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| Name | Waterwitch (1866) | Explanation | |
| Type | Armoured gunboat | ||
| Launched | 28 June 1866 | ||
| Hull | Iron | ||
| Propulsion | Hydraulic | ||
| Builders measure | |||
| Displacement | 1205 tons | ||
| Guns | 4 | ||
| Fate | 1890 | ||
| Class | Vixen | ||
| Ships book | ADM 135/508 | ||
| Note | |||
| Snippets concerning this vessels career | |||
| Date | Event | ||
| 26 June 1867 | Commanded (from commissioning at Woolwich) by Commander Philip Ruffle Sharpe, Portsmouth | ||
| 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. | ||
| Ma 9 June 1873 | THE SHAH OF PERSIA. ... The subjoined Information was made public by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty on Saturday afternoon: —"The following are the arrangements of the Admiralty for the reception of His Majesty the Shah of Persia  on his embarkation at Ostend and arrival at Dover:—"A squadron of ironclads, under the orders of Rear-Admiral Hornby, will leave Spithead on or about the 18th inst. Her Majesty’s ships Vigilant and Lively and other yachts will embark His Majesty at Ostend early on the morning of the 18th inst. Her Majesty's ships Devastation, Audacious, and Vanguard, will escort His Majesty thence towards Dover, where they will be met by the following ships, under the command of Rear Admiral Hornby:— Agincourt (flag), Northumberland, Black Prince, Achilles, Hercules, Sultan, Monarch, and Hector; and Audacious. Vanguard, and Devastation (to be detached to Ostend and rejoin). The squadron will convoy His Majesty to near Dover Pier, where His Majesty will land. On joining the ships at Ostend and the channel squadron, and on landing, His Majesty will be received with the usual salutes and ceremonies due to His Majesty's exalted rank." At Devonport and Keyham the following vessels are being prepared and equipped to take part in the naval review at Spithead:—The Zealous, 20, wood built, armour-plated, screw ship; the double screw, iron, armour-plated turret-ships Gorgon, 4; Hecate, 4; Hydra, 4; and Cyclops, 4; the Prince Albert, 4, screw, armour-plated, iron turret-ship; the Hotspur, 3, double screw, iron, armour-plated ram; the Waterwitch, 4, iron, armour-plated, hydraulic gun-boat; the Goshawk, 4, and the Swinger, 4, screw composite gunboats; the Plucky, 1, screw gunboat; and the Lively, paddle despatch vessel (the latter being intended to join the escort). Besides these vessels, the ironclads Northumberland, 28, Agincourt, 28, and Vanguard, 14, have lately left Devonport for the rendezvous of the fleet at Spithead. On the 17th of June it is anticipated that the Channel Fleet will be lying off Dover to await the arrival of the Shah of Persia, and it is proposed for the yachts of the Royal Cinque Ports Club to go out on Wednesday and sail as a squadron to meet the Shah, and to return to Dover with the Ironclad Fleet. | ||
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