HMS Rapid was an 11-gun Rosario-class

Rosario class sloop

The Rosario class was a class of seven screw-sloops of wooden construction built for the Royal Navy between 1860 and 1862. A further six vessels were ordered and laid down, but were cancelled in 1863 before launch...

 wooden-hulled screw-driven sloop

Sloop-of-war

In the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. As the rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, this meant that the term sloop-of-war actually encompassed all the unrated combat vessels including the...

 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...

, launched on 29 November 1860 at Deptford Dockyard and broken up in 1881.

Design

The Rosario class were designed in 1858 by Issac Watts, the 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....

. They were built of wood, were rated for 11 guns and were built with a full ship rig of sails. With a length overall of 160 feet (48.8 m) and a beam of 30 in 4 in (9.25 m), they had a displacement of 913 tonnes.

Propulsion

Rapid was fitted with a Greenock Foundry Company two-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engine driving a single screw. With an indicated horsepower of 460 hp she was capable of 9.1 knots (17.8 km/h) under steam.

Armament

As designed ships of the class carried a single slide-mounted 40-pounder Armstrong breech-loading gun, six 32-pounder muzzle-loading smooth-bore guns and four pivot-mounted 20-pounder Armstrong breech loaders. By 1869 the armament had been reduced to a single 7 inches (177.8 mm) muzzle-loading gun and two 40-pounders.

First Commission - Cape of Good Hope

Rapid was commissioned under Commander Charles Jago at Woolwich on 12 June 1862. Commander Jago took the ship to the Cape of Good Hope Station where she remained until 1866, paying off at Woolwich on 24 January 1867.

Second Commission - Mediterranean

She was recommissioned at Woolwich on 14 May 1868 by Commander Francis Wood and served in the Mediterranean. While in the Mediterranean she had been converted from fully ship-rigged

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....

 to barque-rigged

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...

. Her guns were reduced from eleven to three; one 7.5-ton muzzle loader and two 40-pounder Armstrong breech loaders.

Third Commission - Mediterranean

She recommissioned at Malta on 9 August 1871 under Commander Victor Montagu. In September 1875 her next captain, Commander Seymour Smith, was invalided home, being replaced by Commander Adolphus Fitzgeorge. In 1878 she was attached to the Mediterranean fleet under Geoffrey Hornby. Commander Charles 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...

 took command on 4 January 1878 when she was stationed at Corfu. The island had recently been transferred from British to Greek control, which had resulted in a decline in the local economy as British forces and their funding had been withdrawn. Her Armstrong guns had a reputation amongst their crews as 'two muzzle guns, what shoots inwards', due to the unreliability of the breech mechanism. It was felt they killed more of their operators than ever those fired upon. The 7.5-ton gun was intended to fire to either side of the ship, but the spare topmast was stored on the port side of the ship, preventing the gun being fired in that direction. This difficulty was corrected by Fitzgerald once he assumed command.

At the request of the British consul, Rapid evacuated 180 Christian women and children from Te Scogli and Santa Quaranta villages in Albania when an attack by Turkish troops was expected. Fitzgerald was first censured for exceeding his authority in doing this by Admiral Hornby, but the Admiralty confirmed he had acted under instructions. The villagers for the most part remained destitute in Corfu for many years.

In the autumn of 1878 Rapid was ordered to Malta for her annual refit. She was then ordered to visit Syria for the winter. The summer of 1879 was spent again at Malta refitting the ship and exchanging the crew. Fitzgerald found this trying, as his good companions with whom he had enjoyed hunting wherever the ship visited, were departing. Rapid was ordered to Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

 for the winter, to act as guard ship for the ambassador. Each of the Great Powers kept a small warship there in attendance.

Fate

Rapid was paid off at Malta on 14 January 1881 and was broken up there in September of the same year.

Commanding officers

From	To	Captain
12 June 1862	10 June 1866	Commander Charles Trelawney Jago
10 June 1866	24 January 1867	Acting Commander William Belford Stubbs
14 May 1868		Commander Francis Lindley Wood
9 August 1871	20 September 1874	Commander Victor Alexander Montagu
20 September 1874	4 September 1875	Commander Seymour Spencer Smith (until invalided)
4 September 1875		Commander Adolphus Agustus Frederick Fitzgeorge
4 January 1878		Commander 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...
3 April 1880	14 January 1881	Commander William Frederick Stanley Mann