HMS Growler (1841)

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Sister-ship, HMS Driver
History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Growler
BuilderChatham Dockyard[1]
Cost£39,461[1]
Laid downJanuary 1841[1]
Launched20 July 1841[1]
Commissioned9 March 1842[1]
FateBroken up at Portsmouth by January 1854[1]
General characteristics [1]
Class and typeDriver-class wooden paddle sloop
Displacement1,590 tons
Tons burthen1,0556294 bm
Length180 ft (54.9 m) (gundeck)
Beam36 ft (11.0 m)
Depth of hold21 ft (6.4 m)
Installed power280 nhp
Propulsion
  • Seaward & Capel 2-cylinder direct-acting steam engine
  • Paddles
Sail planBrig-rigged
Complement149 (later 160)
Armament
  • As built:
  • 2 × 10-inch/42-pounder (84 cwt) pivot guns
  • 2 × 68-pounder guns (64 cwt)
  • 2 × 42-pounder (22 cwt) guns
  • After 1856:
  • 1 × 110 pdr Armstrong gun
  • 1 × 68-pounder (95 cwt) gun
  • 4 × 32-pounder (42 cwt) guns

HMS Growler was a paddle-driven Driver-class sloop, built in 1841 and broken up in 1854. In 1847 she carried liberated Africans to Sierra Leone for resettlement.

Construction and commissioning[edit]

Growler was ordered under PW1840 along with other Driver-class paddle sloops,[2] laid down at Chatham Dockyard and launched on 20 July 1841.[1] She was completed at Chatham and commissioned on 9 March 1842.[1][3]

Service history[edit]

On 31 March 1842, Growler was assigned to the South East Coast of America Station to combat the slave trade.[4] She was re-assigned to the West Africa Squadron in September 1844.[3]

On 21 July 1844 Growler captured the Spanish brigantine Veterano. Then on 23 September 1844 Growler captured the Spanish slave schooner Concepcion.[Note 1]

In February 1845 she took part in Commodore William Jones's destruction of several barracoons at Dombocorro and elsewhere.[6]

The ship was involved in a scheme to relocate liberated Africans from Sierra Leone to the Caribbean, arriving in Trinidad in December 1847.[7] One hundred and fifty men, 37 women and 254 children former captives survived the journey, although 45 Africans died on the journey.[8]

Fate[edit]

Growler was broken up at Portsmouth, which was completed by 17 January 1854.[1]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ A first class share of the bounty money for Veterano was worth £59 1sd; a sixth-class share was worth £3 18s 8½d. For Concepcion a first-class share was worth £6 17s 11d; a sixth-class share was worth 9s 2d.[5]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Winfield (2004), p.160
  2. ^ Friedman, Norman (2012). British Cruisers of the Victorian Era. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 9781473853126. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  3. ^ a b "HMS Growler". www.pbenyon.plus.com. pbenyon.plus.com. Archived from the original on 10 August 2017. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  4. ^ "HMS Growler at the William Loney R.N. website". Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  5. ^ "No. 20505". The London Gazette. 5 September 1845. p. 2740.
  6. ^ "Commodore Jones' destruction of the barracoons at Dombocorro and elsewhere in February 1845 (3: Jones' report of a subsequent conference with the Chiefs) at the Loney R.N. website". Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  7. ^ Adderley, Rosanne Marion (2006). "New Negroes from Africa": Slave Trade Abolition and Free African Settlement in the Nineteenth-century Caribbean. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253347033. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  8. ^ Charles Day, Williams (1852). Five Years' Residence in the West Indies Vol. 1. Colburn and co. Retrieved 9 November 2018.

References[edit]

  • 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.