| Career (UK) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Avenger |
| Ordered: | 19 February 1844 |
| Builder: | Devonport Dockyard |
| Laid down: | 27 August 1844 |
| Launched: | 5 August 1845 |
| Commissioned: | 21 June 1846 |
| Fate: | Wrecked on the Sorelle Rocks, Malta on 20 December 1847 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Frigate |
| Tons burthen: | 1444 bm |
| Length: | 210 ft (64 m) o/a 183 ft 2 in (55.83 m) p.p. |
| Beam: | 39 ft (12 m) |
| Installed power: | 650 ihp (480 kW) |
| Propulsion: | 2-cylinder direct-acting steam engines paddle wheels |
| Speed: | 9.5 kn (10.9 mph; 17.6 km/h) |
| Complement: | 200 (later 250) |
| Armament: | 2 × 8 in (200 mm) (112cwt) pivot guns, 4 × 8 in (200 mm) (65cwt) pivot guns, 4 × 32 pdr (15 kg) (25cwt) gunnades |
HMS Avenger was a wooden paddle wheel frigate of the Royal Navy launched in 1845 and wrecked with heavy loss of life in 1847.
Contents |
Avenger was built to a design by Sir William Symonds that was approved on 25 March 1844. She was initially ordered from Deptford Dockyard on 19 February 1844 but the order was transferred to Devonport Dockyard on 22 June 1844. She was laid down there on 27 August 1844 and launched on 5 August 1845. She sailed under a jury rig to Deptford where her machinery was fitted and completed. She was then commissioned on 21 June 1846. She had cost £44,777 for the hull, £32,740 for machinery, and £11,630 for the fittings. She was armed with 10 guns and was initially rated as a first-class frigate, though this was later reduced on 31 July 1846 to a second-class.
Avenger served with the Channel Fleet from 28 April 1846 to November 1847, when she was transferred to the Mediterranean.
Avenger sailed from Gibraltar on 17 December 1847 bound for Malta and commanded by Captain Charles Elers Napier, stepson of Rear Admiral Sir Charles Napier who was then commanding the Channel Fleet. On 20 December she ran on to the Sorelle Rocks, near Malta. Captain Napier drowned, and only eight crew members survived.[1]