HMS Galatea (1810)

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Career (United Kingdom) Royal Navy Ensign
Name: HMS Galatea
Builder: Deptford Dockyard
Launched: 31 August 1810
Reclassified: Used as a coal hulk from August 1836
Fate: Broken up in 1849
General characteristics as built
Class and type: 36-gun fifth rate frigate
Tons burthen: 947 long tons (962.2 t)
Length: 145 ft (44.2 m) (gundeck)
Beam: 38 ft 6 in (11.7 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Armament: 36 guns

HMS Galatea was a 36-gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy.

Galatea was built at Deptford, London, England and launched on 31 August 1810. From 1825 to 1829 she was commanded by Captain Charles Sullivan, on the coasts of Portugal and South America. From 8 January 1829 to 28 January 1832 she was commanded by Captain Charles Napier who, in a letter written shortly after his appointment, described her as 'a ship that has the worst reputation in the Navy'.[1] Napier fitted her with an experimental system of his own design of paddles, driven by winches on the main deck that were worked by a division of the crew, which were found useful for manouvering at speeds of up to 3 knots in windless conditions.[2] Twice during this period she cruised to the Caribbean, calling at Jamaica, Havana, Cuba and Tampico, Mexico, and in mid-1831 she was engaged in guarding British interests in the Azores. She was hulked in 1836, moved as a coal hulk to Jamaica in 1840, and broken up in 1849.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Major-General Edward Elers Napier, The Life and Correspondence of Admiral Sir Charles Napier K.C.B. (London: Hurst & Blackett, 1862), p. 132.
  2. ^ Ibid., p. 131.