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| Name | Worcester (1843) | Explanation | |
| Type | Fourth rate | ||
| Launched | 10 October 1843 | ||
| Hull | Wooden | ||
| Propulsion | Sail | ||
| Builders measure | 1468 tons | ||
| Displacement | |||
| Guns | 52 | ||
| Fate | 1885 | ||
| Class | |||
| Ships book | |||
| Note | 1862 lent as t.s. | ||
| Extracts from the Times newspaper | |||
| Date | Extract | ||
| Tu 11 May 1869 | THE NAVAL RESERVE. Yesterday about 250 men of this force were gathered together in the Minories previous to marching down to London-bridge to embark on board a river steamer and proceed by water to Sheerness, there to join Her Majesty's ship Agincourt for a fortnight's cruise and training in the Channel Squadron. These, however, were not the only body of men which assembled yesterday for the same purpose, for one may say that at all the great stations of the Naval Reserve throughout the United Kingdom a similar muster went on, and the men were all volunteers, who had come forward in answer to an invitation to train for two weeks on board the regular ships of war. Though this is the very busiest time of a sailor's year, when the spring opens up all the coasting trade and the traffic of the North Sea, and the men can get engagements at almost any terms, no less than 1,900 responded voluntarily to the call, and were yesterday embarked from various ports for service on board Her Majesty’s ships Duncan, Agincourt, Hector, St. George, Mersey, Donegal, Black Prince, Trafalgar, Royal George, and Valiant. The object of this movement is to give both the officers and men of the Naval Reserve a good acquaintance with the real routine of the discipline of the Royal Navy. In mere seamanship they have nothing to learn, for the men of the Naval Reserve are the very pick of the Mercantile Marine, and their lieutenants and commanders are the most skilled officers of our finest lines of steam and sailing vessels. The Naval Reserve now numbers about 16,000 men. Its numbers have stood at a higher figure, but the Applications to enter the force have been so numerous, and its popularity in some ports has been so great, that it is now easy to make a choice of men, and to weed out those who were at first admitted, but for whose places better applicants can now be got. Of this force of 16,000 men about 5,000 would be available in a single week, and at the lowest estimate at least 12,000 within six months, with about 600 of the best officers of the Mercantile Marine. Yesterday at the muster in the Minories all the men who attended were fine, active, thorough-going sailors. Of course, most of them came to the rendezvous with their wives, and of course the wives brought all the children they could conveniently lead or carry. So there was great cheering as the men, headed by their band and colours, marched down to London-bridge, where they were to embark on board the Saloon steamer the Princess Alice, to take them to the Agincourt at Sheerness. With the men went Mr. J.J. Mayo, the Registrar-General of Seamen, Captain Allen Young, Captain Brown, Captain Gardiner, &c. The crews of the vessels in the Pool, the crews of the Fisgard and the training ship Worcester, turned out and cheered the steamer as it passed, and the men of the Naval Reserve roared themselves hoarse in response, and then betook to hornpipes to wile away the shining hours. The fun and merriment on board the steamer were incessant, till the iron walls of the Agincourt were reached, when the men went demurely but cheerily on board, and at once seemed to settle down into their temporary home. | ||
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