HMS Pique (1834)

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

HMS Pique sailing off of Portsmouth Harbour, 1838
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Pique
Builder	Devonport
Launched	21 July 1834
Fate	Broken up, 1910
General characteristics
Class and type	Fifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen	1,633 tons
Length	160 ft (49 m)
Beam	49 ft (15 m)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Armament	36 × 32-pounder guns

HMS Pique was a wooden fifth-rate sailing frigate of the Royal Navy, designed by Sir William Symonds. She was launched on 21 July 1834 at Devonport. The vessel was of 1,633 tons burthen and had 36 guns. She was broken up in 1910.

Service history

Pique was the first of a new class of medium-sized frigates designed by Sir William Symonds, Chief Surveyor of the Navy. Following commissioning she formed part of an experimental squadron, which were groups of ships sent out in the 1830s and 1840s to test new techniques of ship design, armament, building and propulsion.

Damage to the keel of Pique, September 1835

The 'Pique' Stone, at the Porter's Garden, Portsmouth

In September 1835 she ran ashore in the Strait of Belle Isle. She was refloated and crossed the Atlantic rudderless and taking on water. In October the vessel arrived in Portsmouth for repairs where a large rock, which had plugged the hole in her hull, was removed. This stone remains on display in the Porter's Garden, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.

Under the command of Captain Edward Boxer (3 August 1837 – August 1841), Pique sailed to North America, the West Indies and the Mediterranean, including operations on the coast of Syria, as part of the squadron led by HMS Cambridge, and including Zebra and Vesuvius.

Cannonballs lodged in the Acre city wall, having been fired by Pique during a bombardment in 1840.

In 1840 Pique saw service in the bombardment of the city of Acre under the command of Admiral Robert Stopford. For the engagement, Pique was assigned to the far northern end of the line, north-northeast of the much larger HMS Waterloo and at a greater distance from the city than the rest of Stopford's fleet. Despite this unfavourable position, accurate gunnery enabled Pique to score several hits on the town. In 2012 renovation works along Acre's city wall uncovered three cannonballs fired by Pique during the battle, the shots having struck within three metres (9.8 ft) of each other and embedded in the wall at depths of up to 65 centimetres (26 in).

Between 1841 and 1846 Pique served on the North America and West Indies Station. With HMS Blake, in 1845 she acted as a cable ship for experiments in laying telegraph cable in Portsmouth Harbour. From 26 December 1853 she was commanded by Captain Frederick Nicolson on the Pacific Station, and participated in the 1854 Anglo-French squadron sent to the Russian War and Second Anglo-Chinese War). She was present at the Siege of Petropavlovsk.

From 1872 she was a receiving ship, and from 1882 rented as a hospital hulk to Plymouth Borough Council to quarantine sailors who had fallen victim to a cholera epidemic.

Fate

Pique was sold for scrap on 12 July 1910, raising £2,300.

Bibliography

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• Kahanov, Yaacov; Stern, Eliezer; Cvikel, Deborah & Me-Bar, Yoav (2014), "Between Shoal and Wall: The naval bombardment of Akko, 1840", The Mariner's Mirror, 100 (2): 147–167, doi:10.1080/00253359.2014.901699, S2CID 110466181
• Lavery, Brian (1983). The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650–1850. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.

External links

• http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/prints/viewPrint.cfm?ID=PAG7142
• http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/prints/viewPrint.cfm?ID=PAD6161
• http://www.pdavis.nl/ShowShip.php?id=1895