HMS Belleisle was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 26 April 1819 at Pembroke Dockyard.[1]

The hospital ship Belleisle taking provisions during the Crimean War
History
Royal Navy EnsignUnited Kingdom
NameHMS Belleisle
Ordered17 November 1812
BuilderPembroke Dockyard
Laid downFebruary 1816
Launched26 April 1819
FateBroken up, 1872
General characteristics [1]
Class and type
Tons burthen1709 bm
Length174 ft (53 m) (gundeck)
Beam47 ft 4 in (14.43 m)
Depth of hold20 ft (6.1 m)
PropulsionSails
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Armament
  • 74 guns:
  • Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounders
  • Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounders
  • Quarterdeck: 14 × 9-pounders
  • Forecastle: 4 × 9-pounders
Plans of Belleisle

Belleisle was converted to serve as a troopship in 1841 and sailed for China in Dec. 1841 for the First Opium War. She stayed in China until the Treaty of Nanking was signed in 1842.[2] On 10 June 1856, she ran aground on the Englishman's Shoal, in the Bosphorus. She was refloated on 13 June.[3]

Belleisle was subsequently used as a hospital ship at Chatham. In June 1866, she was lent by the Admiralty to the Seamen's Hospital Society for use as a hospital ship in London for seamen suffering from cholera. Whilst being towed up the River Thames by the tug Medusa, she ran aground, but was refloated on the next tide.[4] Belleisle was broken up in 1872.[1]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 189.
  2. ^ Carradice, Phil (15 August 2013). The Ships of Pembroke Dockyard. Amberley Publishing Limited. p. 38. ISBN 9781445613109 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ "Devon". The Royal Cornwall Gazette, Falmouth Packet, and General Advertiser. No. 2771. Truro. 1 August 1856. p. 5.
  4. ^ "Naval and Military Intelligence". The Times. No. 25518. London. 7 June 1866. col E-F, p. 12.

References

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  • Lavery, Brian (2003) The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.
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