HMS ''Basilisk'' was a first-class paddle sloop of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

, built at the

Woolwich Dockyard Woolwich Dockyard (formally H.M. Dockyard, Woolwich, also known as The King's Yard, Woolwich) was an English naval dockyard along the river Thames at Woolwich in north-west Kent, where many ships were built from the early 16th century until ...

and launched on 22 August 1848.Bastock, p.57-58.

Design and construction

''Basilisk'' was designed by Oliver Lang to the same lines as the screw sloop ''Niger'' and ordered on 23 March 1846 from Woolwich Dockyard. She was laid down in November of the same year and launched on 22 August 1848.

Propulsion

She was fitted with paddlewheels driven by a Miller, Ravenhill & Salkeld two-cylinder oscillating steam engine rated at 400

nominal horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...

and developing .

Armament

''Basilisk'' was fitted with a single

68-pounder The 68-pounder cannon was an artillery piece designed and used by the British Armed Forces in the mid-19th century. The cannon was a smoothbore muzzle-loading gun manufactured in several weights, the most common being , and fired projectiles of ...

(95 cwt) smoothbore muzzle-loading gun on a pivot mount, a single 10-inch (84 cwt) shell gun and four

32-pounder A 32-pounder is a gun firing a shot of 32 pounds weight, a mass of . Examples include: *Naval artillery in the Age of Sail *32-pounder gun – a smooth-bore muzzle-loading gun firing bullets of 32 pounds, c. 1500 – c. 1880 *A size of Dahlgren gu ...

(42 cwt) smoothbore muzzle-loading guns on truck mountings.Winfield (2004), p.161

Propulsion trials

She participated in 1849 in trials in the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" ( Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), ( Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Ka ...

with the screw sloop ''Niger''. ''Basilisk'' had started life as her sister ship when both were designed as sailing sloops, but while ''Niger'' received screw propulsion, ''Basilisk'' was fitted with paddles. Although previous trials, including a similar comparison between ''Rattler'' and ''Alecto'' in 1845, had shown that screw propulsion was broadly superior, the 1849 trials pitted two near-identical ships against each other. Since both ships had the same lines and steam engines developing almost identical power, the results confirmed the superiority of screw propulsion over the paddle-wheel once and for all. On 7 April 1853, ''Basilisk'' ran aground off

Southsea Southsea is a seaside resort and a geographic area of Portsmouth, Portsea Island in England. Southsea is located 1.8 miles (2.8 km) to the south of Portsmouth's inner city-centre. Southsea is not a separate town as all of Portsea Island's s ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

due to a flag being hoisted showing it was safe to enter

Portsmouth Naval Base His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is lo ...

when there was insufficient water to do so. Two or three of her crew were injured. She was later refloated and taken in to Portsmouth.

Crimean War service

After the trials she served in the Baltic Sea during the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

in 1854–1855, participating in the blockade of

Courland Courland (; lv, Kurzeme; liv, Kurāmō; German and Scandinavian languages: ''Kurland''; la, Curonia/; russian: Курляндия; Estonian: ''Kuramaa''; lt, Kuršas; pl, Kurlandia) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia ...

. She attacked and sank 10 Russian transports carrying grain on 14 June 1855 and sank some salt boats on 13 July. She also participated in the action of 17 July in the

Gulf of Riga The Gulf of Riga, Bay of Riga, or Gulf of Livonia ( lv, Rīgas līcis, et, Liivi laht) is a bay of the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Estonia. The island of Saaremaa (Estonia) partially separates it from the rest of the Baltic Sea. The main c ...

, with against Russian gunboats and shore batteries.

Foreign service

After the Crimean War, she served on the

North America and West Indies Station The North America and West Indies Station was a formation or command of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy stationed in North American waters from 1745 to 1956. The North American Station was separate from the Jamaica Station until 1830 when the ...

and afterwards on the

China Station The Commander-in-Chief, China was the admiral in command of what was usually known as the China Station, at once both a British Royal Navy naval formation and its admiral in command. It was created in 1865 and deactivated in 1941. From 1831 to 18 ...

and in Japan. On 27 July 1868, she was driven ashore on the coast of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. Repairs cost £1,777. In March 1871 she commenced service on the Australia Station. The ''Basilisk'' under Captain

John Moresby Rear Admiral John Moresby (15 March 1830 – 12 July 1922) was a British naval officer who explored the coast of New Guinea and was the first European to discover the site of Port Moresby. Life and career Moresby was born in Allerford, Somerset ...

visited the

Ellice Islands Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-nor ...

in July 1872. She undertook

hydrographic survey Hydrographic survey is the science of measurement and description of features which affect maritime navigation, marine construction, dredging, offshore oil exploration/ offshore oil drilling and related activities. Strong emphasis is placed ...

s around

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torres ...

with Captain Moresby and made a number of discoveries. She was later used for anti-

blackbirding Blackbirding involves the coercion of people through deception or kidnapping to work as slaves or poorly paid labourers in countries distant from their native land. The term has been most commonly applied to the large-scale taking of people in ...

operations in the South Pacific. She left the Australia Station in 1874 and returned to England.

Fate

''Basilisk'' was paid off and broken up at Chatham in 1882.

Notes

Citations

References

*Bastock, John (1988), ''Ships on the Australia Station'', Child & Associates Publishing Pty Ltd; Frenchs Forest, Australia. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Basilisk (1848) 1848 ships Ships built in Woolwich Victorian-era sloops of the United Kingdom Paddle sloops of the Royal Navy Crimean War naval ships of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in April 1853 Maritime incidents in July 1868