page_title: HMS Conqueror (1855)
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: HMS Conqueror (1855) / Career
caption_attribution_description: English: The loss of HMS 'Conqueror',100 guns, on Rum Cay, Bahamas, 29 December 1861 Signed lower left 'G.P.M' and inscribed along the bottom 'The loss of H.M.S. Conqueror 100 guns on Rum Cay, Bahamas, West Indies'. The 'Conqueror' was a 101-gun screw-assisted 1st-rate, of 3225 tons, built at Devonport in 1855. Under Captain Edward Sotheby she was carrying troops to assist French intervention in Mexico when wrecked on Rum Cay due to a navigational error, on 13 December 1861. All 1400 people on board got off safely. Mends would only just have arrived on the North American and West Indies station (as flag-captain of the 'Edgar') at the time of 'Conqueror's' loss, and the fact this drawing is dated two weeks after the wreck suggests he saw salvage work in progress that day, even though this is probably a composed drawing rather than an on-the-spot scketch. The remains of the ship are known and now designated as an underwater museum site, popular with divers. The loss of HMS 'Conqueror' ,100 guns, on Rum Cay, Bahamas, 29 December 1861
context_page_description: HMS Conqueror was a 101-gun Conqueror-class screw-propelled first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1855, but spent only six years in service before being wrecked on Rum Cay in what was then the colony of the Bahamas in 1861.
context_section_description: Conqueror was initially commanded by Thomas Matthew Charles Symonds and formed part of the Channel Squadron. She was later assigned to operate in the Mediterranean during the Crimean War, and later was based out of Malta, when Hastings Yelverton took command on 22 July 1859. Yelverton was succeeded by William John Cavendish Clifford, and he by James Willcox in 1860, by which time Conqueror had returned to Plymouth. Edward Southwell Sotheby took over command and was despatched to carry troops supporting the French intervention in Mexico in late 1861. While sailing through the Bahamas, Conqueror was wrecked on Rum Cay on 29 December 1861 due to a navigation error. All 1,400 aboard were saved.
caption: "The loss of H.M.S. Conqueror 100 guns on Rum Cay, Bahamas, West Indies" [sic], attributed to George Pechell Mends
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