HMS Psyche (1814)

Edit links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other ships with the same name, see HMS Psyche.

Plan for the Psyche
History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Psyche
Ordered1814
BuilderKingston Royal Naval Dockyard, Kingston, Upper Canada
Laid down31 October 1814
Launched25 December 1814
FateLaid up in 1815 at Kingston
General characteristics
TypeFourth-rate frigate
Tons burthen7691⁄94 bm
Length
  • 130 ft (39.6 m) pp
  • 121 ft (36.9 m) keel
Beam36 ft 7 in (11.2 m)
Draught9 ft 8 in (2.9 m)
Depth of hold10 ft 3 in (3.1 m)
Complement280
Armament

HMS Psyche was a 54-gun fourth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built at the Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard in Kingston, Upper Canada during the War of 1812, using frames shipped from Britain and assembled in Upper Canada. The ship was not completed until after the end of the war in 1815 and did not enter service. Under the Rush–Bagot Treaty of 1816, the frigate was disarmed and laid up at Kingston. The ultimate fate of the ship is unknown.

Background

As the balance of power on the

Saint Lawrence River to Kingston for re-assembly. This plan came about due to the excess of material, builders and facilities available in Great Britain and all lacking in Upper Canada.[2]

The plan was rejected by General Sir

George Prévost, commander of British forces in North America, believing that the idea would strain British supply lines between Montreal, Lower Canada and Kingston. The idea was resurrected in 1814 by the British government. Prévost turned to his officers and they recommended the plan once again be halted due to the impracticality of the transportation of warships. The lack of material on the Great Lakes made it impossible to provide all the fittings and stores the ships would require and the special requirements that would be needed to transport the frames from Montreal to Kingston would be in danger of American attack. Prévost sent the rejection to London, but it arrived nearly two months after the first components of the warships had landed at Montreal.[3]

Construction and description

Two vessels were designed to be a 38-gun frigates known as Prompte and Psyche. The frames of the frigates were constructed out of

white pine growing around Kingston to build frigates this large.[6] Meanwhile, after receiving Prévost's communications nixing the plan, the Admiralty re-directed the two pre-fabricated sloops to Halifax, Nova Scotia and cancelled the construction of the frigates. However, once again the decision arrived late at its destination, not being received by Prévost until October when Frigate B was nearly completed.[4]

The speed at which William Forbes and his workers transported the frames of Frigate B to Kingston earned him a £1,000 bonus. Master Shipwright Thomas Strickland had been sent from Great Britain to take control of the construction project. With Sir James Yeo and

tons burthen and had a complement of 280 officers and sailors. Frigate B was armed with 28 24-pounder (11 kg) long guns on its lower deck and 28 32-pounder (15 kg) carronades on its upper deck.[10]

Service history

Frigate B's keel was

launched on 25 December 1814 and was completed in early 1815.[10] The launch of Psyche would mark that last major warship to begin its career during the War of 1812.[2] Named Psyche, the frigate joined the Lake Ontario squadron under Sir James Yeo. On 19 March 1815, Yeo was replaced by Commodore Edward Owen who raised his pennant in Psyche.[11]

Following the end of the war in 1815 Psyche was hauled out and placed on a slipway, the frame stripped down for preservation. The Rush–Bagot Treaty of 1816 limited the navies on the Great Lakes to one gunboat armed with one gun, which led to the remaining fleet being disarmed. The frigate remained in this condition until 1827, when, declining funds and the poor condition of the existing fleet led the Naval Commissioner to abandon hopes of refitting the existing vessels and instead start new construction. Beginning in 1832, all the vessels at Kingston were sold under the Whig government and the dockyard closed in 1835. Psyche was pulled apart on the slipway at Kingston throughout the 1830s. Those hulks that were not sold were either left to rot at Navy Bay or taken around Point Henry to Hamilton Bay and scuttled there.[12] The exact fate is uncertain. Colledge & Warlow have the hulk being sold.[13] Lardas claims the hulk sank at its moorings in the late 1830s.[9] Winfield states the vessel shared the fate of HMS Kingston and was taken to Deadman Bay off Kingston and sunk there.[10]

References

  1. ^ The Crowsnest, pp. 4–6.
  2. ^ a b Lardas 2012, p. 32.
  3. ^ Malcomson 2001, p. 262.
  4. ^ a b Malcomson 2001, p. 296.
  5. ^ Malcomson 2001, p. 295.
  6. ^ The Crowsnest, p. 5.
  7. ^ Malcomson 2001, p. 319.
  8. ^ Malcomson 2001, p. 327.
  9. ^ a b Lardas 2012, p. 62.
  10. ^ a b c Winfield 2005, p. 234.
  11. ^ Malcomson 2001, p. 320.
  12. ^ The Crowsnest, p. 6.
  13. ^ Colledge & Warlow 2006, p. 323.

Sources
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=HMS_Psyche_(1814)&oldid=1249341121"