Rattesnake (far right) sends off the British Flying Squadron from False Bay, Cape of Good Hope on 18 October 1869
HMS Rattlesnake was a 21-gun Jason-classcorvette launched in 1861 at Chatham Dockyard and broken up in 1882. During her third commission from 1871–1873 she was the flagship of Commodore John Edmund Commerell who was wounded at the start of the Third Anglo-Ashanti War.[1]Rattlesnake was propelled by a Ravenhill & Salkeld tractor power engine delivering 1.628 IHP. When operating under sailpower, her funnel could be retracted to clear the rigging and her propeller lifted into a special housing aft to streamline her hullform.[2]
