HMS ''Euryalus'' was a

fourth-rate In 1603 all English warships with a complement of fewer than 160 men were known as 'small ships'. In 1625/26 to establish pay rates for officers, a six-tier naval ship rating system was introduced.Winfield 2009 These small ships were divided ...

wooden-hulled screw

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

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 ...

, with a steam engine that could make over . She was launched at Chatham in 1853, was 212 feet long, displaced 3,125 tons and had a complement of 515 (this varied slightly as the Naval Standards varied). At the time of the

Bombardment of Kagoshima The Bombardment of Kagoshima, also known as the , was a military engagement fought between United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Britain and the Satsuma Domain in Kagoshima from 15 to 17 August 1863. The British were attempting to extract ...

she carried 35 guns, not counting approximately 16

carronade A carronade is a short, smoothbore, cast-iron cannon which was used by the Royal Navy. It was first produced by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, and was used from the last quarter of the 18th century to the mid-19th cen ...

s. Seventeen of her guns were breech-loading

Armstrong gun An Armstrong gun was a type of rifled breech-loading field and heavy artillery piece designed by Sir William Armstrong. It was first manufactured in England starting in 1855 by the Elswick Ordnance Company and the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich. ...

s. She carried 230 tons of coal, and provisions for about three months, together with over 70 tons of shot and shell.

Service history

In December 1853, G. Ramsay was appointed captain. The ship served in the Baltic Campaign in 1854–1855. On 2 April 1855 she gave HMS ''Imperieuse'' a tow, after the ship had run aground; the previous day, off the Reefness Lighthouse (Røsnæs lighthouse) in

Kalundborg Kalundborg () is a Danish city with a population of 16,659 (1 January 2025),Bombardment of Sveaborg The Bombardment of Sveaborg, also known as the Battle of Sveaborg, took place on 9–11 August 1855, between Russian defenders and a joint BritishFrench fleet during the Åland War, a Baltic Sea theater of the Crimean War. British and French shi ...

(now

Suomenlinna Suomenlinna (), or Sveaborg (), is a sea fortress composed of eight islands, of which six have been fortified. Located about 4 km southeast of the city center of Helsinki, the capital of Finland, Suomenlinna is a popular destination for bot ...

, Finland) on 7–9 August 1855. Captain John W

Under the command of J. W. Tarleton, she served in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

in 1858. The same year Prince Alfred was appointed to the ship as a

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest Military rank#Subordinate/student officer, rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Royal Cana ...

. In 1860, the ship visited the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

. ''Euryalus'' arrived at

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

on 15 September 1862, the day following the

Namamugi Incident The , also known as the Kanagawa incident and Richardson affair, was a political crisis that occurred in the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the ''Bakumatsu'' on 14 September 1862. Charles Lennox Richardson, a British merchant, was killed by ...

, a

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

assault on British nationals on the outskirts of the treaty port that led to a major breakdown in Anglo-Japanese relations. In an effort to enforce reparations from the

Satsuma Domain The , briefly known as the , was a Han system, domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871. The Satsuma Domain was based at Kagoshima Castle in Satsuma Province, the core of the modern city of ...

, ''Euryalus'' served as Admiral Sir

Augustus Kuper Admiral Sir Augustus Leopold Kuper (16 August 1809 – 28 October 1885) was a Royal Navy officer known for his commands in East Asia. Naval career Kuper, whose ancestry was German, joined the navy in 1823 as a midshipman. On 20 February 1830 ...

's flagship during the

bombardment of Kagoshima The Bombardment of Kagoshima, also known as the , was a military engagement fought between United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Britain and the Satsuma Domain in Kagoshima from 15 to 17 August 1863. The British were attempting to extract ...

on 16 August 1863. During the bombardment of Kagoshima the Captain of ''Euryalus'', John James Steven Josling, was killed, as was his second-in-command, Commander Edward Wilmot, both decapitated by the same cannonball. Eight other members of the crew also died in the action, their names all commemorated on a memorial in the former British Consulate building in Yokohama. ''Euryalus'' also participated in the bombardment of Shimonoseki in September 1864. The captain and commander of the ship at Shimonoseki was Captain John Hobhouse Inglis Alexander, who was severely wounded in the ankle as he led the assault on the batteries onshore. The ''Euryalus'' Captain of the Afterguard, Thomas Pride, was awarded a Victoria Cross for his actions during one of the stormings at Shimonoseki. It was at Shimonoseki that

Duncan Gordon Boyes Duncan Gordon Boyes Victoria Cross, VC (5 November 1846 – 26 January 1869) was an England, English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to United Kin ...

won his

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

at the age of 17.

Fate

''Euryalus'' was paid off at Portsmouth on 23 September 1865. She was broken up in 1867.

Citations

References

* Denney, John. ''Respect and Consideration: Britain in Japan 1853–1868 and beyond''. Radiance Press (2011). *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Euryalus (1853), Hms Frigates of the Royal Navy 1853 ships Crimean War naval ships of the United Kingdom Ships built in Chatham