# HMS Actaeon (1831)

HMS Actaeon was a 26-gun sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.

## Career

Actaeon was designed in 1827 by the School of Naval Architecture, and launched from Portsmouth Dockyard on 31 January 1831. She was first commissioned in November 1830 under Captain Frederick William Grey for service in the Mediterranean. On 5 November 1831 she rescued the crew of Ariel, which was wrecked near Brindisi, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Ariel was on a voyage from Trieste to Greenock, Renfrewshire.
After serving in the Mediterranean Actaeon served off South America from November 1834 under Captain Lord Edward Russell. She was assigned to the British Pacific Squadron, arriving at Valparaíso in July 1836. She was involved in the charting of the Acteon Group: a group of islands that Russell named after this vessel. By 1838 she was back at Portsmouth under the command of Robert Russell, who sailed her back to South America in August that year.
On 23 July 1840, she ran aground at Buenos Aires, Argentina, whilst on a voyage from that port to Monte Video, Uruguay. She was refloated with assistance from USS Marion, French Navy, and Royal Navy vessels.

### West Africa Squadron

Actaeon returned to Plymouth in 1844, before departing under Captain George Mansel in December 1844 to join the West Africa Squadron. Whilst serving on this post, she captured the slavers Gago (19 December 1845), Esparanca (26 December 1845), unknown vessel (3 April 1846), Olivia (23 May 1846) and Astrea and Maria Theresa (9 September 1847).

### Survey vessel

Actaeon was paid off at Portsmouth in 1848, but was recommissioned again in 1857 to serve as a survey vessel off "the coast of China and Tartary", under the command of Captain William Thornton Bate. On 7 July, Actaeon ran aground on a reef in the Gaspar Strait (1°39′48″S 106°37′58″E﻿ / ﻿1.66333°S 106.63278°E﻿ / -1.66333; 106.63278) and was damaged. She was then present at the bombardment of Canton in 1857, during the Second Opium War, where Bate was shot and killed on 29 December. Robert Jenkins replaced Bate on 30 December, and then John Ward took command on 1 March 1858. Ward carried out surveys for further military operations in August 1859, before returning to Britain. Actaeon was at Shanghai on the night of 7 April 1861 for the British census. Actaeon Sound in the Queen Charlotte Strait region of British Columbia, Canada, was named for Actaeon in 1865. with many neighbouring features named in association with its crew and captain in the general area of Drury Inlet. Actaeon was then out of commission at Portsmouth in 1866, becoming a hospital ship. She was hulked in 1870 and lent to the Cork Harbour Board, before being sold at Portsmouth in February 1889 for breaking up.

## Figurehead

The figurehead for Actaeon was carved by the Dickerson family of Devonport, Plymouth, most likely by Frederick who took over as master carver in 1830. Actaeon would have been one of the first figureheads he carved for the Royal Navy under his new title. Despite the ship being named after the Greek mythological hero, Actaeon, the figurehead itself gives no obvious allusion to him. It is likely that any reference would have featured in the trailboard, which no longer survive. We are only certain of his identity owing to the reference in the 1911 Admiralty Catalogue that states the Actaeon figurehead was presented to Portsmouth Dock by John Read, who had purchased the ship for breaking up.
The figurehead of a white male stands at full colour, though there is no surviving record to inform whether he had started life as a white and gold bust, as was the popular, cheaper option for figurehead painting at the time. He wears a red tunic, with blue oakleaf and acorn decoration at the base.
Oak leaves were said to be sacred to Zeus, king of the Ancient Greece pantheon of gods, symbolising power, strength, wisdom, endurance and stability, while the acorn was a common decorative motif in ancient Greek culture.
Once work on Actaeon's figurehead was complete, it would have been transported to Portsmouth Dockyard ready for the ship's launch. It was not uncommon for figureheads to be carved in a different location to the ship's build; whoever came up with the most favoured design won the contract, and that could place the figurehead anywhere in the country.

## Citations

* ↑ "Ship News". The Morning Post (19026). 2 December 1831.
* ↑ "The Portsmouth, Portsea, and Gosport Herald". Hampshire Advertiser and Salisbury Guardian. No. 906. Southampton. 28 November 1840.
* ↑ "Hms Actaeon (1831)". www.thebluejackets.co.uk. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
* 1 2 "Actaeon Sound". BC Geographical Names.
* ↑ "Mercantile Ship News". The Standard. No. 10380. London. 21 November 1857.
* ↑ BC Names/GeoBC entry "Drury Inlet
* ↑ Pulvertaft, David (2009). The Warship Figureheads of Portsmouth (Illustrated ed.). UK: The History Press. p. 54. ISBN 978-0752450766.
* ↑ Wacławik, Maciej (30 December 2015). "The Symbolic Meaning of the Acorn – a Possible Interpretation". Studies in Ancient Art and Civilisation. 19: 255–266. doi:10.12797/SAAC.19.2015.19.12. ISSN 2449-867X.