HMS Virago
History
Royal Navy EnsignUnited Kingdom
NameHMS Virago
Ordered18 March 1841
BuilderChatham Dockyard
Laid down15 November 1841
Launched25 July 1842
Commissioned29 July 1843
FateScrapped at Chatham Dockyard in 1876
General characteristics [1]
Class and typeDriver-class wooden paddle sloop
Displacement1,590 tons
Tons burthen1,055 62⁄94 bm
Length180 ft (54.9 m)
Beam36 ft (11.0 m)
Depth of hold21 ft (6.4 m)
Installed power300 nhp
Propulsion
  • Boulton & Watt 2-cylinder direct-acting steam engine
  • Paddles
Sail planBrig-rigged
Complement149 (later 160)
Armament
  • 2 × 10-inch/42-pounder (84 cwt) pivot guns
  • 2 × 68-pounder guns (64 cwt)
  • 2 × 42-pounder (22 cwt) guns

HMS Virago was a Royal Navy Driver-class wooden paddle sloop launched on 25 July 1842 from Chatham Dockyard.[2]

She was sent to the Mediterranean Station arriving in November 1843 serving until 1847. Upon returning to England, she was placed into reserve.

HMS Virago taking pirates' schooner Eliza Cornish in the Straits of Magellan, 1852

In 1851 she was sent to the Pacific Station. Under the command of Commander Willam Stewart, she participated with the assistance of two Chilean ships: Indefatigable and Meteoro in the recapture of Punta Arenas in the Strait of Magellan, which had been subject to a mutiny.[3]

She took part in the siege of Petropavlovsk during the Crimean War in August–September 1854. She also undertook survey work along the Canadian Pacific coast. She returned to England in 1855 and was part of the Channel Squadron and then West Indies Station. On 22 October 1861, Virago ran aground in the East Swin, in the Thames Esturary. Repairs cost £30.[4] She was sent to the Australia Station, arriving in May 1867. She undertook survey work of the Great Barrier Reef, the Queensland coast, Norfolk Island and the coast of New Zealand. While in New Zealand she helped repair HMS Clio, which had run aground in the Bligh Sound.

Returning to England on 28 June 1871, upon arrival she was laid up at Sheerness. She was scrapped at Chatham Dockyard in 1876.[2][5]

Citations

  1. ↑ Winfield & Lyon (2004), p. 160.
  2. 1 2 Bastock, p. 50.
  3. ↑ Brown, Charles H., Insurrection at Magellan. Narrative of the Imprisonment and Escape of Capt. Chas. H. Brown, from the Chilian Convicts, published by Geo. C. Rand, Boston, Second Edition, 1854.
  4. ↑ "Naval Disasters Since 1860". Hampshire Telegraph. No. 4250. Portsmouth. 10 May 1873.
  5. ↑ "HMS Virago". William Loney RN website. Retrieved 4 August 2010.

References

  • Bastock, John (1988), Ships on the Australia Station, Child & Associates Publishing Pty Ltd; Frenchs Forest, Australia. ISBN 0-86777-348-0
  • Winfield, R.; Lyon, D. (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC 52620555.


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