page_title: HMS Pique (1834)
section_title: Service history
hierarchical_section_title: HMS Pique (1834) / Service history
caption_attribution_description: English: Identifier: tragedyofseasors01ellm (find matches) Title: The tragedy of the seas; or, Sorrow on the ocean, lake, and river, from shipwreck, plague, fire and famine Year: 1848 (1840s) Authors: Ellms, Charles Subjects: Shipwrecks Publisher: Philadelphia, W. A. Leary: Boston, W. J. Reynolds &amp; co. Contributing Library: The Library of Congress Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: her, and finding her in as leaky and helpless a state as the Pique, they separated. The fourth vessel promptly rendered assistance,and towed round the Piques head so as to put her before the wind&#160;; she had then been lying some hours in the trough of the sea, and attempts had in vain been made to get her into the position desired&#160;; but no sooner had the brig puther in that position, than the Pique shot ahead, and thereby frustrated any further assistance from the brig, which could not keep way with her. To be ready for the worst, the boats were made as seaworthy as possible; a quantity of pork was cooked and coopered up in small casks, as were also bread, water, and spirits; and to ease the laboring of the ship, four additional guns were thrown overboard in the Atlantic. No words can describe the admirable conduct of the crew during all this difficulty and danger; they worked hard and diligently; they saw that promptitude only could preserve the ship and their lives, and they had confidence in their... Extricating the frigate Pique from her perilous situation on the rocks of Labrador where she lost her keel; September 1835 See page 226 Text Appearing After Image: 20 230 THE PERILS OF THE FRIGATE PIQUE. officers. The self-command of Captain Rous, throughout the whole, was preeminent, and had such a moral influence over the subordinates, that his orders were at once understood and obeyed; indeed, the safety of the ship mainly depended upon the exercise of great coolness and decision. The Pique was taken into dock on the 20th October, and the crowds of people who visited the yard, to inspect her bottom, was astonishing. She has lost her false keel en-tirely, and, upon an average, eight inches of her keel aregone fore and aft. The most considerable damage, how-ever, is forward; her stem and fore-foot being completely gone, leaving the apron and stemson exposed; and the planking forward, where it is rabbeted into the solid stem,is left wholly unsupported; close to the keel, on the larboard side, just aft the foremast, is a terrific place, of about thirteen feet in circumference, where she must have ground against a rock, the centre of which has rubbed thro Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
context_page_description: HMS Pique was a wooden fifth-rate sailing frigate of the Royal Navy, designed by Sir William Symonds. She was launched on 21 July 1834 at Devonport. The vessel was of 1,633 tons burthen and had 36 guns. She was broken up in 1910.
context_section_description: Pique was the first of a new class of medium-sized frigates designed by Sir William Symonds, Chief Surveyor of the Navy. Following commissioning she formed part of an experimental squadron, which were groups of ships sent out in the 1830s and 1840s to test new techniques of ship design, armament, building and propulsion.
  In September 1835 she ran ashore in the Strait of Belle Isle. She was refloated and crossed the Atlantic rudderless and taking on water. In October the vessel arrived in Portsmouth for repairs where a large rock, which had plugged the hole in her hull, was removed. This stone remains on display in the Porter's Garden, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.
  Under the command of Captain Edward Boxer (3 August 1837–August 1841), Pique sailed to North America, the West Indies and the Mediterranean, including operations on the coast of Syria, as part of the squadron led by HMS Cambridge, and including Zebra and Vesuvius.
  In 1840 Pique saw service in the bombardment of the city of Acre under the command of Admiral Robert Stopford. For the engagement, Pique was assigned to the far northern end of the line, north-northeast of the much larger HMS Waterloo and at a greater distance from the city than the rest of Stopford's fleet. Despite this unfavourable position, accurate gunnery enabled Pique to score several hits on the town. In 2012 renovation works along Acre's city wall uncovered three cannonballs fired by Pique during the battle, the shots having struck within three metres (9.8 ft) of each other and embedded in the wall at depths of up to 65 centimetres (26 in).
  Between 1841 and 1846 Pique served on the North America and West Indies Station.  With HMS Blake, in 1845 she acted as a cable ship for experiments in laying telegraph cable in Portsmouth Harbour.  From 26 December 1853 she was commanded by Captain Frederick Nicolson on the Pacific Station, and participated in the 1854 Anglo-French squadron sent to the Russian War and Second Anglo-Chinese War). She was present at the Siege of Petropavlovsk.
  From 1872 she was a receiving ship, and from 1882 rented as a hospital hulk to Plymouth Borough Council to quarantine sailors who had fallen victim to a cholera epidemic.
caption: Damage to the keel of Pique, September 1835
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