HMS Birkenhead (1845)
HMS Birkenhead, also referred to as HM Troopship Birkenhead or Steam Frigate Birkenhead, was one of the first iron-hulled ships built for the Royal Navy. She was designed as a steam frigate, but was converted to a troopship before being commissioned.
A contemporary picture of the ship | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Birkenhead |
| Namesake | Vulcan, Birkenhead |
| Builder | John Laird shipyard, Birkenhead |
| Launched | 30 December 1845 |
| Christened | HMS Vulcan |
| Renamed | HMS Birkenhead, 1845 |
| Reclassified | Troopship, 1851 |
| Fate | Wrecked 26 February 1852 at Danger Point near Gansbaai, Cape Colony |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Frigate, later troopship |
| Displacement | 1918 tons as designed (2000 tons loaded) |
| Tons burthen | 1400 bm |
| Length | 210 ft (64 m) |
| Beam | 37 ft 6 in (11 m) |
| Draught | 15 ft 9 in (5 m) |
| Propulsion | Sail, plus 2× Forrester & Co 564 hp (421 kW) steam engines driving two 6 m (20 ft) diameter paddle wheels |
| Sail plan | Brig, later barquentine |
| Speed | 10 knots (19 km/h) as a troopship |
| Complement | 125 |
| Armament | 2 × 96-pounder pivot guns; 4× 68-pounder broadside guns |
| Notes | Iron hull; renamed HMS Birkenhead before commissioning |
While transporting troops and a few civilians to Algoa Bay, the Birkenhead was wrecked on 26 February 1852 at Danger Point near Gansbaai, 87 miles (140 km) from Cape Town in the Cape Colony. There were insufficient serviceable lifeboats for all the passengers, and the soldiers famously stood in ranks on board, allowing the women and children to board the boats safely and escape the sinking.
Only 193 of the estimated 643 people on board survived, and the soldiers' chivalry gave rise to the unofficial "women and children first" protocol when abandoning ship, while the "Birkenhead drill" of Rudyard Kipling's poem came to describe courage in the face of hopeless circumstances.