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From: "Doreen Heaton" <>
Subject: Re: R.N.Ship " BOADICEA"
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 23:58:34 -0000
References: <003101c0540b$c0ba9280$5b79893e@freeserve.co.uk>


Hello Gloria and all,

I have a book entitled "Ships of the Victorian Navy" which I bought at the
Portsmouth Dockyard shop whilst visiting the Mary Rose and others some years
ago.

HMS Boadicea
Corvette. launched 1875, 280 feet long, 3913 tons.
Armament. originally fourteen 7-inch MLR and two 64-pounder MLR guns. Two
14-inch Whitehead torpedo carriages.

Designer. Controller of the Navy

Builder. Royal Dockyard Portsmouth.

Horsepower. 5130 Indicated Horsepower.

Speed. 14.8 knots

Scrapped. Sold for breaking up in 1905.

The cruiser concept may be said to make a somewhat hesitant start with this
ship, first in her class to see service. Iron-hulled and copper -sheathed
for long-range work, her design was excellent in 2 respects - the machinery
and the coal capacity. She was fitted with a horizontal return
connecting-rod engine for two-stage expansion by J & G Rennie, and ten
single-ended boilers supplied steam to a high-pressure cylinder 73 inches in
diameter linked to two low-pressure cylinders and two condensers. On trials
the engine gave 14.8 knots at 74.5 revs. per minute. A model of this
first-rate engine may be seen at the Science Museum Kensington, London. Her
coal capacity was 540 tons - the same as the much larger "Raleigh" with whom
Boadicea is often compared.

Shortly after completion she was sent under Commadore "King Dick" Richards
to the Cape of Good Hope and West African station for a tour of 7 years. Her
crew was often engaged ashore. In 1879 one of her seamen was manning a
defence post at Inyezane when a small boy tumbled into it. The sailor cuffed
him round the head and sat on him until the attack was over. The lad was
adopted as ship's mascot, and later joined the Royal Navy. Two years later
the Commander, the gunnery lieutenant and nineteen men were killed at
Laing's Neck and Majuba during the Transvaal affair. The most celebrated
character associated with the ship in the 1890s was Vice-Admiral William
Kennedy, whose passion was hunting. As flagship of the East India station,
Boadicea should have steamed sedately between Aden, Bombay, and Trincomalee,
but "Bill" Kennedy seems to have made sure that there were urgent reasons of
state why the ship should be in Madagascar waters when the guinea-fowl were
flying, or at Mauritius when a particularly big stag had been reported. In
1895 the ship came home to pay off, and in due course was sold for
breaking-up.

So there you are.

Hope this helps

Regards
Doreen



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