HMS Fisgard

HMS Fisgard (launched as Audacious, 1869)

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Name	Fisgard (launched as Audacious, 1869)	Explanation
Type	Central battery ironclad
Launched	27 February 1869
Hull	Iron
Propulsion	Screw
Builders measure	3774 tons
Displacement	6010 tons
Guns	14
Fate	1927
Class	Audacious
Ships book	ADM 135/30
Note	1902 torpedo d.s. 1904 = Fisgard. 1906 t.s. 1914 = Imperiéuse, repair ship
Snippets concerning this vessels career
Date	Event
1 October 1870 - 5 July 1871	Commanded by Captain David Spain, ship of First Reserve, Kingstown, Ireland
23 November 1871 - 4 May 1873	Commanded by Captain Charles Webley Hope, ship of First Reserve, Hull
18 September 1873 - 17 March 1874	Commanded by Captain Henry Dennis Hickley, Coast Guard, River Humber
1 September 1874 - 23 December 1877	Commanded (from commissioning at Chatham) by Captain Philip Howard Colomb, flagship of Vice-Admiral Alfred Phillipps Ryder, China
31 August 1877 - 23 February 1879	Commanded by Captain Francis Durrant, flagship of Vice-Admiral Charles Farrell Hillyar on the China station
28 December 1882 - 27 March 1883	Commanded by Captain George John Anstruther
5 January 1884 - 6 January 1886	Commanded by Hugo Lewis Pearson, flag-ship of Vice Admiral Sir William Montagu Dowell, China
31 October 1885 - 24 January 1888	Commanded by Robert Hastings Harris
25 January 1888 - 29 February 1888	Commanded by John Borlase Warren
1 April 1890 - 1893	Commanded by Captain Arthur Cecil Henry Paget, coast guard, Hull
1904	Renamed Fisgard
1914	Renamed Imperiéuse
*Extracts from the Times* newspaper**
Date	Extract
Fr 14 February 1868	OUR IRON-CLAD FLEET. — A return likely to be called for annually has been laid before Parliament, giving an account of our iron-clad fleet built, building, or ordered. The return, which is dated the 30th of August, 1867, contains a list of 31 ships then completed, 13 of them wholly armour-clad, and 18 partially. They are: — The Black Prince, 32 guns; Warrior, 32; Defence, 16; Resistance, 16; Achilles, 26; Hector, 18: Valiant, 18; Minotaur, 26; Agincourt, 26; Northumberland, 26; Royal Oak, 24; Prince Consort, 24; Caledonia, 24; Ocean, 24; Royal Alfred 18; Zealous, 20; Bellerophon, 15; Lord Clyde, 24; Lord Warden, 18; Penelope, 11; Pallas, 8; Favourite, 10; Research, 4; Enterprise, 4; Waterwitch, 2; Vixen, 2; Viper, 2; Royal Sovereign, 5; Prince Albert, 4; Scorpion, 4; Wivern, 4. Twenty-one of these ships are of more than 3,000 tons each. Six other ships were at the date of this return building; two to be wholly armour-clad, and four partially; the Hercules, just launched; the Monarch, 6 guns, to be launched in June; the Captain, 6, the Repulse, 12, to be launched in April; the Audacious, 14, in December; and the Invincible, 14, in March, 1869. All these six ships exceed 3,700 tons. Another, the Bellona, is ordered [and apparently later cancelled]. Lastly, there are the four wholly armour-clad batteries launched in 1855 and 1856, the Erebus, Terror, Thunderbolt, and Thunder; the three first of 16 guns, and the last 14, their tonnage ranging from 1,469 to 1,973. The first cost of the 31 iron-clad ships completed amounted in the whole to 7,284,294l. This includes fittings, but the accounts for some of the latter ships are not yet closed, and this sum does not include incidental and establishment charges. These last indirect charges, calculated in accordance with the recommendation of the Committee on Dockyard Manufactures, add about 35 per cent. to the gross direct charges for labour and materials expended upon each ship in the financial year 1864-65, about 51 per cent. for 1865-66, and the year 1866-67 is for the present estimated to show the same ratio of 51 per cent. These indirect charges have amounted, on the Bellerophon, to no less than 114,372l.; Lord Warden, 104.292l., with a further addition to follow: Royal Alfred, 69,999l., also liable to some addition; Lord Clyde, 66,964l.; Pallas, 61,076l. The most costly of the ships have been the Minotaur, 450,774l.; the Agincourt, 446,048l., both of them with unsettled claims for extra payment; the Northumberland, 433,130l., with the accounts not yet closed; the Achilles, 444,590l.; and the Hercules, estimated at 401,000l. Further sums have to be added to the cost of these ships for dockyard, incidental, and establishment charges.
Tu 1 September 1874	The Audacious, 14, armour-plated, fitting out at Chatham as a flagship for China, will be commissioned at that place to-day by Capt. P.H. Colomb.
Fr 21 July 1876	Admiral Ryder, appointed to the command of the Audacious, 14, double-screw iron ship, armour-plated, 6,034 tons, 4,021-horse power, which is being fitted at Chatham dockyard as the flag-ship for the China station, to relieve the Iron Duke, has arrived at Chatham to superintend the fitting out of the vessel.
Th 18 January 1877	Our Hongkong Correspondent writes under date the 14th of December last:— "Her Majesty's ships of war in harbour are the Audacious (flag-ship of Vice-Admiral Ryder), Fly, Growler, Nassau, Ringdove and Vigilant. The orders for the Ringdove to leave here on the 16th of December for England have been countermanded. She will now probably be paid off here, thoroughly repaired by the Naval-yard authorities and re-commissioned with the crew of the Lapwing, her present officers and crew returning to England in the troopship Himalaya. By last advances of the 30th of November, the Charybdis, Frolic, and Mosquito remained by the Lapwing at Chan-shan-tan Island. The weather continued fine, but the chances of getting her afloat were very much against her. The Curlew at Tien-tsin, remains there for the winter. The Growler, after a thorough repair to het boilers, has completed her stores, and proceeds to Amoy in the place of the Fly, ordered to remain in Hongkong.
Tu 27 November 1877	The Euphrates left Port Said on the 24th inst. for Malta and Portsmouth. Letters have been received from Commodore Sullivan, in the Active, in Simon's Bay, up to the 29th of October. The Industry would convey Mr. Stanley, the explorer, and his followers to Zanzibar. Letters have been received from Admiral Ryder, in the Audacious, at Hongkong, up to the 11th ult.; he would there await the arrival of his successor. The Sheldrake had returned from Ichang to Hankow. The Lily had gone from Nagasaki to Chinkiang. The Midge left on the 24th of September for Tientsin, where she will winter. The Frolic was still in dock at Shanghai, after collision. The Growler was ordered from the Dindings up to Hongkong, where she will be docked. The Vigilant had been docked. The health of the Squadron was satisfactory.
Fr 5 April 1878	It is stated that the Admiralty hare decided upon augmenting our fleet on the China and East Indian stations by the addition of another armour-plated vessel. The only vessels of any size on these stations are the Audacious, 14, armour-plated, flag-ship of Vice-Admiral C.F. Hillyar, C.B., Commander-in-Chief on the China station; and the Undaunted, 31, unarmoured frigate, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral J. Corbett, C.B., Commander-in-Chief in the East Indies. The other vessels — about 30 in number — are small, and do not carry any heavy armament. The Penelope, now at Chatham, and which is ready for commission, will be sent to China, and as she has been fitted as a flag-ship, it is thought that a Rear-Admiral will be appointed to her, to be second in command on the station.

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