| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Active |
| Builder: | Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company, Blackwall, London |
| Laid down: | 1867 |
| Launched: | 13 March 1869[1] |
| Commissioned: | March 1871 |
| Fate: | Sold for breaking, 10 July 1906 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Volage-class iron screw corvette |
| Displacement: | 3,078 long tons (3,127 t) |
| Length: | 270 ft (82 m) |
| Beam: | 42 ft (13 m)[1] |
| Draught: | 21.5 ft (6.6 m) |
| Installed power: | 4130 indicated horsepower[1] |
| Propulsion: | Humphrys two-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engine Five boilers Single 19 ft (5.8 m) screw[1] |
| Speed: | 15 kn (28 km/h) |
| Range: | 2,000 nmi (3,700 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h)[1] |
| Complement: | 340 |
| Armament: | • 6 × 7-inch/112-pounder muzzle-loading rifled guns • 4 × 6.3-inch/64-pounder muzzle-loading rifled guns[1] |
HMS Active was a British Royal Navy Volage-class corvette, launched in 1869. She entered service in 1873, and was the Commodore's ship on the Cape of Good Hope and West Africa Station. Her crew served ashore in both the Third Anglo-Ashanti and Zulu Wars.
Between 19 November 1878 and 21 July 1879, during the Anglo-Zulu War, 173 men of Active (along with men from Tenedos, Shah and Boadicea) served ashore as part of a 858-man Naval Brigade. The group from Active comprised 10 officers, 100 seamen, 5 idlers, 42 Marines, 14 Kroomen, and 2 medical attendants.[2] As well as small arms they were equipped with two 12-pounder BL guns, 24-pounder rockets, and a Gatling gun. The 12-pounders were exchanged for two of the Army's 7-pounder mountain guns before entering Zululand.[3]
Attached to the No.1 Column commanded by Colonel Charles Pearson, they crossed the Tugela River from Natal into Zululand on 12 January 1879.[2] On 22 January they saw action in the battle of Inyezane, driving off an attacking force of Zulus with rockets, Martini-Henry rifles and the Gatling gun.[4] The same day the British main force was defeated at the battle of Isandlwana, and so Pearson's column advanced to Eshowe, were it was besieged for two months, until relieved on 3 April.[2] During the campaign Active's crew suffered only one man killed, and nine wounded in action against the enemy, while nine died of disease during the siege, and one man drowned while crossing the Tugela.[2] In 1881 the South Africa Medal was awarded to those members of Active's crew that had served there.[5]
Active was rearmed and refitted in 1879, and was selected in 1885 to be the commodore's ship in the Training Squadron. Active is reputed to have been the last square-rigged naval ship to leave Portsmouth Harbour under sail. She was paid off in 1898 and went into reserve, and was sold out of the service in 1906.[6]
A memorial to the men of Active who lost their lives during the African campaigns can be found in Victoria Park, Portsmouth.[6]
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