HMS Aid (1809)
HMS Aid was a Royal Navy transport ship launched in 1809 at Kings Lynn. She was the name ship of a six-vessel class of purpose built storeships, the only vessels built as such during the Napoleonic Wars.[1]
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Aid |
| Laid down | July 1808 |
| Launched | 4 April 1809 |
| Renamed | HMS Adventure, 24 May 1821 |
| Fate | Sold 19 March 1853 |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Class and type | Aid-class storeship |
| Tons burthen | 313 68⁄94 (bm) |
| Length |
|
| Beam | 26 ft (7.9 m) |
| Depth of hold | 17 ft 4 in (5.28 m) |
| Propulsion | Sails |
| Complement | 39 |
| Armament | 4 x 12-pounder carronades + 2 x 9-pounder guns (as survey ship) |
Ordered in 1808, she was built by Mr Thomas Brindley at King's Lynn, Norfolk.[2]
She was converted to a survey ship between December 1816 and March 1817 at Sheerness. Commander William Henry Smyth commissioned her in January 1817.[1]
On 14 September 1817, while under Smyth's command, she was at Lebida (Leptis Magna), together with HMS Weymouth. There they loaded columns, marbles, and other antiquities to bring back to England.[3]
Aid was renamed HMS Adventure in 1821.
As HMS Adventure the ship was deployed for five years between 1826 and 1830 in a survey of Patagonia, under the command of Captain Phillip King. The ship was accompanied by HMS Beagle, a slightly smaller vessel (90.3 ft in length), who was on her first of three major voyages. Adventure was sold in Plymouth by the Admiralty on 19 May 1853 for £750.[4]
Citations
- Winfield (2008), p.398.
- "Contract for Assistance (1809) and Aid (1809)". collections.rmg.co.uk. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
- Smyth (1854), pp.488-9.
- Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793 – 1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1844157174.
References
- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
- Smyth, William Henry (1854) The Mediterranean: A Memoir Physical, Historical, and Nautical (John W. Parker and Son).