'HMS ''Ganges''' was an 84-gun
second-rate ship of the line of the
Royal Navy, launched on
November 10 1821 at Bombay Dockyard, constructed from
teak. She is notable for being the last sailing ship of the Navy to serve as a
flagship, and was the second ship to bear the name.
Admiralty orders of
5 June 1816 directed her to be built as a facsimile of
HMS ''Canopus'' (the ex-French ship ''Franklin'', which had fought at the
Battle of the Nile). Building began in May
1819, under the direction of master shipbuilder Jamsetjee Bomanjee Wadia.
She was commissioned at
Portsmouth in
1823, and served in several locations over the following decades. Notable events included a period as
flagship of the
South America Station for three years, during which she landed
Royal Marines in
Rio de Janeiro after a mutiny by
Brazilian soldiers. She also saw action in the
Mediterranean in
1838—
40, bombarding
Beirut and blockading
Alexandria. She was paid off during the
Crimean War, and saw no action.
From
1857–
61, she was the flagship of the
Pacific Squadron, based in
Vancouver, after which she returned to be converted into a training ship; she began service as a training ship in
1865 at
Falmouth; in 1899, she was moved to
Harwich.
In
1905, she became part of RNTE (Royal Naval Training Establishment) Shotley, which also included the ships HMS ''Caroline'' and HMS ''Boscawen III''.
In
1906, she was renamed HMS ''Tenedos III'', then moved to
Devonport to become part of the training establishment
HMS Indus; on August 13th,
1910, she was renamed HMS ''Indus V''. In October
1922, she was renamed as HMS ''Impregnable III'' and transferred to the training establishment HMS Impregnable, also at Devonport. In
1923, she was finally taken out of service and transferred to the dockyard, and in
1929 she was sold for breaking up. In
1930, after over a century in service, she was finally broken up at Plymouth. The captain's cabin in the stern was used in the construction of the art-deco hotel on
Burgh Island in Devon, where it still remains to this day.
The town of
Ganges, British Columbia and the adjacent waters of Ganges Harbour are named for HMS ''Ganges''. The community of
Vesuvius Bay, also on
Saltspring Island, was named for , which was on assignment with the ''Ganges''.
External link
★
The HMS ''Ganges'' Association Website has a detailed timeline of the activities of the ''Ganges''.