HMS ''Hearty'' was a fishery protection vessel and survey ship of the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

. Built by the Scottish shipbuilder W. B. Thompson as the tug ''Indra'', the ship was launched in 1885 and purchased by the Royal Navy. ''Hearty'' was sold in 1920 for use as a salvage vessel. She was renamed ''Dalhousie'' in 1921, and was sold for scrap in 1930, being scrapped in 1935.

Description

In 1885, the Royal Navy purchased the tug ''Indra'', which was under construction by the shipbuilder W. B. Thomson at their Dundee shipyard for service at

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comm ...

in India. The tug was launched on 18 April 1885 as

Yard number __NOTOC__ M ...

65. The ship was

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and ...

, with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy * Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy ** Laser beam * Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized g ...

of and a

draught Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vessel ...

of .

Displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

was , with a

tonnage Tonnage is a measure of the cargo-carrying capacity of a ship, and is commonly used to assess fees on commercial shipping. The term derives from the taxation paid on '' tuns'' or casks of wine. In modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically ...

of 719 GRT and 156 NRT. The ship was powered by two 2-cylinder

Compound steam engine A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure ''(HP)'' cylinder, then having given up h ...

s, rated at , driving two propeller shafts. This gave a speed of . Armament was two 4 inch (102 mm) BL and two 12 pdr (76 mm) BL guns.

Service

The ship underwent builders

sea trials A sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and ...

from June 1886, with acceptance trials completed in August that year, and sailing from Dundee to

Chatham Dockyard Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham (at its most extensive, in the early 20th centur ...

on 5 September 1885. The ship was renamed to HMS ''Hearty'' on 7 December 1885. She was commissioned in September 1886, serving as a Special Service Vessel, employed on Fishery Protection duties in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

and as a tug, and later was employed for harbour service at Chatham and

Sheerness Sheerness () is a town and civil parish beside the mouth of the River Medway on the north-west corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 11,938, it is the second largest town on the island after the nearby tow ...

. On 11 November 1907, ''Hearty'' was carrying a cargo of

lifejacket A personal flotation device (PFD; also referred to as a life jacket, life preserver, life belt, Mae West, life vest, life saver, cork jacket, buoyancy aid or flotation suit) is a flotation device in the form of a vest or suite that is worn by a ...

s between Chatham and Sheerness when she encountered heavy fog, which caused the journey to be aborted. When the fog lifted later in the day, she attempted the journey again, only to collide with and sink a barge and then run aground. In September 1908 she was employed, together with the battleship and the repair ship , in towing targets for the

Nore The Nore is a long bank of sand and silt running along the south-centre of the final narrowing of the Thames Estuary, England. Its south-west is the very narrow Nore Sand. Just short of the Nore's easternmost point where it fades into the ch ...

division of the

Home Fleet The Home Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy that operated from the United Kingdom's territorial waters from 1902 with intervals until 1967. In 1967, it was merged with the Mediterranean Fleet creating the new Western Fleet. Before the Fi ...

for battle practice in

Moray Firth The Moray Firth (; Scottish Gaelic: ''An Cuan Moireach'', ''Linne Mhoireibh'' or ''Caolas Mhoireibh'') is a roughly triangular inlet (or firth) of the North Sea, north and east of Inverness, which is in the Highland council area of north of Scot ...

. She was recommissioned as a survey ship in 1910, and was based at

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

for a series of deep tidal surveys of 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 Kan ...

, before being assigned to survey duties in the North Sea. In 1912, she was assisted by the surveying trawler ''Esther'' in her North Sea surveying duties. She continued on survey duties based at the Nore during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

Salvage vessel

In April 1920, she was listed for sale, and she was sold to M.S. Hilton for use as a salvage vessel on 6 November 1920. She was renamed ''Dalhousie'' in 1921, and on 12 May 1922 was transferred to the Ocean Salvage Co Ltd of London, being employed in the Baltic. She was registered to the Ocean Salvage & Towage Co Ltd of London on 15 November 1922. In 1930, she was sold to the Swedish shipbreaker Karlshamns Skepsvarv, and she was scrapped in 1935.

Notes

Citations

References

* * * * {{cite book , last1=Lyon , first1=David , last2=Winfield , first2=Rif , title=The Steam & Sail Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889 , year=2004 , location=London , publisher=Chatham Publishing , isbn=1-86176-032-9 1885 ships Survey vessels of the Royal Navy Patrol vessels of the Royal Navy