HMS Megaera (1849)
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HMS Megaera in 1869
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| History | |
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 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Megaera |
| Builder: | William Fairbairn, Millwall |
| Launched: | 22 May 1849 |
| Fate: | Wrecked 16 June 1871 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Frigate |
| Displacement: | 2,025 long tons (2,057 t) |
| Length: | 207 ft (63 m) |
| Beam: | 37 ft 8 in (11.48 m) |
| Draught: | 26 ft 3 in (8.00 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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HMS Megaera was originally constructed as an iron screw frigate for the Royal Navy, and was one of the last and largest ships built by William Fairbairn's Millwall shipyard.
Launched on 22 May 1849, HMS Megaera was one of the first iron ships ordered by the Royal Navy. She was named after the mythological figure Megaera, one of the Erinyes (or Furies, in Roman mythology).
Megaera never saw service as a frigate; just as she entered service, a series of experiments showed that the iron then used in shipbuilding exhibited splintering characteristics which rendered unprotected ships of her type unsuitable for use as warships. The Royal Navy opted to remove the armament from Megaera and her four sister ships and instead employ them as storeships and transports. However, Megaera and her sister ships were not well suited to their new role. Their accommodation was unsuited to carrying large numbers of personnel and their steaming power was poor.
On her maiden voyage as a troopship on 7 June 1851, she broke down and had to be towed back to port. Megaera was refitted and sailed again, ordered to use her sails to conserve coal. She subsequently saw service as a storeship in the Crimea, and some of her crew saw action in a shore landing-party. Following the end of the war in 1856 she resumed routine voyages with stores and replacement personnel for military and naval units.
In 1871, Megaera was assigned to transport Royal Navy recruits to Australia to replace crewmembers on Blanche and Rosario and departed from England on 22 February 1871. She suffered damage in a storm and put in at Queenstown, Ireland, for repairs. The ship's officers complained that the vessel was overloaded with baggage and riding too low in the water; there was an article in The Times, questions were asked in the House of Commons and eventually an inspection resulted in 127 tons of cargo being removed.
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Wikipedia