HMS ''Simoom'' was an iron

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 ...

converted to an iron screw

troopship A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable to land troops directly on shore, typic ...

. She was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

in October 1845; however, on 23 April 1847 her frigate design was abandoned as this type of iron warship was considered to be unsuitable against cannon fire and she was ordered to be completed as a troopship. She was launched by

Robert Napier and Sons Messrs Robert Napier and Sons was a famous firm of Clyde shipbuilders and marine engineers at Govan, Glasgow founded by Robert Napier in 1826. It was moved to Govan for more space in 1841. His sons James and John were taken into partnership in ...

Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric: ''Gwovan''; Scots language, Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of southwest Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the sout ...

, Yard No 17, on 24 May 1849, then sold to Collings, Dartmouth in June 1887.Clyde Maritime

Design and description

''Simoom'' was designed to serve as an iron frigate; however, testing under heavy gunfire, carried out on the

paddle steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine driving paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, whereby the first uses were wh ...

''Ruby'',Naval Database "demonstrated unmistakably that the splintering characteristics of the iron then used in shipbuilding rendered unprotected ships built of this material totally unsuitable as warships".Mariner's Mirror Consequently, ''Simoom'' and were reduced to serve as transport ships. The Royal Navy used troopships to carry soldiers and supplies to conflicts in British overseas interests. Other contemporary examples included the s, that were designed to support operations in India and

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

. ''Simoom'' was armed with eight guns and powered by Boulton & Watt, Birmingham

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...

s, driving one

propeller shaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power, torque, and rotation, usually used to connect o ...

Construction and career

HMS ''Simoom'' (1849) was designed as an iron

but launched as an iron

. The following notes for ''Simoom''s career below are compiled from the RootsWeb Naval Database. 2 Apr 1851 At her trial along the measured mile on Friday, attained to a mean speed of 8½ nautical miles per hour, the engines making an average of forty-seven revolutions per minute. She was very low down in the water during the trial, particularly by the steam, having ballast on board equal in weight to what her stores, &c., would be. A doubt existed previous to the trial as to whether her engines would work up to their full speed, but the above result has removed that doubt. The Simoom will now be fitted with a topgallant forecastle and a poop, and otherwise adapted for a troop ship, for the duties of which her great size and tonnage strongly recommend her. 1852 Troopship 8 May 1852 It is reported in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

that the Simoom has been fitted with a ship's cooking galley, which can cook food for a 1,000 men and distill 90 gallons of fresh water from salt water per hour. 1854-55

1855 Refitted and re-engined at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

Dockyard with a 2-cyl, 1,699ihp engine giving 11.589kts. Her original Napier engine was fitted to the first rate, screw ship of the line,

Duke of Wellington Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they ar ...

. 25 May 1855 Kertch and Yenikale (

) were captured, along with thousands of tons and coal and provisions, along with factories etc., by some 60 French and British vessels, and allied troops, for which no prize money appeared to be payable, contrary to the Queen's instructions. See Hansard for more details, and approval for a Parliamentary Grant in lieu. 1959-61 Trooping to the Far East. 24 Mar 1860 Arrived

Hongkong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

from

. 23 May 1860

. 23 Jun 1860 At the North. 26 Jul 1860 Gulf of Pecheli. 16 Nov 1860 At the North. 31 Dec 1860

. 15 Feb 1861

Canton River The Pearl River (, or ) is an extensive river system in southern China. "Pearl River" is often also used as a catch-all for the watersheds of the Pearl tributaries within Guangdong, specifically the Xi ('west'), Bei ('north'), and Dong (' ...

. 1 May 1861

. 28 Jul 1861 At the North. 12 Aug 1861

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

. 28 Aug 1861 At the North. 1 Nov 1861

. 4 Nov 1861 Departed

for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. 26th January 1869 Arrived at Kingstown, Ireland, with the 2nd Battalion 16th Regiment on board, back from Barbados. 1 Jan 1870 Salvage services rendered to the General de Stuers, which subsequently qualified for the payment of salvage monies. 24 Dec 1873 Departed

Ascension Ascension or ascending may refer to: Religion * "Ascension", the belief in some religions that some individuals have ascended into Heaven without dying first. The Catholic concept of the Assumption of Mary leaves open the question of her deat ...

for the

Cape Coast Castle Cape Coast Castle () is one of about forty slave fort, "slave castles", or large commercial forts, built on the Gold Coast (region), Gold Coast of West Africa (now Ghana) by European traders. It was originally a Portuguese "feitoria" or Factory ( ...

. 1873-74

Ashantee The Asante, also known as Ashanti in English (), are part of the Akan ethnic group and are native to the Ashanti Region of modern-day Ghana. Asantes are the last group to emerge out of the various Akan civilisations. Twi is spoken by over nine mi ...

. 9 Jan 1874 Departed

. Is reported to have been to

Cape Palmas Cape Palmas is a headland on the extreme southeast end of the coast of Liberia, Africa, at the extreme southwest corner of the northern half of the continent. The Cape itself consists of a small, rocky peninsula connected to the mainland by a san ...

to recruit Kroomen, but they are reported to be reluctant to serve on RN vessels during the current

Ashanti War The Anglo-Ashanti wars were a series of five conflicts that took place between 1824 and 1900 between the Ashanti Empire—in the Akan people, Akan interior of the Gold Coast (British colony), Gold Coast—and the British Empire and its African ...

. 18 Jan 1874 Arrived

Freetown Freetown () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, e ...

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

, from the

Cape Coast Cape Coast is a city and the capital of the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly, Cape Coast Metropolitan District and the Central Region (Ghana), Central Region of Ghana, Ghana. It is located about from Sekondi-Takoradi and approximately from Ac ...

. 29 Jan 1874 In quarantine at

St. Vincent Saint Vincent may refer to: People Saints * Vincent of Saragossa (died 304), a.k.a. Vincent the Deacon, deacon and martyr * Saint Vincenca, 3rd century Roman martyress, whose relics are in Blato, Croatia * Vincent, Orontius, and Victor (died 305 ...

. 1879 Devonport. Officers borne in Indus. 1887 Paid Off (Scrapped).

Legacy

Simoom Sound, a former steamer landing (now post office) in the

Broughton Archipelago Broughton Archipelago is a group of islands located at the eastern end of Queen Charlotte Strait in Mount Waddington Regional District, British Columbia. The archipelago is the traditional territory of the Musgamagw Dzawada'enuxw, Namgis, Ma ...

on the

Central Coast of British Columbia The British Columbia Coast, popularly referred to as the BC Coast or simply the Coast, is a geographic region of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia. As the entire western continental coastline of Canada ...

, Canada was named for 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 ...

HMS ''Simoom'', under the command of Captain John Kingcome, namesake of the nearby fjord

Kingcome Inlet Kingcome Inlet is one of the lesser principal fjords of the British Columbia Coast, north and east of Broughton Island. It is sixth in sequence of the major saltwater fjords north from the 49th parallel near Vancouver and similar in width, on av ...

, Rear Admiral of the

Pacific Station The Pacific Station was created in 1837 as one of the geographical military formations into which the Royal Navy divided its worldwide responsibilities. The South America Station was split into the Pacific Station and the South East Coast o ...

1863-1864.

Citations

References

Woody (July 24, 2010). "Simoom 1849 HMS - Troopship". Clyde Maritime. Retrieved May 7, 2019. Naval Database. "Simoom, 1849". RootsWeb. Retrieved May 7, 2019. Naval Database. "Ruby, 1842". RootsWeb. Retrieved May 7, 2019. Naval Database. "William Loney RN - Victorian naval surgeon". pdavis.nl. Retrieved May 7, 2019. {{DEFAULTSORT:Simoom (1849) Troop ships of the United Kingdom Auxiliary ships of the Royal Navy Troop ships of the Royal Navy Auxiliary transport ship classes Steam frigates of the Royal Navy 1849 ships