain | William Blunt | 13 December 1883 |
| Abraham Tuck | 10 August 1886 | |
| James K. Morgan (act) | 20 April 1886 | |
| Michael Sweeney (act) | 18 October 1886 | |
| Carpenter | John Lakey | 16 January 1883 |
1890-1893
Phaeton was recommissioned at Malta by Captain Reginald N. Custance on 18 March 1890. The January 1887 Navy List listed her commissioned and warrant officers as follows:| Post | Name | Date of appointment |
|---|---|---|
| Captain | Reginald N. Custance | 10 January 1890 |
| Lieutenant | Arthur H. Smith-Dorrien | 2 January 1889 |
| (N) Evelyn R. Le Marchant | 19 February 1890 | |
| George S. Walsh | 19 February 1890 | |
| Robert H. Anstruther | 20 April 1886 | |
| (G) Richard F. Phillimore | 19 February 1890 | |
| Lieutenant R.N.R. | George L. King (act) | 27 June 1890 |
| Lieutenant Marine | Godfrey E. Mathews | 4 March 1890 |
| Staff Surgeon | Richard J. Barry | 15 September 1889 |
| Paymaster | George C.L.B. Townesend | 10 February 1890 |
| Chief Engineer | Thomas New | |
| Sub-Lieutenant R.N.R. | John Biddlecombe (act) | 28 February 1890 |
| Surgeon | William G. Stott M.B. | 10 February 1890 |
| Engineer | David J. Bennett | 10 February 1890 |
| Assistant Engineer | Charles E.H. Osbourne | 30 April 1889 |
| Alfred Whitmarsh (proby) | 19 December 1889 | |
| Gunner | Henry G. Keenor | 19 February 1890 |
| Boatswain | Thomas Sutton | 19 February 1890 |
| (T) George Kedge | 21 February 1890 | |
| Richard Fleming | 19 February 1890 | |
| Earl Spencer | 19 February 1890 | |
| Carpenter | William Banbury | 17 January 1890 |
| Clerk | William J.P. Pettit | 10 February 1890 |
1893-1896
The Phaeton was in ordinary at Chatham from 1893 to 1896.1896 annual manoeuvres
The Phaeton was commissioned for the 1896 annual manoeuvres on 8 July 1896, and paid off on 19 August.1897-1900
Phaeton was commissioned at Devonport on 8 June 1897. She was present at the Naval Review on 26 June 1897 at Spithead in celebration of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. By November 1897 she was serving on the Pacific station. At this time the British naval force on the Pacific Station consisted of:- Armoured cruiser: ImperieuseHMS Imperieuse (1883)HMS Imperieuse was the lead ship of the Imperieuse-class of first-class armoured cruiser, built at Portsmouth and launched on 18 December 1883. She was the flagship of the China Station from 1889 to 1894 and the Pacific Station from 1896 to 1899....
flagship of Rear-Admiral Henry St. L.B. Palliser. - Cruisers: AmphionHMS Amphion (1883)HMS Amphion was a second class cruiser of the Leander Class which served with the Royal Navy. She was built at Pembroke Dockyard, being laid down in 1881, launched in 1883 and completed in financial year 1885-86, and then lay in ordinary at Devonport. She was commissioned for the 1887 and 1888...
, LeanderHMS Leander (1882)HMS Leander was a second class cruiser, name ship of the Royal Navy's first Leander-class cruisers. During a revolution in Panama in 1900, the Leander helped protect the lives and property of foreign residents.-Design and construction:...
, Phaeton - Destroyers: SparrowhawkHMS Sparrowhawk (1895)HMS Sparrowhawk was a B-class torpedo boat destroyer of the British Royal Navy. She was completed by Laird, Son & Company, Birkenhead, and was launched on 8 October 1895. She served on the China Station and was wrecked in the mouth of the Yangtze River in 1904. She was one of four Quail-class...
and ViragoHMS Virago (1895)HMS Virago was a B-class torpedo boat destroyer of the British Royal Navy. She was completed by Laird, Son & Company, Birkenhead, in 1895. One of four Quail-class destroyers she served during the Great War and was sold off after hostilities ended.... - Sloop: IcarusHMS Icarus (1885)HMS Icarus was a Mariner-class composite screw gunvessel of 8 guns, and the third Royal Navy vessel to carry the name. She was launched in 1885 at Devonport and sold in 1904.-Construction:...
- Gunboat: Pheasant
- Store and depôt hulk at CoquimboCoquimboCoquimbo 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...
: Liffey
On 1 August 1900, the Phaeton narrowly avoided colliding with the USS Iowa
USS Iowa (BB-4)
| The second half of the 19th century saw radical changes in shipbuilding design. Wood-built sailing ships with cannons were replaced by steam-powered warships armored with steel...
coming up the straits approaching 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...
in a dense fog.
The July 1898 Navy List listed her commissioned and warrant officers as follows:
| Post | Name | Date of appointment |
|---|---|---|
| Captain | Francis G. Kirby | 8 June 1897 |
| Lieutenant | George C. Cayley | 8 June 1897 |
| (N) Guy M. Marston | 8 June 1897 | |
| Christopher P. Metcalfe | 8 June 1897 | |
| Edgar R. Morant | 8 June 1897 | |
| Stanley V. Ellis | 12 May 1898 | |
| Lieutenant R.N.R. | Edward Reed (act) | 9 May 1898 |
| Lieutenant Marine | Francis J.W. Harvey Francis Harvey Major Francis John William Harvey, VC was an officer of the British Royal Marine Light Infantry during the First World War. Harvey was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest military award for gallantry in the face of the enemy given to British and Commonwealth forces, for his... |
8 June 1897 |
| Staff Surgeon | Henry Harries | 8 June 1897 |
| Chief Engineer | Frederick J. Flood | 8 June 1897 |
| Paymaster | Montague Stephens | 8 June 1897 |
| Sub-Lieutenant R.N.R. | Michael H. Wilding | 8 June 1897 |
| Engineer | George T. Paterson | 8 June 1897 |
| Assistant Engineer | John C. Jenkins | 8 June 1897 |
| Gunner | (T) William J. Crothers | 8 June 1897 |
| Boatswain | Tom Glading | 23 June 1897 |
| Thomas Hutchinson | 19 February 1897 | |
| Carpenter | John A. Brown | 17 July 1897 |
| Assistant Clerk | Thomas R. Waterhouse | 21 August 1897 |
1900-1903
Phaeton was re-commissioned at Esquimalt (Canada)Esquimalt, British Columbia
The Township of Esquimalt is a municipality at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is bordered to the east by the provincial capital, Victoria, to the south by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, to the west by Esquimalt Harbour and Royal Roads, to the northwest by the...
on 10 October 1900, to serve on Pacific Station. She paid off on 28 April 1903. This commission was the subject of a book in the 'Log' series
Log series (Westminster Press)
The log' series of books were a series of at least 40 books written by members of the crew of various Royal Navy ships about their service between 1900 and 1909. They were published by Westminster Press and 4 shillings each...
, entitled: HMS Phaeton, Pacific Station, 1900-1903.
The March 1901 Navy List listed her commissioned and warrant officers as follows:
| Post | Name | Date of appointment |
|---|---|---|
| Captain | Ernest J. Fleet | 10 October 1900 |
| Lieutenant | (G) Frederick A. Whitehead | 10 October 1900 |
| (N) George N. Tomlin George Napier Tomlin Vice Admiral George Napier Tomlin CMG, MVO was a British naval officer.-Private life:In 1911, when Commander George Napier Tomlin was with the Medina, his engagement was announced in The Sketch to Miss Violet Seymour Osborne.-Career:... |
10 October 1900 | |
| Osmond J. Prentis | 10 October 1900 | |
| Charles L. Brendon | 10 October 1900 | |
| Lieutenant R.M. | Harold Ozane | 10 October 1900 |
| Chaplain | Rev. John S. Borrowdale | 1 January 1901 |
| Staff Surgeon | George H. Foote M.D. | 10 October 1900 |
| Paymaster | Robert F.C. Eames | 10 October 1900 |
| Chief Engineer | George T. Kerswell | 10 October 1900 |
| Sub-Lieutenant | Vernon S. Rashleigh | 1 December 1900 |
| Sub-Lieutenant R.N.R. | Charles H. Oxlade (act) | 10 October 1900 |
| Assistant Engineer | Clifford Bowle | 10 October 1900 |
| Stanley M. Russell (proby) | 10 October 1900 | |
| Gunner | (T) Herbert T. Leggett | 10 October 1900 |
| Boatswain | Michael Ahern | 10 October 1900 |
| William G. Beer (act) | 10 October 1900 | |
| Carpenter | Samuel Wills | 10 October 1900 |
| Clerk | Cyril F.R. Graham | 10 October 1900 |
Harbour service and training hulk
The Phaeton did harbour service at DevonportHMNB Devonport
Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport , is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy . HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England...
from 1904 to 1913, where she was used for training stokers and seamen. Her officers were borne on the books of HMS Vivid.
In 1913 her "stripped out hull" was sold for £15,000 to a charitable institution that ran a training ship for boys based at Liverpool. The charity was founded in 1864 by John Clint, a Liverpool shipowner, with the aim of training the sons of sailors, destitute and orphaned boys to become merchant seamen. The charity's first training ship was the former HMS Indefatigable, an old wooden frigate which served the charity as TS Indefatigable from 1864 to 1914. Mr Frank Bibby, gave the charity money to buy the Phaeton and to refit her at Birkenhead as a training ship. The Phaeton was renamed TS Indefatigable and moored off New Ferry in Liverpool on 15 January 1914. The previous Indefatigable had been condemned by the Inspector of Training Ships in 1912 as unfit, and was towed to the West Float at Birkenhead on 5 January 1914, and sold for scrap on 26 March. The figurehead of William IV from the old Indefatigable was transferred to the ex-Phaeton. An Admiralty warrant for a Blue Ensign defaced with a liver bird for TS Indefatigable was issued on 31 December 1927.
"Life on board was tough. Breakfast consisted of one slice of bread and margarine washed down with 'cocoa flush' which had been prepared in the galley by dropping solid slabs of cocoa, unsweetened, in a cauldron of boiling water. The liquid was drawn off into kettles which were lowered to the mess decks where the boys drank it from basins. Cups were never seen on board! Dinner consisted of varieties of 'buzz'. There was pea buzz, Irish buzz and mystery buzz. Buzzes were neither soups nor stews but had the characteristics of both and were served in the same basins as the cocoa flush. A small pile of broken ship's biscuits was placed beside each plate. Boiled cod was the 'treat' on Fridays!"
The Phaeton served as TS Indefatigable until 1941, when due to German bombing of English towns, both the TS Indefatigable and the TS Conway
HMS Conway (school ship)
HMS Conway was a naval training school or "school ship", founded in 1859 and housed for most of its life aboard a 19th-century wooden battleship. The ship was originally stationed on the Mersey near Liverpool, then moved to the Menai Strait during World War II. While being towed back to Birkenhead...
were ordered to be evacuated. The charity committee decided that the time had come to move the training ship to a shore base, it moved for a time to a temporary base in North Wales. The Indefatigable (ex-Phaeton) was then sold to a Preston firm for scrap.
However, she was repurchased by the Admiralty in 1941 and renamed Carrick II, and served as an accommodation hulk at Gourock
Gourock
Gourock is a town falling within the Inverclyde council area and formerly forming a burgh of the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It has in the past functioned as a seaside resort on the Firth of Clyde...
throughout World War II.
In 1946 she was sold for breaking up to Wards in Preston, where she arrived on 24 January 1947.
See also
Logbooks in the UK National Archives
| Catalogue Number | Start | End |
|---|---|---|
| ADM 53/14963 | 20 April 1886 | 2 November 1887 |
| ADM 53/14964 | 3 November 1887 | 23 July 1888 |
| ADM 53/14965 | 24 July 1888 | 9 January 1890 |
| ADM 53/14966 | 10 January 1890 | 17 March 1890 |
| ADM 53/14967 | 18 March 1890 | 9 March 1891 |
| ADM 53/14968 | 10 March 1891 | 28 February 1892 |
| ADM 53/14969 | 1 March 1892 | 20 February 1893 |
| ADM 53/14970 | 21 February 1893 | 25 August 1893 |
| ADM 53/14971 | 8 July 1896 | 19 August 1896 |
| ADM 53/14972 | 8 June 1897 | 14 June 1898 |
| ADM 53/14973 | 15 June 1898 | 7 June 1899 |
| ADM 53/14974 | 8 June 1899 | 22 May 1900 |
| ADM 53/14975 | 23 May 1900 | 1 September 1900 |
| ADM 53/14976 | 10 October 1900 | 24 March 1902 |
| ADM 53/24832 | 25 March 1902 | 28 April 1903 |