# HMS Rolla (1829)

HMS Rolla was a Cherokee-class, 10-gun brig-sloop, that served in the Royal Navy from 1829 to 1868. Built and launched at Devonport Dockyard (formerly Plymouth Dock) in 1829, the ship was most notably a member of the West Africa Squadron for several years, before returning to Portsmouth as a training brig and tender to HMS Victory in 1847. The ship was broken up at Portsmouth in 1868.

## Career

Rolla travelled widely for a small vessel, including the Cape of Good Hope and Africa Station between 1833 and 1837. In 1836, the ship was drafted into the West Africa Squadron, where it served off the Spanish and African coasts between 1836 and 1842. Following paying off at Chatham in 1842, Rolla returned to Africa between 1844 and 1846, including a period off of the east coast.
In 1836, Rolla became a member of the West Africa Squadron; a squadron of the British Royal Navy created to suppress the Atlantic slave trade, following the Slave Trade Act 1807 which gradually abolished slavery throughout the British Empire. During the eight-year period in which Rolla served the squadron, the ship pursued and captured slaving vessels on both the Spanish and African coasts, including spending time in Sierra Leone, The Gambia and the east coast of Africa. The crew of Rolla was responsible for capturing seven slaving vessels under the West Africa Squadron:
| Vessel name | Vessel type | Date captured | Fate of vessel | Notes |
| Luisita | Spanish slave schooner. | 21 November 1836 | Sentenced to be condemned on 16 December 1836. | Detained in the River Sherbo. Master: Manuel Tort y Esclus. |
| San Nicolas | Spanish slave brig. | 2 December 1836 | Sentenced to be condemned 2 January 1837. | Detained at Sea-bar in the River Sherbo. Master: Angel Calsamilla. |
| Lechuguino | Spanish pilot boat. | 27 December 1836 | Sentenced to be condemned 10 January 1837. | Detained in Rio Pongas. Master: Josi Maury. Forty-nine enslaved Africans onboard. |
| Esperimento | Spanish slave schooner. | Between 27 December 1836 and 2 January 1837 (date unclear) | Sentenced to be condemned 12 January 1837. | Master: Joaqiom de Andricain. |
| Porto Formozo | Portuguese slave schooner. | 16 September 1840 | Sentenced to be condemned 5 November 1840. | Master: J. M. Carvalho. |
| Vanguardia | Spanish slave brigantine. | 11 November 1840 | Sentenced to be condemned 9 December 1840. | Master: M. Irguierdo. |
| Feliz Ventura | Brazilian slave brig. | 29 November 1840 | Sentenced to be condemned 11 January 1841. | Master: J. M. da Costa e Silva. |
Between 24 and 31 March 1842, Rolla, alongside the Pluto, entered the Gallinas River between Cape Saint Ann and Grand Cape Mount, Sierra Leone, where they found and destroyed four 'slave factories.' Found on the west coast of Africa, European colonisers established and inhabited trade camps or forts. Here, they collected enslaved Africans to sell on to passing slave ships. They became known as 'slave factories.' Rolla and Pluto's destruction of these camps resulted in the freeing of two hundred and sixty enslaved African men, women and children. In 1847, Rolla returned to Portsmouth and was used as both a training brig and tender to HMS Victory. In 1868, Rolla was broken up at Portsmouth Dockyard in 1868.

## Figurehead

The figurehead of Rolla is a bust figurehead, depicting a man wearing a red tunic with a floral emblem on the belt buckle. His base is painted green and features a leaf motif, and the overall figurehead is covered with a fibreglass coating.
It is possible that the ship's name was taken from a popular play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Spaniards in Peru or The Death of Rolla, in which a Peruvian general, Rolla, is the hero. According to David Pulvertaft in The Warship Figureheads of the Royal Navy, a contemporary illustration of the general shows him in a classic tunic (albeit white) and belt buckle similar to that found on the figurehead.
The bust was designed and carved by James Dickerson of the prominent Dickerson family of carvers based at Devonport, Plymouth. He gave an estimate of £3 for the work (approximately £280 today), which was approved by the Surveyor of the Navy, owed to busts being cheaper to carve without the presence of limbs or additional decorations such as swords or shields. It is likely that Rolla was one of the very last figureheads carved by James Dickerson as Master Carver, though he is recorded to have worked on HMS Royal William in 1833 with his son, Frederick, who succeeded the role upon his father's retirement.
Upon breaking up of Rolla, its figurehead was house in the collection at Chatham museum where it was listed in the 1911 Admiralty Catalogue. By 1957, Rolla could be found outside the Admiral Superintendent's house, being too small to join the other figureheads beside the Admiral's Walk. It was then transferred to HMS Sussex, the Sussex Division of the Royal Naval Reserve, remaining there until its closure it 1994, when it was transferred to the Portsmouth collection. It can be seen at the National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth.