HMS Curacoa (1854)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Curacoa.

History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Curacoa
Ordered	4 April 1851 Reordered on 18 July 1851
Builder	Pembroke Dockyard Engines by Maudslay, Sons & Field
Laid down	January 1852
Launched	13 April 1854
Completed	By 14 November 1854
Decommissioned	1869
Fate	Broken up by 17 July 1869
General characteristics
Type	Tribune-class screw frigate
Tons burthen	1,569 24/94 bm
Length	192 ft (59 m) (overall) 163 ft 4 in (49.8 m) (keel)
Beam	43 ft (13 m)
Depth of hold	12 ft 11 in (3.94 m)
Propulsion	Sails 2-cyl. horizontal single expansion Single screw 350 nhp 1,354 ihp
Speed	10.75 knots (19.91 km/h) (under steam)
Complement	300
Armament	Middle deck: 20 x 32pdrs (56cwt/9ft 6in) Upper deck: 10 x 32pdrs (42cwt/8ft 0in) + 1 x 10in (85cwt/9ft 4in) on pivot

HMS Curacoa was a 31-gun Tribune-class screw frigate launched on 13 April 1854 from Pembroke Dockyard.^[1]

She served in the Mediterranean Station between 1854 until 1857 and was in the Black Sea during the Crimean War. She was part of the Channel Squadron between 1857 until 1859.^{[citation needed]} On 24 October 1858, Curacoa ran aground on the Pelican Reef, off Smyrna, Ottoman Empire. All on board were rescued. She was refloated on 26 October with assistance from USS Macedonian and taken into Smyrna on 28 October.^[2][3][4][5] On 4 February 1859, Curacoa collided with the British merchant ship Fleta in the English Channel.^[6] She then was sent to North America and West Indies Station and served between 1859 until 1862. Afterward, she went to the Australia Station, where she remained until 1866. She was the flagship of the Australia Station from 20 April 1863 until May 1866, having had her armament reduced to 23 guns in 1863.

Curacoa Island, off the Queensland coast, is named after HMS Curacoa (1854)

During the invasion of Waikato, her company provided reinforcements for the Naval Brigade at Auckland, New Zealand on 2 October 1863. She was sent back to Britain in 1866 and was broken up in 1869.^[7]

See also

• European and American voyages of scientific exploration

Notes

1. Bastock, p. 41.
2. "Latest Telegrams". The Standard. No. 10677. London. 3 November 1858. p. 3.
3. "Latest News". Birmingham Daily Post. No. 238. Birmingham. 4 November 1858.
4. "Mercantile Ship News". The Standard. No. 10683. London. 10 November 1858. p. 7.
5. "The Running Ashore of the Curacoa". Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle. No. 3090. Portsmouth. 24 December 1858.
6. "Mercantile Ship News". The Standard. No. 10759. London. 7 February 1859. p. 7.
7. "HMS Curacoa". Retrieved 28 March 2010.

References

• Winfield, R.; Lyon, D. (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC 52620555.

Curacoa in the Fitzroy Dock in 1865