HMS ''Crocodile'' was a launched into the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...

from the

Blackwall Yard Blackwall Yard is a small body of water that used to be a shipyard on the River Thames in Blackwall, engaged in ship building and later ship repairs for over 350 years. The yard closed in 1987. History East India Company Blackwall was a sh ...

Money Wigram and Sons Money Wigram (14 March 1790 – March 1873) was an English shipbuilder and ship owner, and a director of the Bank of England. Life Wigram was born in Walthamstow in 1790, a son of Sir Robert Wigram, 1st Baronet and his wife Eleanor Wigram, Eleanor. ...

on 7 January 1867. She was the fourth and last vessel of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

to carry the name.

Design

''Crocodile'' was one of five iron-hulled vessels of the . All five were built to a design of

overall length The overall length (OAL) of an ammunition cartridge is a measurement from the base of the brass shell casing to the tip of the bullet, seated into the brass casing. Cartridge overall length, or "COL", is important to safe functioning of reloads i ...

by about breadth, although ''Malabar'' was very slightly smaller than the rest of the class. They had a single

screw A screw is an externally helical threaded fastener capable of being tightened or released by a twisting force (torque) to the screw head, head. The most common uses of screws are to hold objects together and there are many forms for a variety ...

, a speed of , one

funnel A funnel is a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening. Funnels are usually made of stainless steel, aluminium, glass, or plastic. The material used in its constructi ...

, a barque-rig sail plan, three 4-pounder guns, and a white painted hull. Her

bow BOW as an acronym may refer to: * Bag of waters, amniotic sac * Bartow Municipal Airport (IATA:BOW), a public use airport near Bartow, Florida, United States * Basic operating weight of an aircraft * BOW counties, made of Brown, Outagamie, and Winn ...

was a "ram bow" which projected forward below the waterline.

Identification

The ''Euphrates''-class troopships could each be identified by a different coloured hull band. ''Crocodile''s hull band was yellow. The blue hull band of her sister ''Euphrates'' became the standard for all HM Troopships.

Career

''Crocodile'' was built for the transport of troops between the United Kingdom and the Indian sub-continent, and was operated by the

. She carried up to 1,200 troops and family on a passage of approximately 70 days. Between November 1866 and April 1870 she was commanded by Captain George Willes Watson. On 27 November 1867, she collided with the Canadian merchant ship ''John Dwyer'' in the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

off

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. ''John Dwyer'' sank with the loss of four of her crew. ''Crocodile'' rescued the survivors. ''Crocodile'' was re-engined rather later in life than her sisters, with her single-expansion steam engine replaced with a more efficient compound-expansion type.Winfield does not show a re-enginning of ''Crocodile''. This is a misprint and the ''Errata'' should be consulted. In December 1888, ''Crocodile'' towed the Dutch steamship ''Sourabaja'' to Malta, the steamship having suffered an engine failure off

Cape Trafalgar Cape Trafalgar (; ) is a headland in the Province of Cádiz in the southwest of Spain. The 1805 naval Battle of Trafalgar, in which the Royal Navy commanded by Admiral Horatio Nelson decisively defeated Napoleon's combined Spanish and French f ...

, Spain. ''Crocodile''s last voyage began at

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

in October 1893. On 3 November, as she was approaching

Aden Aden () is a port city located in Yemen in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula, on the north coast of the Gulf of Aden, positioned near the eastern approach to the Red Sea. It is situated approximately 170 km (110 mi) east of ...

, the high-pressure steam cylinder exploded and the ship came to a halt. The next day she was towed to an anchorage near Aden. Most of the soldiers and their families were brought home on other ships. ''Crocodile'' eventually arrived back at Portsmouth on 30 December 1893, having travelled using only the low-pressure steam cylinder, and was not further employed for trooping.''The Times'', London, 1 January 1894

Fate

''Crocodile'' was sold for breaking on 11 May 1894.

Notes

References

External links

Emigration of Dockyard Workmen on the Crocodile, 1870 (image)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crocodile Euphrates-class troopships Troop ships of the Royal Navy Ships built by the Blackwall Yard Victorian-era naval ships of the United Kingdom 1867 ships