HMS Birkenhead (1845)
A contemporary picture of the ship.
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| History | |
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 UK
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| Name: | HMS Birkenhead |
| Namesake: | Vulcan, Birkenhead |
| Builder: | John Laird shipyard, Birkenhead |
| Launched: | 30 December 1845 |
| Christened: | HMS Vulcan |
| Renamed: | HMS Birkenhead, 1845 |
| Reclassified: | Troopship, 1851 |
| Fate: | Wrecked, 26 February 1852 at Gansbaai |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Frigate, later troopship |
| Tonnage: | 1400 bm |
| Displacement: | 1918 tons as designed (2000 tons loaded) |
| Length: | 210 ft (64 m) |
| Beam: | 37 ft 6 in (11 m) |
| Draught: | 15 ft 9 in (5 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sail, plus 2× Forrester & Co 564 hp (421 kW) steam engines driving two 6 m (20 ft) diameter paddle wheels. |
| Sail plan: | Brig, later barquentine |
| Speed: | 10 knots (19 km/h) as a troopship |
| Complement: | 125 |
| Armament: | 2 × 96-pounder pivot guns; 4× 68-pounder broadside guns |
| Notes: | Iron hull; renamed HMS Birkenhead before commissioning. |
HMS Birkenhead, also referred to as HM Troopship Birkenhead or Steam Frigate Birkenhead, was one of the first iron-hulled ships built for the Royal Navy. She was designed as a steam frigate, but was converted to a troopship before being commissioned.
She was wrecked on 26 February 1852, while transporting troops to Algoa Bay at Danger Point near Gansbaai, 140 kilometres from Cape Town, South Africa. There were not enough serviceable lifeboats for all the passengers, and the soldiers famously stood firm on board, thereby allowing the women and children to board the boats safely and escape the sinking.
Only 193 of the 643 people on board survived, and the soldiers' chivalry gave rise to the unofficial "" protocol when abandoning ship, while the "Birkenhead drill" of Rudyard Kipling's poem came to describe courage in face of hopeless circumstances.
The Birkenhead was laid down at John Laird's shipyard at Birkenhead as the frigate HMS Vulcan, but renamed soon after to Birkenhead after the town where she was built. She had two 564 horsepower (421 kW) steam engines from Forrester & Co that drove a pair of 6-metre (20 ft) paddle wheels, and two masts rigged as a brig.
According to her designer, John Laird:
The designs I submitted, and which were finally approved, were of a vessel 210 feet (64 m) long (being about 20 feet (6.1 m) longer than any vessel of her class had been built), and 37•6 beam with a displacement of 1918 tons on the load water-line of 15•9. The only change made by authorities at the Admiralty in these designs was the position of the paddle shaft, which they ordered to be moved several feet more forward; the change was unfortunate as it makes the vessel, unless due care is taken in stowing the hold, trim by the head. With this exception, I am answerable for the model, specification, displacement and general arrangement of the hull of the vessel.
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