HMS Topaze (1858)

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Career (UK) Royal Navy Ensign
Name: HMS Topaze
Launched: 1858-05-12, Devonport
Commissioned: 1859-06-11
Decommissioned: 1878-06-28
Fate: Sold on 14 February 1884 and broken up at Charlton
General characteristics
Class and type: Liffey class frigate
Displacement: 3,915 tons
Tons burthen: 2,659 tons
Length: 235 ft
Propulsion: 600 hp steam engine
Complement: 515
Armament: 24 guns:
3 x 8 in
1 x 68 pdr
20 x 32 pdr

HMS Topaze was a 24-gun Liffey class wooden screw frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 1858-05-12, at Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth. Her crew assisted in the building of the Race Rocks Lighthouse in British Columbia, Canada, and laid a bronze tablet in 1863 at the Juan Fernández Islands commemorating the stay of marooned sailor Alexander Selkirk.[1] On the same voyage, the band from HMS Topaze played for the dedication of Congregation Emanu-El, now the oldest surviving synagogue building in Canada.[2]

The voyage to Easter Island in 1868 saw the crew remove the Moai Moai Hava and Hoa Hakananai'a and ship them to Britain, where Hoa Hakananai'a can now be seen in the British Museum.

Topaze was sold on 14 February 1884 and broken up at Charlton.

Notes

  1. Kraske (2005), p.100
  2. The Synagogue of Congregation Emanu-El [1]

References

External links