HMS ''Trincomalee'' is a

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 ...

sailing frigate built shortly after the end of the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

. She is now restored as a

museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small num ...

afloat in the National Museum of the Royal Navy, Hartlepool,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

History

1812–1847

''Trincomalee'' is one of two surviving British frigates of her era—her near-sister (of the modified ''Leda'' class) is now a museum ship in Dundee. After being ordered on 30 October 1812, ''Trincomalee'' was built in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the '' de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the sec ...

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

, by the Wadia family of shipwrights in teak, due to oak shortages in Britain as a result of shipbuilding drives for the Napoleonic Wars. The ship was named ''Trincomalee'' after the 1782

Battle of Trincomalee A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and forc ...

off the Ceylon (

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

) port of that name. Work on the Trincomalee began in May 1816. Ceremonially an engraved silver nail was hammered into the ship's keel by the master shipbuilder Jamsetjee Bomanjee Wadia, this being considered vital for the ship's well-being, according to Parsi

Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic ...

tradition. With a construction cost of £23,000 (approximately £2,015,000 in 2020), ''Trincomalee'' was launched on 12 October 1817. Commander Philip Henry Bridges sailed her to Portsmouth Dockyard, where she arrived on 30 April 1819, with a journey costing £6,600. During the maiden voyage the ship arrived at

Saint Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three consti ...

on 24 January 1819, where she stayed for 6 days, leaving with an additional passenger, a surgeon who had attended Napoleon at Longwood House on the island, Mr John Stokoe. After being fitted out at a further cost of £2,400, ''Trincomalee'' was placed in reserve until 1845, when she was re-armed with fewer guns giving greater firepower, had her stern reshaped and was reclassified as a sixth-rate spar-decked corvette.

1847–1857

''Trincomalee'' departed from Portsmouth in 1847 and remained in service for ten years, serving on the North American and

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Great ...

station. During her time, she was to help quell riots in

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

and stop a threatened invasion of

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

, and serve on anti-

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

patrol. In 1849, she was despatched to Newfoundland and

Labrador , nickname = "The Big Land" , etymology = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 ...

before being recalled to Britain in 1850. In 1852 she sailed to join the Pacific Squadron on the west coast of America.

TS ''Foudroyant''

''Trincomalee'' finished her Royal Navy service as a training ship, but was placed in reserve again in 1895 and sold for scrap two years later on 19 May 1897. She was then purchased by entrepreneur George Wheatley Cobb, restored, and renamed ''Foudroyant'' in honour of , his earlier ship that had been wrecked in 1897. She was used in conjunction with as an accommodation ship, a training ship, and a holiday ship based in Falmouth then

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is admi ...

. She remained in service until 1986, after which she was again restored and renamed back to ''Trincomalee'' in 1992.

Later years

Now listed as part of the National Historic Fleet, following her recent restoration ''Trincomalee'' has become the centrepiece of the National Museum of the Royal Navy based in Hartlepool. ''Trincomalee'' holds the distinction of being the oldest British warship still afloat as , although 52 years her senior, is in dry dock. Until his death in 1929, the Falmouth-based painter Henry Scott Tuke used the ship and its trainees as subject matter.

Gallery

File:HMS Trincomalee at Hartlepool 2010 (800x600).jpg File:H.M.S. Trincomalee, Hartlepool Maritime Experience - geograph.org.uk - 1605081.jpg File:H.M.S. Trincomalee, Hartlepool Maritime Experience - geograph.org.uk - 1604019.jpg File:H.M.S. Trincomalee, Hartlepool Maritime Experience - geograph.org.uk - 1605098.jpg File:Captains cabin HMS Trincomalee geograph.org.uk 1605087 e0de772e-by-Ian-Petticrew.jpg File:Her Majesty's Ships Amphitrite and Trincomalee Beating out of San Francisco on Sepr 23rd 1854 RMG PY0799.jpg, ''Trincomalee'' beating out of San Francisco on 23 Sept 1854

References

External links

HMS ''Trincomalee'' official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trincomalee Frigates of the Royal Navy Museum ships in the United Kingdom Museums in County Durham Tall ships of the United Kingdom 1817 ships Leda-class frigates Ships and vessels of the National Historic Fleet British ships built in India