 HMSGanges at anchor in Victoria, British Columbia | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMSGanges |
| Ordered | 4 June 1816 |
| Builder | Jamsetjee Bomanjee Wadia, Bombay Dockyard |
| Laid down | May 1819 |
| Launched | 10 November 1821 |
| Renamed |
|
| Fate | Broken up, 1930 |
| General characteristics[1] | |
| Class & type | Canopus-classship of the line |
| Tons burthen | 2284bm |
| Length | 193 ft 10 in (59.08 m) (gundeck) |
| Beam | 52 ft4+1⁄2 in (16.0 m) |
| Depth of hold | 22 ft 6 in (6.86 m) |
| Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
| Armament |
|
HMSGanges was an 84-gunsecond-rateship of the line of theRoyal Navy, launched on 10 November 1821 atBombay Dockyard,[1] constructed fromteak. She was the last sailing ship of the Navy to serve as aflagship, and was the second ship to bear the name.
Admiralty orders of 4 June 1816[1] directed her to be built as a facsimile ofHMSCanopus (the ex-French shipFranklin, which had fought at theBattle of the Nile). Building began in May 1819, under the direction of master shipbuilder Jamsetjee Bomanjee Wadia.
WhenHMS Liverpool was paid off at Bombay in January 1822,Liverpool's captain,Francis Augustus Collier, and his officers and crew transferred to the newly builtGanges and sailed her back to Spithead, arriving on 6 October 1822.[2]
Ganges was commissioned atPortsmouth in 1823, and served in several locations over the following decades. Notable events included a period asflagship of the South America Station for three years, during which she landedRoyal Marines in Rio de Janeiro after a mutiny by Brazilian soldiers. She also saw action in theMediterranean from 1838 to 1840, bombarding Beirut and blockading Alexandria. She waspaid off during theCrimean War, and saw no action.
From 1857 to 1861, she was the flagship of thePacific Station, based at Valparaíso, Chile under the command ofRear admiralRobert Lambert Baynes.[3] She spent considerable time addressing theSan Juan Boundary Dispute from theEsquimalt Royal Navy Dockyard at theColony of Vancouver Island[3] after which she returned to England to be converted into a training ship; she began service as the training shipHMSGanges in 1865 atMylor Harbour, nearFalmouth; in 1899, she was moved toHarwich.
In 1905, she became part ofRNTE (Royal Naval Training Establishment) Shotley, which also included the ships HMSCaroline and HMSBoscawen III.
She was renamedTenedos III in 1906, then moved toDevonport to become part of the training establishmentHMSIndus; on 13 August 1910, she was renamedIndus V. In October 1922, she was renamedImpregnable III and transferred to the training establishment HMSImpregnable, also at Devonport. She was finally taken out of service in 1923, and transferred to the dockyard; in 1929, she was sold for breaking up. The following year, after over a century in service, she was finally broken up at Plymouth.
Upon breaking, some of the timber was used to make souvenirs, usually having a small brass plaque with some of the ship's history attached.
The panelling in the captain's cabin was purchased byThomas Nelson, 4thEarl Nelson, who installed it in the principal top-floor room atTrafalgar Park inWiltshire.[4] The captain's cabin in the stern was used in the construction of theBurgh Island Hotel in Devon, where it remains to this day. In 1933, timbers from the ship were also used to construct the cross that stands outside the eastern end ofGuildford Cathedral in Surrey.
The town ofGanges, British Columbia, onSalt Spring Island, and the adjacent waters of Ganges Harbour are named after HMSGanges. In addition, thetransom board of one of HMSGanges' ship's boats has pride of place in Centennial Park in the town of Ganges. The community ofVesuvius Bay, also on Saltspring Island, was named afterHMS Vesuvius, which, withGanges, was also assigned to the Pacific Station.
The ship's badge has been adopted by the Saltspring Island Sailing Club, and the badge's distinctive elephant is the key symbol in the club'sburgee.
