# Britomart-class gunboat

The Britomart-class gunboat was a class of sixteen gunboats built for the Royal Navy in 1859–1867.

## Design

The Britomart class was an improved version of the Dapper class designed by W.H. Walker, and as such comes under the generic group "Crimean gunboats" although this class was ordered and built long after the end of the Crimean War. These were the last Royal Navy gunboats to have wooden hulls: subsequent gunboats were of composite construction, with wooden planking over iron frames.

### Propulsion

The class were fitted with a single-cylinder single-expansion reciprocating steam engine. The single screw could be hoisted to give improved performance under sail.

### Sail plan

The ships were provided with a three-masted barquentine rig, that is, with square sails on the foremast and fore-and-aft sails on the main and mizzen masts.

### Armament

Early ships of the class were armed with two 68-pounder smooth bore muzzle loading cannon (as had been planned, but not implemented, for the Dapper class); but the Heron was fitted with two 112-pounder Armstrong guns. Later ships had two 64-pounder rifled muzzle-loading guns.

## Ships

| Name | Ship builder | Launched | Engine builder | Fate |
| Britomart | T & W Smith, North Shields | 7 May 1860 | John Penn and Sons | Served on Lake Erie. Sold to Henry Castle & Sons on 12 January 1892, and resold to S Williams of Dagenham as a mooring hulk. Broken up in June 1946 |
| Cockatrice | T & W Smith, North Shields | 24 May 1860 | John Penn and Sons | Became luggage lighter YC.10 at Malta in 1882. Sold there in 1885 |
| Wizard | T & W Smith, North Shields | 3 August 1860 | John Penn and Sons | Broken up at Malta in September 1878 |
| Speedy | C Lamport, Workington | 18 July 1860 | installed at Plymouth Dockyard | Sold to Henry Castle & Sons for breaking at Charlton in August 1889 |
| Doterel | Wm. Cowley Miller, Toxteth Dock, Liverpool | 5 July 1860 | Miller, Ravenhill & Co | Sold to Marshall, Plymouth on 6 June 1871 |
| Heron | Wm. Cowley Miller, Toxteth Dock, Liverpool | 5 July 1860 | Miller, Ravenhill & Co | Served on Lake Ontario. Sold in Jamaica in June 1879 and broken up there in 1881 |
| Pigeon | Briggs & Co., Sunderland | 7 June 1860 | Maudslay, Sons and Field | Broken up at Devonport on 29 September 1876 |
| Linnet | Briggs & Co., Sunderland | 7 June 1860 | Maudslay, Sons and Field | Breaking completed at Chatham on 15 July 1872 |
| Tyrian | Courtenay, Newhaven | 7 September 1861 | installed at Portsmouth Dockyard | Tug in 1883 at Jamaica and sold there in 1891 |
| Trinculo | Joseph Banks, Plymouth | 15 September 1860 | installed at Plymouth Dockyard | Wrecked after collision with SS Moratin off Gibraltar on 5 September 1870 |
| Cherub | Portsmouth Dockyard | 29 March 1865 | | Served on Lake Huron. Sold to Castle for breaking at Charlton 5 May 1890 |
| Netley | Portsmouth Dockyard | 22 July 1866 | | Sold at Portsmouth to Castle for breaking at Charlton in September 1885 |
| Minstrel | Portsmouth Dockyard | 16 February 1865 | | Coal hulk at Bermuda in 1874 and sold in 1903 |
| Orwell | Portsmouth Dockyard | 27 December 1866 | | Sold to the Customs Board on 20 December 1890 |
| Cromer | Portsmouth Dockyard | 20 November 1867 | | Sold on 24 August 1886 for breaking |
| Bruiser (or Bruizer) | Portsmouth Dockyard | 23 April 1867 | | Broken up at Devonport in May 1886 |
| Bramble | Portsmouth Dockyard | | | Cancelled 12 December 1863 |
| Crown | Portsmouth Dockyard | | | Cancelled 12 December 1863 |
| Protector | Portsmouth Dockyard | | | Cancelled 12 December 1863 |
| Danube | Portsmouth Dockyard | | | Cancelled 12 December 1863 (never started) |

## Citations

* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Winfield, p.231–232
* 1 2 3 A. Preston & J.Major, Send a Gunboat!: The Victorian Navy and Supremacy at Sea, 1854-1904, Conway, 2007, page 65
* ↑ "The Lords of the Admiralty". Western Morning News. No. 217, Vol.II. Plymouth. 12 September 1860. p. 2. Retrieved 20 October 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
* 1 2 "Launch of Two Gunboats on the Wear". Newcastle Journal. No. 1481, Vol.XXIX. 9 June 1860. p. 5. Retrieved 20 October 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
* ↑ "Naval and Military". Daily News. No. 4788. London. 14 September 1861. p. 6. Retrieved 20 October 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
* ↑ "The Navy". The Sun. No. 21380. London. 23 January 1861. p. 1. Retrieved 21 October 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.