HMS Wasp

HMS Wasp (1850)

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Name	Wasp (1850)	Explanation
Type	Sloop (1862: Corvette)	Type	Sloop
Launched	28 May 1850
Hull	Wooden	Length	186 feet
Propulsion	Screw	Men	170
Builders measure	973 tons
Displacement	1337 tons
Guns	14
Fate	1869	Last in commission	1868
Class	Archer
Ships book	ADM 135/506
Career
Date	Event
28 May 1850	Launched at Deptford Dockyard.
5 October 1850 - 13 March 1852	Commanded (from commissioning at Woolwich) by Commander William Pearson Crozier, west coast of Africa (until Crozier invalided)
13 March 1852 - 15 April 1852	Commanded by Acting Commander Charles Wright Bonham, west coast of Africa
16 April 1852 - 27 April 1852	Commanded by Commander Charles Wright Bonham, west coast of Africa
(August 1852) - 20 August 1852	Commanded by Acting Commander Samuel Pritchard, returning from the west coast of Africa
21 August 1852 - 27 November 1854	Commanded by Commander Lord John Hay, Mediterranean, and Black Sea during the Russian War
2 February 1855 - 7 January 1856	Commanded (until paying off at Sheerness) by Commander Henry Lloyd, Mediterranean
15 July 1856 - 14 February 1859	Commanded (from commissioning at Sheerness until paying off at Sheerness) by Commander Frederick Henry Stirling, south-east coast of America
10 April 1860 - 10 December 1861	Commanded (from commissioning at Sheerness until paying off at Portsmouth) by Commander Charles Stirling, Cape of Good Hope
16 November 1863 - 29 December 1865	Commanded (from commissioning at Portsmouth) by Captain William Bowden, East Indies
4 November 1865 - 23 March 1866	Commanded by Acting Captain Richard Bradshaw, East Indies
29 December 1865 - 22 April 1868	Commanded (until paying off at Portsmouth) by Captain Norman Bernard Bedingfield, East Indies
2 December 1869	Sold to C. Marshall for breaking up at Plymouth.
*Extracts from the Times* newspaper**
Date	Extract
We 21 November 1855	SOUTHAMPTON, Nov. 20. By the Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamship Indus, Captain Soy, with the India and Mediterranean mails, we have dates from Alexandria to November 6, Malta 10, and Gibraltar 15. The Indus brings 52 passengers, and on freight one package of specie, value 100l., and a cargo, consisting of 84 boxes of almonds, 230 boxes of raisins, 47 barrels and six boxes of dates, 10 cases of musk, one case of pictures, two cases of cigars, 718 bales of silk, eight bales of wool, two hogsheads of wine, 50 cases of silk, 30 packages of samples, 21 cases of shawls, 17 packages of effects, nine packages of elephants' teeth, one case of tortoiseshell, and 80 packages of general merchandise. Her Majesty's ships Hibernia, London, Rodney, Wasp, Niger, Vulcan, Shearwater, and Ceylon, were at Malta.
Th 23 April 1868	Her Majesty's ship Wasp, Capt. Norman B. Bedingfield, from the East India station, was paid off at Portsmouth yesterday. This ship was fitted out at Portsmouth in November, 1863, and has therefore been nearly four years and a half in commission, during which time she has traversed 102,000 miles, and performed various important services. Appointed to the East Indian station, she has been specially employed in the suppression of the slave trade on the East Coast of Africa, and has been instrumental in effecting the liberation of some 500 slaves, taken from dhows intercepted by the ship and her boats. The Arab crews of these vessels seldom offered any resistance, on one occasion, however, there was a most determined hand-to-hand encounter in the middle of the night between the ship's boats and a dhow. The English numbered four officers and 20 men, against 76 Arabs. They succeeded in making the capture, though not before one man had been killed and three officers and 11 men wounded. For their services on this occasion the two lieutenants in charge of the boats were promoted to the rank of commander. The prize money resulting from the various captures, after paying all expenses, left about 10,500l. To be distributed among the officers and crew, and it is satisfactory to know that the whole of this was paid over before the ship's company separated yesterday. Another piece of good fortune - which befell them was the salvage of a valuable cargo of ivory from the merchant ship Newah, wrecked on Latham Island, off the coast of Africa. The property saved amounting in value to 19.000l. Great was their disappointment when they learnt that the authorities at home would only allow a claim for 2,500l to be preferred. In August of last year the Wasp and the Satellite, under the command of Capt. Bedingfield, of the Wasp, were sent to punish the natives of the Nicobar Islands for the murder of the shipwrecked crews of several merchant ships. On their return from this expedition the Wasp quelled a riot among the Chinese in Penang. When the report of Dr. Livingstone's murder came in January, 1867, the Wasp took Dr. Kirk and the political agent at Zanzibar to Quiloa (the great inland slave mart) to endeavour to ascertain its truth, but, as is well known, without success. Of the original complement of 175 men who went out in the ship only seven officers and 22 men have returned in her, many having died or been invalided home, and many transferred to other ships. The ship has been under the command of three separate captains and three first-lieutenants during the commission, Capt. Bedingfield, her last commander, having been appointed in December, 1865. She has been throughout - in terms which both nautical and unnautical men well understand - a "happy ship," more especially under Capt. Bedingfield's command.
Fr 19 November 1869	The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty have directed the sale of another batch of war vessels, lying at Portsmouth, Sheerness, and Devonport. The list includes Her Majesty's screw frigate Emerald, 2,913 tons, built at Deptford in 1856; the screw sloop Miranda, 1,039 tons, built at Sheerness in 1851: the screw sloop Wasp, 974 tons, built at Deptford in 1850; the screw sloop Sharpshooter, 503 tons, built at Blackwall in 1846; the screw sloop Niger, 1,002 tons, built at Woolwich in 1846; the paddlewheel steam vessel Thais, 302 tons, built at Messrs. Laird's yard, Birkenhead, in 1856; and the hulls of the steamers Coronation and Plym. The sale, which will be the third of war vessels since the Recess, will be held at Lloyd's Captains' room, Royal Exchange, in the early part of the ensuing month. The Wasp and Sharpshooter are now lying at Portsmouth, the Emerald, Miranda, and Niger at Sheerness, and the Thais, Coronation, and Plym at Devonport.

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