HMS Avenger (1845)

History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Avenger
Ordered:	19 February 1844
Builder:	Devonport Dockyard
Laid down:	27 August 1844
Launched:	5 August 1845
Commissioned:	21 June 1846
Fate:	Wrecked on the Sorelle Rocks, Malta on 20 December 1847
General characteristics
Class & type:	Frigate
Tons burthen:	1444 bm
Length:	210 ft (64 m) o/a 183 ft 2 in (55.83 m) p.p.
Beam:	39 ft (12 m)
Installed power:	650 ihp (480 kW)
Propulsion:	2-cylinder direct-acting steam engines paddle wheels
Speed:	9.5 kn (10.9 mph; 17.6 km/h)
Complement:	200 (later 250)
Armament:	2 × 8 in (200 mm) (112cwt) pivot guns, 4 × 8 in (200 mm) (65cwt) pivot guns, 4 × 32 pdr (15 kg) (25cwt) gunnades

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Avenger.

HMS Avenger was a wooden paddle wheel frigate of the Royal Navy launched in 1845 and wrecked with heavy loss of life in 1847.

Construction and commissioning

Avenger was built to a design by Sir William Symonds that was approved on 25 March 1844. She was initially ordered from Deptford Dockyard on 19 February 1844 but the order was transferred to Devonport Dockyard on 22 June 1844. She was laid down there on 27 August 1844 and launched on 5 August 1845. She sailed under a jury rig to Deptford where her machinery was fitted and completed. She was then commissioned on 21 June 1846. She had cost £44,777 for the hull, £32,740 for machinery, and £11,630 for the fittings. She was armed with 10 guns and was initially rated as a first-class frigate, though this was later reduced on 31 July 1846 to a second-class.

Service

Avenger served with the Channel Fleet from 28 April 1846 to November 1847, when she was transferred to the Mediterranean.

Loss

Avenger sailed from Gibraltar on 17 December 1847 bound for Malta and commanded by Captain Charles Elers Napier, stepson of Rear Admiral Sir Charles Napier who was then commanding the Channel Fleet. On 20 December she ran onto the Sorelle Rocks, near Malta. Captain Napier drowned, and only eight crew members survived.

See also

• List of frigate classes of the Royal Navy

References

• Lyon, David and Winfield, Rif, The Sail and Steam Navy List, All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815-1889, pub Chatham, 2004, ISBN 1-86176-032-9