HMS Nile (1839)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Nile.

HMS Nile was a two-deck 90-gun second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 28 June 1839 at Plymouth Dockyard.^[1] She was named to commemorate the Battle of the Nile in 1798.^[2] After service in the Baltic Sea and the North America and West Indies Station, she was converted to a training ship and renamed Conway, surviving in that role until 1953.

As Conway at Rock Ferry
History
United Kingdom
Name	Nile
Builder	Plymouth Dockyard
Laid down	October 1827
Launched	28 June 1839
Commissioned	30 January 1854
Decommissioned	23 April 1864
Renamed	Conway, 1876
Fate	Burnt, 1956
General characteristics
Class & type	Rodney-class ship of the line
Tons burthen	2598 bm
Length	205 ft 6 in (62.64 m) (gundeck)
Beam	54 ft 5 in (16.59 m)
Depth of hold	23 ft 2 in (7.06 m)
Propulsion	Sails (and steam, after 1854)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	830 (under steam)
Armament	As second rate, 90 guns: Gundeck: 30 × 32-pdrs, 2 × 68-pdr carronades Upper gundeck: 34 × 32-pdrs Quarterdeck: 26 × 32-pdrs

Background and description

The ships were 205 feet 6 inches (62.6 m) at the gun deck and 170 feet 1 inch (51.8 m) at the keel. The Rodney class had a beam of 54 feet 5 inches (16.6 m), a depth of hold of 23 feet (7.0 m) and measured 2,625 69⁄94 tons burthen. Their crew numbered 720 in peacetime and 820 in wartime.^[3] The ships had the usual three-masted full-ship rig with a sail area of 28,102 square feet (2,610.8 m²).^[4]

Captain Charles Napier called Rodney, "a fine warship, but it is not a very superior sailer".^[5] That is not supported by experience as the ship proved to be a steady gun platform with a slow roll and was able to make 11.4 knots (21.1 km/h; 13.1 mph) sailing large early during her first deployment to the Mediterranean. Minor modifications in the early 1840s that including raking her masts backwards subsequently reduced her performance.^[6] During comparative speed trials in 1845 against other ships of the line, including Canopus, Vanguard, and Albion, Rodney proved to be the fastest in a head sea, but performed less well under other conditions.^[7]

The muzzle-loading, smoothbore armament of the Rodney class consisted of thirty-two 32-pounder (63 cwt) guns^{[Note 1]} and two 8-inch (203 mm) (50 cwt) shell guns on the lower gun deck and thirty-two 32-pounder (55 cwt) and two 8-inch (50 cwt) shell guns on the upper gun deck. Between their forecastle and quarterdeck, they carried twenty-four 32-pounder (42 cwt) guns. The ships were later rearmed with twenty-six 32-pounders (56 cwt) and six 8-inch shell guns on the lower gundeck and thirty 32-pounders (56 cwt) and six 8-inch shell guns on the upper deck. The number of guns on the forecastle and quarterdeck increased to twenty-six 32-pounders (42 cwt) guns.^[8] These guns made the Rodney-class ships the most powerful warships in the world when designed because they were the first to carry a full array of long guns that were accurate at long range. Without short-range carronades they outgunned French and American ships of the same size at long range.^[6]

Construction, reserve and conversion to steam

On completion but before commissioning, Nile went straight into reserve at Devonport.

Concerned about the number of French screw ships of the line under construction, Baldwin Wake Walker, the Surveyor of the Navy, ordered Nile to be converted using the 500 nhp engine built by Seaward & Capel from the cancelled frigate Euphrates. To evaluate the effects of their fuller hull form on the propeller's efficiency, the least possible alteration to the stern was to be made and the ship was not to be lengthened as was usually done.^[9][10] The order was issued on 24 November 1852 and work began on 14 December. Nile was undocked on 30 January 1854 and completed in April. Her two-cylinder horizontal engine produced 928 indicated horsepower (692 kW) which gave her a speed 6.9 knots (12.8 km/h; 7.9 mph) during her sea trials.^[10] Once finally commissioned, she joined the Western Squadron under the command of Commodore Henry Byam Martin.^[11]

Crimean War in the Baltic

Crew of Nile c. 1861–1865.

In May 1854, commanded by Captain George Rodney Mundy, Nile joined the Baltic Squadron in the Gulf of Finland, following the start of the Crimean War. On 18 September 1855, Nile's boats boarded and burnt some Russian vessels, reportedly near Hammeliski (possibly Humaliski on the island of Björkö, now called Primorsk, Leningrad Oblast). At the end of that month, the fleet began to return to the United Kingdom and on 23 April 1856, participating ships, including Nile, attended a Review of the Fleet at Spithead by Queen Victoria.^[12] In June 1856, Nile sailed for Halifax, Nova Scotia; the flagship of Rear Admiral Arthur Flagshawe. She visited Bermuda and the Caribbean before returning to Plymouth in March 1857.^[11]

Home service and North America

Monument to the 16 crew that died on HMS Nile at Halifax, Royal Navy Burying Ground (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

HMS Nile at the Grassy Bay anchorage, seen from the Commissioner's House, at the Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda

Nile recommissioned in March 1858 under the command of Captain Henry Ducie Chads. When he was promoted to vice admiral, Nile became his flagship based at Queenstown in County Cork, Ireland. After exercising with the Channel Fleet during the summer, Nile departed for the North America and West Indies Station in October, but was caught in a hurricane and returned to Cork for repairs some forty days later.

After further repairs at Plymouth (which included replacing her piping and installing new boilers), she finally started out for the Royal Naval Dockyard in the 'imperial fortress' colony of Bermuda (located in the North Atlantic, and administratively part of British North America, Bermuda was the headquarters and main base of the station) in April 1859 under the command of Captain Edward King Barnard and carrying the flag of Rear Admiral Alexander Milne, the Commander-in-Chief, North America and West Indies Station. The Plymouth repairs enabled Nile to reach 8.2 knots (15.2 km/h; 9.4 mph) from 1,247 indicated horsepower (930 kW) on 7 April 1860.^[13]

Nile operated from Bermuda and Halifax during the tense period following the Trent Affair, when the United Kingdom's entry into the American Civil War seemed possible, eventually cementing cordial relations with the Union by means of a visit to New York City in September 1863. Returning to Plymouth in the following April, she was decommissioned and returned to the reserve, where her engines, boilers and propellers were removed.^[11]

Training ship at Liverpool as HMS Conway

In 1876 the ship was loaned to the Mercantile Marine Service Association as a training ship at Liverpool and renamed HMS Conway. She replaced the previous Conway (ex-HMS Winchester) which had proved to be too small. The third HMS Conway (ex-Nile) remained at a mooring off Rock Ferry Pier in Wirral and was home to up to 250 cadets. She was refitted twice during this time. In October 1940, Conway was struck by SS Hektoria, a 13,000-ton whaling factory ship, and moved to a dock at Birkenhead for repairs. During the Liverpool Blitz there was concern that there might be considerable loss of life if the ship were hit and she moved to Glyn Garth Mooring on the Menai Straits, Anglesey, in May 1941.^[14] In 1949 she moved further along the Strait to a new mooring off Plas Newydd where a shore establishment was also established.

An Admiralty Pattern anchor from HMS Conway at Victoria Dock, Caernarfon

Loss

In 1953, it was decided to return Conway to Birkenhead for a refit. On 14 April, the ship left her moorings in the Menai Strait under tow, but was driven ashore shortly afterwards by unexpectedly strong tides and wrecked, watched by a large crowd on the Menai Suspension Bridge.^[15] A fire in 1956 then destroyed her.^[1] One may still find nails and timber at the site. Two Admiralty Pattern anchors from Conway survive; one at the Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool and one on Caernarfon marine promenade.^[16]

Notes

1. "Cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 63 cwt referring to the weight of the gun.