Cherokee class brig-sloop
| Longitudinal section of HMS Beagle as of 1842 Longitudinal section of HMS Beagle (Cherokee class) as of 1832 | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Cherokee-class brig-sloop |
| Operators: |  Royal Navy |
| Completed: | 36 in first batch 38 in second batch 44 in third batch |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Brig-sloop |
| Tons burthen: | 235 bm |
| Length: | 90.3 ft (27.5 m) |
| Beam: | 24.5 ft (7.5 m) |
| Draught: | 12.5 ft (3.8 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Complement: | 120 as a ship-of-war, 65 plus 9 supernumeraries on survey voyages |
| Armament: |
10 guns: 2 x 6pdr + 8 x 18pdr carronades reduced to 6 guns for survey voyages |
The Cherokee class was a 10-gun class of brig-sloops of the Royal Navy. Brig-sloops are sloops-of-war with two masts (as per brigs) rather than the three masts of ship-sloops. The best known of the class was HMS Beagle, converted in 1825 into a three-masted exploration vessel for its first survey voyage, then considerably modified for the second voyage with Charles Darwin on board as a gentleman naturalist.[1][2]
Design
The design for the Cherokee class was completed in 1807 by Henry Peake and approved on 26 November 1807, with the first four of an eventual total of 34 vessels having been ordered in March 1807 but not laid down until December. After these 34, a further 2 were ordered in 1812 which were built of teak at Bombay. The design was subsequently revived after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and another 78 were built in two batches between 1817 and 1827. The first batch of these later ships consisted of 34 orders whilst the second amounted to 44 new vessels of which 4 were cancelled and 6 replaced by orders for paddle vessels.
1808-1816 Vessels
The first four vessels listed below were ordered on 30 March 1807, two more on 26 November 1807 and the next twenty vessels on 31 December 1807. Eight more orders were placed during 1808.
| Name | Launched |
|---|---|
| HMS Rolla | 13 February 1808 |
| HMS Cherokee | 24 February 1808 |
| HMS Leveret | 24 February 1808 |
| HMS Cadmus | 26 February 1808 |
| HMS Achates | 1 February 1808 |
| HMS Parthian | 13 February 1808 |
| HMS Briseis | 19 May 1808 |
| HMS Jasper | 27 May 1808 |
| HMS Ephira | 28 May 1808 |
| HMS Onyx | 8 July 1808 |
| HMS Badger | 23 July 1808 |
| HMS Opossum | 9 July 1808 |
| HMS Wild Boar | 9 July 1808 |
| HMS Rinaldo | 13 July 1808 |
| HMS Chanticleer | 26 July 1808 |
| HMS Goldfinch | 8 August 1808 |
| HMS Woodlark | 17 November 1808 |
| HMS Shearwater | 21 November 1808 |
| HMS Calliope | 8 July 1808 |
| HMS Hope | 22 July 1808 |
| HMS Britomart | 28 July 1808 |
| HMS Prince Arthur | 28 July 1808 |
| HMS Cordelia | 26 July 1808 |
| HMS Redpole | 29 July 1808 |
| HMS Helicon | 8 August 1808 |
| HMS Lyra | 22 August 1808 |
| HMS Beaver | 16 February 1809 |
| HMS Drake | 3 November 1808 |
| HMS Rosario | 7 December 1808 |
| HMS Renard | 5 December 1808 |
| HMS Tyrian | 16 December 1808 |
| HMS Bermuda | 20 December 1808 |
| HMS Rhodian | 3 January 1809 |
| HMS Sarpedon | 1 February 1809 |
Two vessels were ordered 2 October 1812. These were built at Bombay, using teak construction, but were otherwise identical to the earlier 34.
| Name | Launched |
|---|---|
| HMS Sphinx | 25 January 1815 |
| HMS Cameleon | 15 January 1816 |
1818-1838 Vessels
Unlike the wartime batch, all the following were built in the Royal Dockyards rather than by contractors. Note that several names of vessels from the 1808-1816 batch were re-used for vessels in the second or third batches (as indicated below).
Thirty-four vessels were ordered in 1817-1820.
| Name | Built by HM Dockyard |
Launched |
|---|---|---|
| HMS Alacrity | Deptford | 29 December 1818 |
| HMS Bustard | Chatham | 12 December 1818 |
| HMS Brisk | Chatham | 10 February 1819 |
| HMS Delight | Portsmouth | 10 May 1819 |
| HMS Cygnet | Portsmouth | 11 May 1819 |
| HMS Ariel | Deptford | 28 July 1820 |
| HMS Eclipse | Plymouth | 23 July 1819 |
| HMS Falcon | Pembroke | 10 June 1820 |
| HMS Beagle | Woolwich | 11 May 1820 |
| HMS Barracouta | Woolwich | 13 May 1820 |
| HMS Emulous (2nd of name) | Plymouth | 16 December 1819 |
| HMS Frolic | Pembroke | 10 June 1820 |
| HMS Lyra (2nd of name) | Plymouth | 1 June 1821 |
| HMS Jasper (2nd of name) | Portsmouth | 26 July 1820 |
| HMS Britomart (2nd of name) | Portsmouth | 24 August 1820 |
| HMS Partridge | Plymouth | 22 March 1822 |
| HMS Reynard (2nd of name) | Pembroke | 26 October 1821 |
| HMS Weazle | Chatham | 26 March 1822 |
| HMS Kingfisher | Woolwich | 11 March 1823 |
| HMS Procris | Chatham | 21 June 1822 |
| HMS Algerine | Deptford | 10 June 1823 |
| HMS Magnet | Woolwich | 13 March 1823 |
| HMS Zephyr | Pembroke | 1 November 1823 |
| HMS Opossum (2nd of name) | Sheerness | 11 December 1821 |
| HMS Onyx (2nd of name) | Sheerness | 24 January 1822 |
| HMS Plover | Portsmouth | 30 June 1821 |
| HMS Ferret | Portsmouth | 12 October 1821 |
| HMS Hope (2nd of name) | Plymouth | 8 December 1824 |
| HMS Mutine | Plymouth | 19 May 1825 |
| HMS Tyrian (2nd of name) | Woolwich | 16 September 1826 |
| HMS Philomel | Portsmouth | 28 April 1823 |
| HMS Royalist | Portsmouth | 12 May 1823 |
In addition, another ship was ordered as HMS Halcyon, but was cancelled in 1831. Two more, HMS Griffon and HMS Forester were re-ordered in the third batch in 1826.
Forty-four vessels were ordered in 1823-1826, but of these only thirty-four were built as sailing brigs.
| Name | Built by HM Dockyard |
Launched |
|---|---|---|
| HMS Leveret (2nd of name) | Portsmouth | 19 February 1825 |
| HMS Musquito | Portsmouth | 19 February 1825 |
| HMS Hearty | Chatham | 22 October 1824 |
| HMS Myrtle | Portsmouth | 14 September 1825 |
| HMS Lapwing | Chatham | 20 February 1825 |
| HMS Sheldrake | Pembroke | 19 May 1825 |
| HMS Harpy | Chatham | 16 July 1825 |
| HMS Fairy | Chatham | 25 April 1826 |
| HMS Skylark | Pembroke | 6 May 1826 |
| HMS Espoir | Chatham | 9 May 1826 |
| HMS Calypso (2nd of name) | Chatham | 19 August 1826 |
| HMS Spey | Pembroke | 6 October 1827 |
| HMS Variable | Pembroke | 6 October 1827 |
| HMS Briseis (2nd of name) | Deptford | 3 July 1829 |
| HMS Rapid | Portsmouth | 17 August 1829 |
| HMS Recruit | Portsmouth | 17 August 1829 |
| HMS Reindeer | Plymouth | 29 September 1829 |
| HMS Thais | Pembroke | 12 October 1829 |
| HMS Rolla (2nd of name) | Plymouth | 10 December 1829 |
| HMS Savage | Plymouth | 29 December 1830 |
| HMS Saracen | Plymouth | 30 January 1831 |
| HMS Scorpion | Plymouth | 28 July 1832 |
| HMS Termagent | Portsmouth | 26 March 1838 |
| HMS Lynx | Portsmouth | 2 September 1833 |
| HMS Nautilus | Woolwich | 11 March 1830 |
| HMS Curlew | Woolwich | 25 February 1830 |
| HMS Delight (2nd of name) | Chatham | 27 November 1829 |
| HMS Algerine (2nd of name) | Chatham | 1 August 1829 |
| HMS Griffon (2nd of name) | Chatham | 11 September 1832 |
| HMS Forester (2nd of name) | Chatham | 28 August 1832 |
| HMS Partridge (2nd of name) | Pembroke | 12 October 1829 |
| HMS Wizard | Pembroke | 24 May 1830 |
| HMS Charybdis | Portsmouth | 27 February 1831 |
| HMS Buzzard | Portsmouth | 23 March 1834 |
Six further vessels were re-ordered as paddle steamers in May 1824 - HMS Alban, HMS Carron, HMS Columbia, HMS Confiance, HMS Dee and HMS Echo. Four more vessels were cancelled - HMS Sealark, HMS Hyaena, HMS Foxhound and HMS Helena.
References
- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham. ISBN 9781861762818. OCLC 67375475.
- Rif Winfield, The Sail and Steam Navy List, 1815-1889 (Chatham Publishing, 2004)
- Rif Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1793-1817 (Chatham Publishing, 2005)
- Rif Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1714-1792 (Seaforth Publishing, 2007).
- FitzRoy, Robert (1839). Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle between the years 1826 and 1836, describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagle's circumnavigation of the globe. Proceedings of the second expedition, 1831-36, under the command of Captain Robert Fitz-Roy, R.N.. II. London: Henry Colburn. http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=F10.2&viewtype=text&pageseq=1. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
