HMS ''Sidon'' was a first-class paddle

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 ...

Sidon Sidon ( ) or better known as Saida ( ; ) is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast in the South Governorate, Lebanon, South Governorate, of which it is the capital. Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre, t ...

in 1840 in the Syrian War. Her keel was laid down on 26 May 1845 at

Deptford Dockyard Deptford Dockyard was an important Royal Navy Dockyard, naval dockyard and base at Deptford on the River Thames, operated by the Royal Navy from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. It built and maintained warships for 350 years, and man ...

, and she was launched on 26 May 1846. She had a fairly short career for a warship, but it included the rescue of the crew of the sinking P&O ship ''Ariel'' on 28 May 1848, and a trip up the

Nile The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...

that same year, when her passengers included the

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

and

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

Joseph Dalton Hooker Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (30 June 1817 – 10 December 1911) was a British botanist and explorer in the 19th century. He was a founder of geographical botany and Charles Darwin's closest friend. For 20 years he served as director of the Ro ...

Sebastopol from the sea - sketched from the deck of H

''Sidon'' served in the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

in the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

, 1854–55 under the command of Captain George Goldsmith. In April 1854, in company with HMS ''Firebrand'' (Captain

William Houston Stewart Admiral (Royal Navy), Admiral Sir William Houston Stewart, (7 September 1822 – 13 November 1901) was a senior British naval officer who, after a long, active career, eventually held the office of the Third Sea Lord, Controller of the Royal Na ...

), she blockaded the coast from

Kavarna Kavarna ( , ) is a Black Sea coastal town and seaside resort in the Dobruja region of northeastern Bulgaria. It lies northeast of Varna, from Dobrich, and south of the border with Romania. It is the principal town of Kavarna Municipality, pa ...

to the mouths of the River

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

. In September, in the Allied invasion of the Crimea, she was assigned to escorting the French troop transports, and assisted the French line-of-battleship ''Algiers'', which had gone aground in Eupatoria Bay. She was then sent to monitor Russian movements around

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

, and on 4 October attacked a marching column of 12,000 men on their way to the Crimea. On this occasion Russian rocket hit her funnel.''Russian War, 1854, Baltic and Black Sea, Official Correspondence'', pp. 334–6. On 11 June 1860, ''Sidon'' ran aground at "Pomong Harbour",

Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...

. Repairs cost £678. She returned to the east coast of Africa and in 1861 destroyed the Royal Navy tender ''Enchantress'', which had wrecked on 20 February 1861 on a reef off

Mayotte Mayotte ( ; , ; , ; , ), officially the Department of Mayotte (), is an Overseas France, overseas Overseas departments and regions of France, department and region and single territorial collectivity of France. It is one of the Overseas departm ...

in the

Mozambique Channel The Mozambique Channel (, , ) is an arm of the Indian Ocean located between the Southeast African countries of Madagascar and Mozambique. The channel is about long and across at its narrowest point, and reaches a depth of about off the coa ...

Fate

''Sidon'' was sold for breaking up on 15 July 1864 to Castle and Beech.

Citations

References

* * Lyon, David & Winfield, Rif '' The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889''. Chatham Publishing, 2004. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Sidon Ships built in Deptford 1846 ships Frigates of the Royal Navy Victorian-era frigates of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in June 1860