During the 18th and 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship of the British Royal Navy with a single gun deck that carried up to 18 guns. The rating system of the Royal Navy covered all vessels with 20 or more guns; thus, the term encompassed all unrated warships, including gun-brigs and cutters . In technical terms, even the more specialised bomb vessels and fire ships were classed by the Royal Navy as sloops-of-war, and in practice these were employed in the role of a sloop-of-war when not carrying out their specialised functions.
42-601: HMVS Victoria (Her Majesty's Victorian Ship; also referred to with the prefix HMCSS -Her Majesty's Colonial Steam Sloop) was a 580-ton combined steam/sail sloop-of-war built in England in the 1850s for the colony of Victoria, Australia. She was the second warship to be built for an Australian colonial navy , the first British-built ship given to a colony of the British Empire , and the first Australian warship to be deployed overseas when she supported New Zealand colonists during
84-678: A "land order" system of assisted emigration. Netherby was the 77th vessel to sail under this system for the Queensland government. Sailing from East India Docks in London, Netherby sailed to Plymouth to take on its final group of emigrants before setting sail for Queensland. The ship's master for the voyage was Captain Owen Owens. The ship was supposed to take a route to the south of Tasmania but Owens decided to pass through Bass Strait instead. The ship had encountered extremely rough weather earlier in
126-468: A three-masted (ship) rig. The third mast afforded the sloop greater mobility and the ability to back sail. In the 1770s, the two-masted sloop re-appeared in a new guise as the brig sloop , the successor to the former snow sloops. Brig sloops had two masts, while ship sloops continued to have three (since a brig is a two-masted, square-rigged vessel, and a ship is a square-rigger with three or more masts, though never more than three in that period). In
168-616: The Grimsby and Kingfisher classes, were built in the interwar years. Fleet minesweepers such as the Algerine class were rated as "minesweeping sloops". The Royal Navy officially dropped the term "sloop" in 1937, although the term remained in widespread and general use. During World War II , 37 ships of the Black Swan class were built for convoy escort duties. However, the warship-standards construction, propulsion and sophisticated armaments of
210-589: The Albert River in the Gulf of Carpentaria at the end of September 1861. Also aboard was the botanist Diedrich Henne . On 29 September, the party formed a land base on Sweers Island , and also visited Bentinck Island , both part of the South Wellesley Islands . After finding traces of the explorers, they returned to Melbourne on 31 March 1862. On 14 July 1866, Netherby , carrying immigrants to Queensland,
252-600: The Australian mainland between Point Roadknight and Barwon Heads , where they met a party of surveyors who immediately assisted them. Parry then took a horse and rode the 26 miles to Geelong , from where he raised the alarm by telegram to Melbourne on 21 July. The Victorian Government immediately summoned Captain William Henry Norman to load supplies of food, blankets, tents and medicine onto HMVS Victoria and then proceed at full speed to King Island to rescue
294-672: The Battle of the Atlantic . In 1948 the Royal Navy reclassified its remaining sloops and corvettes as frigates, even though the term sloop had been officially defunct for nine years. The Royal Navy has proposed a concept, known as the " Future Black Swan-class Sloop-of-war ", as an alternative to the Global Corvette of the Global Combat Ship programme. Netherby (ship) Netherby
336-633: The Bermuda sloop , both as a cruiser against French privateers , slavers, and smugglers, and also as its standard advice vessels, carrying communications, vital persons and materials, and performing reconnaissance duties for the fleets. Bermuda sloops were found with gaff rig, mixtures of gaff and square rig, or a Bermuda rig . They were built with up to three masts. The single masted ships had huge sails and harnessed tremendous wind energy, which made them demanding to sail and required large, experienced crews. The Royal Navy favoured multi-masted versions, as it
378-728: The First Taranaki War . Victoria was the first warship to be built in England for one of the British colonies. She was the second ship ordered for an Australian colonial navy, after the Australian-built gunboat Spitfire for the New South Wales colony. She was designed by the British naval architect Oliver Lang and launched in London on 30 June 1855 by Lady Constance Talbot. Commander William Henry Norman sailed Victoria from Plymouth to Hobsons Bay, arriving on 31 May 1856. The ship
420-704: The First Taranaki War . On 19 April 1860, Victoria sailed to Hobart, embarked 134 troops from the 40th Regiment of Foot , and transported them to New Zealand. Prior to her departure, the colonial government passed an Act giving the ship legal status, but this law was overturned by Britain as an attempt to create a naval force independent of the Royal Navy . After delivering the soldiers to Auckland , Victoria performed shore bombardments and coastal patrols, while maintaining supply routes between Auckland and New Plymouth . In July, she sailed to Sydney to transport General Thomas Pratt and his staff to New Zealand. Victoria
462-585: The Gulf of Carpentaria , the Royal Society of Victoria decided to send a number of search parties to search for them. Commander William Henry Norman sailed from Hobson's Bay in Victoria on 4 August 1861 for Brisbane, where William Landsborough and the Queensland Relief Expedition boarded. Accompanied by Firefly (188 tons, built 1843), Victoria departed Brisbane on 24 August 1861, arriving at
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#1732902118111504-522: The Hunt class of "minesweeping sloops", those intended for minesweeping duty. The Royal Navy continued to build vessels rated as sloops during the interwar years. These sloops were small warships intended for colonial " gunboat diplomacy " deployments, surveying duties, and acting during wartime as convoy escorts. As they were not intended to deploy with the fleet, sloops had a maximum speed of less than 20 knots (37 km/h). A number of such sloops, for example
546-604: The 23-foot whaleboat at the lighthouse and, despite high winds and rough seas, managed to reach the Australian mainland between Point Roadknight and Barwon Heads , where they met a party of surveyors who immediately assisted them. Parry then took a horse and rode the 26 miles to Geelong from where he raised the alarm by telegram to Melbourne on 21 July. The Victorian Government immediately summoned Captain Norman to load supplies of food, blankets, tents and medicine onto Victoria and then proceed at full speed to King Island to rescue
588-466: The 413 passengers and 49 crew were able to reach King Island safely, but there they were without shelter and with very limited provisions. The second officer, John Parry, led a small party of crew and passengers to procure assistance from the lighthouse on the island, but there were insufficient supplies there for the number of survivors. Parry and three others took the 23-foot whaleboat at the lighthouse and, despite high winds and rough seas, managed to reach
630-649: The Napoleonic period, Britain built huge numbers of brig sloops of the Cruizer class (18 guns) and the Cherokee class (10 guns). The brig rig was economical of manpower – important given Britain's chronic shortfall in trained seamen relative to the demands of the wartime fleet. When armed with carronades (32-pounders in the Cruizer class, 18-pounders in the Cherokee class), they had
672-631: The Royal Navy reused the term "sloop" for specialised convoy -defence vessels, including the Flower class of the First World War and the highly successful Black Swan class of the Second World War, with anti-aircraft and anti-submarine capabilities. They performed similar duties to the destroyer escorts of the United States Navy , and also performed similar duties to the smaller corvettes of
714-477: The Royal Navy. A sloop-of-war was quite different from a civilian or mercantile sloop , which was a general term for a single-masted vessel rigged in a way that would today be called a gaff cutter (but usually without the square topsails then carried by cutter-rigged vessels), though some sloops of that type did serve in the 18th century British Royal Navy , particularly on the Great Lakes of North America. In
756-589: The cabmen) to be accommodated in the Immigration Depot and Exhibition Building (not the present Royal Exhibition Building ). Little of the luggage of the survivors was recovered and most were in a wretched state after their ordeal; the Victorian public donated clothing and funds to assist the survivors, many of whom decided to settle in Victoria rather than undertake another sea voyage to Queensland. In 1867, Victoria
798-530: The classifications of sloops, corvettes and frigates. Instead a classification based on the intended role of the ship became common, such as cruiser and battleship . During the First World War , the sloop rating was revived by the British Royal Navy for small warships not intended for fleet deployments. Examples include the Flower classes of "convoy sloops", those designed for convoy escort, and
840-465: The equivalent of British post-ships. The Americans also occasionally used the French term corvette. In the Royal Navy , the sloop evolved into an unrated vessel with a single gun deck and three masts, two square rigged and the aft-most fore-and-aft rigged (corvettes had three masts, all of which were square-rigged). Steam sloops had a transverse division of their lateral coal bunkers in order that
882-443: The first half of the 18th century, most naval sloops were two-masted vessels, usually carrying a ketch or a snow rig. A ketch had main and mizzen masts but no foremast. A snow had a foremast and a main mast immediately abaft which a small subsidiary mast was fastened on which the spanker was set. The first three-masted, i.e., " ship rigged ", sloops appeared during the 1740s, and from the mid-1750s most new sloops were built with
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#1732902118111924-446: The highest ratio of firepower to tonnage of any ships in the Royal Navy, albeit within the short range of the carronade. The carronades also used much less manpower than the long guns normally used to arm frigates. Consequently, the Cruizer class were often used as cheaper and more economical substitutes for frigates , in situations where the frigates' high cruising endurance was not essential. A carronade-armed brig, however, would be at
966-453: The island. Then Pharos arrived and took on board the remaining 60 survivors near the wreck site, the other 117 survivors having left the wreck site heading to the lighthouse. Having taken the rescued people to Melbourne, Victoria and Pharos returned to the lighthouse at King Island where they rescued the remaining survivors and replaced the lost whaleboat at the lighthouse. The survivors were taken by train and then by cab (a free service by
1008-399: The lost whaleboat at the lighthouse. The survivors were taken by train and then by cab (a free service by the cabmen) to be accommodated in the Immigration Depot and Exhibition Building (not the present Royal Exhibition Building ). Little of the luggage of the survivors was recovered, and most were in a wretched state after their ordeal; the Victorian public donated clothing and funds to assist
1050-622: The lower division could be emptied first, to maintain a level of protection afforded by the coal in the upper bunker division along the waterline. During the War of 1812 sloops of war in the service of the United States Navy performed well against their Royal Navy equivalents. The American ships had the advantage of being ship-rigged rather than brig-rigged, a distinction that increased their manoeuvrability. They were also larger and better armed. Cruizer- class brig-sloops in particular were vulnerable in one-on-one engagements with American sloops-of-war. In
1092-580: The mainly uninhabited island. Netherby was a 944- ton vessel of dimensions 176 ft × 33 ft × 22 ft, built in Sunderland in 1858. The vessel was under charter to the Queensland Government to carry emigrants from the United Kingdom to the then-British colony. Queensland , recently separated from its parent colony New South Wales , saw a need to quickly increase its population and so set in place
1134-465: The mercy of a frigate armed with long guns, so long as the frigate maneuvered to exploit its superiority of range. The other limitation of brig sloops as opposed to post ships and frigates was their relatively restricted stowage for water and provisions, which made them less suitable for long-range cruising. However, their shallower draught made them excellent raiders against coastal shipping and shore installations. The Royal Navy also made extensive use of
1176-409: The second half of the 19th century, successive generations of naval guns became larger and with the advent of steam-powered sloops , both paddle and screw, by the 1880s even the most powerful warships had fewer than a dozen large calibre guns, and were therefore technically sloops. Since the rating system was no longer a reliable indicator of a ship's combat power, it was abolished altogether and with it
1218-525: The sixth rate of the British Navy). The name corvette was subsequently also applied to British vessels, but not until the 1830s. American usage, while similar to British terminology into the beginning of the 19th century, gradually diverged. By about 1825 the United States Navy used "sloop-of-war" to designate a flush-deck ship-rigged warship with all armament on the gun deck; these could be rated as high as 26 guns and thus overlapped "third-class frigates,"
1260-414: The sloop of that time shared bottlenecks with destroyers and did not lend themselves to mass production on commercial shipyards, thus the sloop was supplanted by the corvette , and later the frigate , as the primary escort vessel of the Royal Navy. Built to mercantile standards and with (initially) simple armaments, these vessels, notably the Flower and River classes, were produced in large numbers for
1302-509: The survivors; John Parry (who had travelled to Melbourne by train from Geelong) joined the ship to help locate the survivors. Another ship, Pharos , had also independently sailed from Williamstown to render assistance to the survivors. On Monday 23 July, Norman located the wreck of Netherby and, after discussions with the Netherby's Captain Owens took 230 passengers on board the Victoria (as many as
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1344-452: The survivors; Parry (who had travelled to Melbourne by train from Geelong) joined the ship to help locate the survivors. Another ship, Pharos , had also independently sailed from Williamstown to render assistance to the survivors. On Monday 23 July, Norman located Netherby and, after discussions with Netherby's Captain Owens, took 230 passengers on board Victoria (as many as was possible), while off-loading supplies for those remaining on
1386-408: The voyage that had seen the steerage passengers confined below decks for 14 consecutive days. In taking the passage through Bass Strait, Owens hoped to avoid further rough weather and ease the burden on the passengers. Owens' problems started when low cloud obscured the sun from view and thus he was unable to plot his position using celestial navigation techniques. After Netherby was wrecked, all
1428-535: Was (by virtue of having too few guns) outside the rating system . In general, a sloop-of-war would be under the command of a master and commander rather than a post captain , although in day-to-day use at sea the commanding officer of any naval vessels would be addressed as "captain". A ship sloop was generally the equivalent of the smaller corvette of the French Navy (although the French term also covered ships up to 24 guns, which were classed as post ships within
1470-521: Was a full-rigged sailing ship of the Black Ball Line that ran aground and sank off the coast of King Island —an island in Bass Strait between Tasmania and the Australian mainland —on 14 July 1866 while sailing from London to Brisbane . Remarkably, all of the 413 passengers and 49 crew were saved, firstly from drowning in the rough waters of Bass Strait and then from starvation on
1512-452: Was initially equipped with three 32-pounder guns. Victoria ' s main duties were to protect the colony of Victoria, conduct hydrological surveys, recover passengers and crew from stricken ships, and serve as a lighthouse tender. During her career the sloop delivered the first trout eggs to the colony of Tasmania. In 1860, the colonial government of Victoria decided to send the sloop to New Zealand, to support British colonists fighting in
1554-465: Was perennially short of sailors at the end of the 18th century, and its personnel received insufficient training (particularly in the Western Atlantic, priority being given to the continuing wars with France for control of Europe). The longer decks of the multi-masted vessels also had the advantage of allowing more guns to be carried. Originally a sloop-of-war was smaller than a sailing frigate and
1596-411: Was possible), while off-loading supplies for those remaining on the island. Then Pharos arrived and took on board the remaining 60 survivors near the wreck site, the other 117 survivors having left the wreck site heading to the lighthouse. Having taken the rescued people to Melbourne, Victoria and Pharos returned to the lighthouse at King Island, where they rescued the remaining survivors and replaced
1638-611: Was present for the visit of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh —the first member of the British Royal Family to visit Australia. By 1877, Victoria ' s armament had been altered to include one 10-inch gun, two 13-pounders, and two 3-pounders. The ship ended naval service in 1882. It was then purchased by the colony of Western Australia in 1894, but laid up a few years later in 1897, and then finally scrapped in Sydney 1920. Sloop-of-war In World War I and World War II ,
1680-492: Was the first time an Australian warship had been deployed to assist in a foreign war. The legal hazards of having a colonial warship operating outside her territorial limits was rectified by declaring that all Australian warships in international or foreign waters had to be commissioned into the Royal Navy . When news reached Melbourne in July 1861 that the explorers Burke and Wills were missing somewhere between Cooper Creek and
1722-624: Was used to evacuate women and children from the town of New Plymouth , following Maori attacks on the town's fortifications. In October, the ship underwent refit in Wellington , and resumed duties by delivering British reinforcements to the combat areas. As the Victorian colonial government required the ship for urgent survey work, her return was requested at the end of the year, with Victoria arriving in Melbourne in March 1861. The New Zealand Wars deployment
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1764-399: Was wrecked off King Island in Bass Strait and all 413 passengers and 49 crew made it onshore safely, but there they were without shelter and with very limited provisions. The second officer, John Parry, led a party of crew and passengers to procure assistance from the lighthouse on the island, but there were insufficient supplies there for the number of survivors. Parry and three others took
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