HMS ''Mohawk'' was a British ''Vigilant''-class gunvessel launched in 1856.

History

HMS ''Mohawk'' was purchased by Horatio Nelson Lay, Inspector General of the

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

Chinese Maritime Customs Service The Chinese Maritime Customs Service was a Chinese governmental tax collection agency and information service from its founding in 1854 until it split in 1949 into services operating in the Republic of China on Taiwan, and in the People's Republ ...

, on 20 September 1862, as part of an effort to bolster the

naval force A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

in response to the ongoing

Taiping Rebellion The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a civil war in China between the Qing dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The conflict lasted 14 years, from its outbreak in 1850 until the fall of ...

. Thereafter she was renamed ''Pei King'' (also as ''Pekin'', ), and became part of the Lay-Osborn Flotilla commanded by

Sherard Osborn Sherard Osborn (25 April 1822 – 6 May 1875) was a Royal Navy admiral and Arctic explorer. Biography Born in Madras, he was the son of an Indian army officer. Osborn entered the navy as a first-class volunteer in 1837, serving until 1 ...

. She was put under the command of Hugh Burgoyne. Upon her arrival in China, the Qing government ordered the ship to be renamed as ''Chin T'ai'' (). Disagreements between the Qing government and Lay over the command of the Lay-Osborn Flotilla led to its disbandment in 1863, and ''Pekin'' returned to the United Kingdom. She was originally intended for sale, but an embargo on sales, due to the concurrent

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

and fear of the vessel joining the

Confederate States Navy The Confederate States Navy (CSN) was the Navy, naval branch of the Confederate States Armed Forces, established by an act of the Confederate States Congress on February 21, 1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the Amer ...

, prevented any sales. When the American Civil War ended in 1865, she, along with ''

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

'' and ''

Tientsin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the 2020 Chinese census. Its metropoli ...

'', were sold in an auction to

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

on 30 December 1865 for £20,500.

Citations

References

* * * and * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mohawk (1856) Vigilant-class gunvessels 1856 ships Victorian-era gunboats of the United Kingdom Naval ships of Imperial China Naval ships of China Gunboats of China