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| Name | Duncan (1859) | Explanation | |
| Type | Second rate | Type | Two-decker |
| Launched | 13 December 1859 | ||
| Hull | Wooden | Length | 252 feet |
| Propulsion | Screw | Men | 930 |
| Builders measure | 3727 tons | ||
| Displacement | 5724 tons | ||
| Guns | 101 | ||
| Fate | 1910 | Last in commission | 1870 |
| Class | Class (as screw) | Duncan | |
| Ships book | |||
| Career | |||
| Date | Event | ||
| 13 December 1859 | Launched at Portsmouth Dockyard | ||
| 6 January 1864 - 15 June 1867 | Commanded by Captain Robert Gibson, flagship of Vice-Admiral James Hope, North America and West Indies | ||
| 16 June 1867 - 10 September 1867 | Commanded by Captain George Hancock, Coast Guard, Leith (Queensferry) (replacing Trafalgar) | ||
| 11 September 1867 - 15 June 1869 | Commanded (until paying off) by Captain Charles Fellowes, Coast Guard, Leith (and, May 1869, cruise of the Reserve Fleet, and flagship of Commodore of John Walker Tarleton's Coast Guard squadron comprising Duncan, Donegal, Revenge, Irresistible, Lion, Dauntless and Argus) (replaced by Repulse) | ||
| 16 June 1869 - 28 February 1870 | Commanded by Captain William Rae Rolland, Coast Guard, Queensferry (replaced by Repulse) | ||
| 1 April 1873 - 31 December 1874 | Commanded by Captain George Willes Watson, flagship of Vice-Admiral George Fowler Hastings, Sheerness, replacing Pembroke | ||
| 1 January 1875 - 13 February 1876 | Commanded by Captain Charles Thomas Curme, flagship of Vice-Admiral George Fowler Hastings, Sheerness | ||
| 9 January 1875 - 8 January 1877 | Commanded by Captain Hon. Fitzgerald Algernon Charles Foley, Captain-superintendent of Sheerness dockyard | ||
| 14 February 1876 - 20 September 1877 | Commanded by Captain St George Caulfield D'Arcy-Irvine, flagship of Vice-Admiral Henry Chads, Commander-in-Chief, the Nore | ||
| (20 September 1877) - 2 January 1879 | Commanded by Captain Thomas Bridgeman Lethbridge, Sheerness | ||
| 3 January 1879 - 27 July 1881 | Commanded by Captain Thomas Baker Martin Sulivan, Sheerness. Tenders: Hydra, Porcupine, Trent and Wildfire | ||
| 27 July 1881 - 31 December 1881 | Commanded (until paying off at Sheerness) by Captain John D'Arcy, Sheerness (replaced by the Naval Barracks at Sheerness, renamed Duncan, but retained with a small crew as "saluting ship") | ||
| 1 January 1882 - September 1883 | Commanded by Captain John D'Arcy, flag captain to Commander-in-chief at the Nore, Sheerness Naval Barracks | ||
| 6 April 1883 - 2 July 1885 | Commanded by Captain William Codrington (Captain-superintendent of Sheerness Dockyard) | ||
| 12 July 1887 - 31 March 1889 | Commanded by Captain Arthur Cecil Curtis, flag ship, Sheerness | ||
| 1 June 1888 - 6 August 1890 | Commanded by Captain Charles George Fane, Superintendent of Sheerness dockyard (then flag in Wildfire) | ||
| (1890) | Chatham. Machinery probably removed | ||
| (1890) | Harbour service | ||
| 1890 | Renamed Pembroke | ||
| 1895 | Receiving ship, Chatham | ||
| September 1905 | Renamed Tenedos II | ||
| 11 October 1910 | Sold for breaking up at London | ||
| Extracts from the Times newspaper | |||
| Date | Extract | ||
| Tu 11 September 1860 | The following vessels comprise the four classes of the steam reserve at Portsmouth, the list corrected to this date :- First Class.- Duke of Wellington, 131 guns, 700 horsepower; Princess Royal, 91 guns, 400 horse-power; Shannon, 51 guns, 600 horse-power ; Immortalité, 51 guns, 600 horse-power; Volcano, 6 guns, 140 horse-power; Philomel, 6 guns, 80 horse-power; and gunboats Brazen, Beaver, Snapper, Traveller, Grinder, and Blazer, of two guns each, and 60 horse-power. Second Class.- Royal Sovereign, 131 guns, 800 horse-power; Victoria, 121 guns, 1,000 horse-power; Prince of Wales, 131 guns, 800 horse-power ; Duncan, 101 guns, 800 horse-power; Nelson, 91 guns, 500 horse-power; the Sutlej, 51 guns, 500 horse-power ; the Harrier, 17 guns, 100 horse-power; the Rinaldo, 17 guns, 200 horse-power; the Medea, 6 guns, 350 horse-power; the Stromboli, 6 guns, 280 horse-power; the Coquette, 6 guns, 200 horse-power; and the gunboats Cracker, Fancy, Swinger, Pincher, and Badger, of 60 horse-power each, and 2 guns. Third Class.- The Tribune, 31 guns, 300 horse-power; the Rosamond, 6 guns, 280-horse power; the Vigilant, 4 guns, 200 horse-power; the Vulture, 6 guns, 470 horse-power; the Cygnet, 5 guns, 80 horse-power; and the gunboats Cheerful, Rambler, Pet, Daisy, Angler, Chub, Ant, Pert, and Decoy, of two guns each and 21 horse-power. 4th Class.- The screw transport Fox, 200 horse-power; the Erebus, 16 guns, 200 horse-power; the Meteor, 14 guns, 150 horse-power; and the Glatton, 14 guns, 150 horse-power. The foregoing - not including the gunboats and mortar vessels in Haslar-yard - consist of seven line-of-battle ships, four frigates, two corvettes, nine sloops, three floating batteries, 20 gunboats, and one troop steamer. They give a total force of 1,150 guns, propelled by 11,420 horse-power (nominal). The Fox steam troopship is given in this return as not carrying any guns, but in the official Navy List she still carried "42" attached to her name. | ||
| Tu 11 February 1862 | With reference to the order alluded to in The Times of yesterday for reducing the number of guns and men on board ships of war, instructions are given for the reduction of the armament, the character of which may he illustrated by a few examples:- The Tribune, screw frigate, now fitting for commission at Portsmouth, is ordered to carry, in lieu of 32 guns, as heretofore, only 23, as follows:- Main deck, 16 65 cwt. 8-inch; upper deck, 4 40-pounders, Armstrongs; 1 100-pounder, Armstrong (pivot); 2 33-pounders, of 45 cwt. The Shannon and Euryalus are each to land 16 guns, and, like the Tribune, will carry only 8-inch guns on their main decks. The Duncan, 93, lands 10 of her guns, reducing her to a 89. The substitution of one calibre of gun on the main deck of our frigates and on the main and lower deck of our line-of-battle ships will tend to considerably simplify the "projectile" question. The reduction of the number of guns on board ship in peaceable times must be for the ship's benefit in rendering her easy in a seaway, and, besides, the guns can be easily replaced on board whenever they might be required. The reduction of the number of men on board, however, does not admit of such reasoning. In the case of the Warrior, for instance, we believe that during her recent stay at Portsmouth her crew was inspected at quarters by one of the Board of Admiralty, upon the complaint of the captain that the crew allowed her was insufficient in number. Our frigates now exceed the size of our three-deckers of a few years back, and this reduction of their crews will be looked upon by the profession generally with grave suspicion. | ||
| Ma 17 May 1869 | Mr. Chiders, First Lord of the Admiralty, Vice-Admiral Sir Sidney Colpoys Dacres, K.C.B., and other gentlemen connected with the Admiralty, arrived at Portland by rail from London yesterday afternoon, and at once proceeded to the armour-plated ship Agincourt, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Astley Cooper Key, C.B. Their lordships were received with the customary salute, and on their arrival on board the Agincourt the Admiralty flag was hoisted at the main. The whole of the vessels composing the Naval Reserve Squadron, consisting of the Agincourt, 26; Black Prince, 41; Hector, 20; Valiant, 24; Duncan, 81; Trafalgar, 60; Royal George, 72; Donegal, 81; St. George, 72 ; Mersey, 36; Cadmus, 21; Scylla, 21; and the paddle-wheel despatch boat Helicon, put to sea this morning shortly after 5 o?clock. The wind at the time of their departure was blowing strongly from the eastward, but so great is the harbour accommodation that the ships had no difficulty whatever in taking up their assigned berths between the end of the great breakwater and the north shore. The iron-clad vessels formed the starboard division, and the wooden two-deckers, frigates, and corvettes the port division. The spectacle presented on the squadron leaving the harbour was fine in the extreme, The atmosphere, unfortunately, became rather hazy shortly after they left, and the vessels were soon out of sight from the shore. The great capabilities of the harbour at Portland were, perhaps, never better exemplified than on this occasion, for, in addition to these large ships, forming the Reserve Squadron, there were upwards of 60 vessels belonging to the mercantile marine at anchor, yet there were ample space and shelter under cover of the breakwater to accommodate at least an equal number of vessels in addition. | ||
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