HMS Tenedos
Laid Down: Devonport Dockyard
Launched: 13th May 1870
Completed: July 1872
Dimensions: Length: 212 feet Beam: 36 feet Draught: 16 feet 4 inches
Engine Horsepower: 3028 Indicated Horse Power
Displacement: 1755 tons full load
Ship's Complement: 180
Sold 1887
Sister Ships: Eclipse; Blanche; Danae; Dido; Sirius and Spartan
HMS Tenedos was an Eclipse-class wooden screw corvette. This class was originally designed by Sir Edward Reed as ram-bow sloops but then upgraded. Their ram-bows were not meant as a weapon but were designed to add displacement forward to trim the ship. Apart from iron cross-beams, they were built of wood. Their rounded sterns were decorated with false ports and there were no quarter galleries.
HMS Tenedos had a single shaft horizontal compound expansion engine built by J. Elder which gave her a best speed of 13 knots. This class of ship was not fitted with a hoisting screw as the gear would have interfered with stern fire. Three of the class had Mangin fixed blade propellers which had four blades and claimed to reduce drag when under sail. The other four vessels had blades that could be removed by a diver but this option proved impractical. She was ship-rigged with a running in bowsprit giving her a sailing speed of between 11 and 13 knots. later on she was altered to a barque-rig.
HMS Tenedos was an unarmoured ship. Her guns were stationed at ports along the upper deck with no embrasures. Two 7-inch Muzzle-Loading Rifled (MLR) guns were slide-mounted amidships and could each bear to two ports on either side of the ship. She also carried two 64-pounder MLR guns at either end of the waist. One of these guns could be moved to act as a bow or stern chaser if needed. In their second commission, two more 64-pounder MLR guns were added and later the 7-inch guns were removed and the complement of 64-pounders raised to twelve.
Her Service History.
On 20th December 1878, HMS Tenedos, under the command of Captain Edward Adeane, moored at Durban. On New Year's Day 1879, she landed a Naval Brigade of 3 officers and 58 men, lead by Lieutenant Anthony Kingscote. They marched to the mouth of the Tegula River and built a fort on the Zulu side of the river called Fort Tenedos.
In March 1879, the sailors from HMS Tenedos were joined by 10 officers and 218 men from HMS Boadicea and 16 officers and 378 men from HMS Shah. This Naval Brigade joined the relief force heading for Eshowe where the contingent from HMS Active was amongst the men surrounded.
This naval force held the corners of the British square at the battle of Gingindhlovo on 2nd April 1879. The following day, Eshowe was relieved. the men from HMS Tenedos were re-embarked on 8th May 1879.
Sources.
Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M. Conway's All the Worlds Fighting Ships 1860-1905. Conway Maritime Press, London, 1979.
Clowes, William Laird. The Royal Navy. A History from the Earliest Times to 1900. Volume VII (of VII) 1857 to 1900. First published in 1903. This edition by Chatham Publishing, London, 1997.
(version I text copyright - Nick Marshall - 9 /3/2002 )