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Showing results for tags 'Amphion'.
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For my next build I wanted to scratch build something that would mean something to me. I have done the Triton cross section and kits before but these all took from one to two years. For a scratch built frigate I would estimate it would take me around 8 to 10 years. Since that is a considerable portion of anyone’s life I wanted a subject that would stick with me. Not having a preference I started by preparing a short list of requirements A) It would have to be an English Napoleonic frigate. I have always been fascinated by the period (and have re-enacted as a Coldstream Guard at Hougomont on the anniversary of Waterloo and as an officer of the 40eme (part of Lannes’s 5th Corps) on the anniversary of Austerlitz (that was great as the re-enactment was on the site where the 5th Corps had fought and it was snowing) I was admittedly a bit of a Bonapartist on the land war. On the Sea war I am unashamedly a Royal Navy fan. It would have to be of English design and not a capture (see A) C) It would have to be smaller than most late war frigates as firstly size is an issue and secondly the early war was more challenging. The British dominance in the late war was of no interest to me D) It would have to have a story or something of interest for me to look into Now I then started to read around. Early candidates included A) The Shannon, should need no reason really though a personal connection for me is that I have held the sword Broke used in the Chesapeake battle and swished it around. In the end it failed on reasons C, plus it was built of fir which I found strangely unattractive The Guerriere – almost for the same reason as the Shannon but knocked out for reasons A and B plus C C) The Juno – Out of all the British Captains of the war Samuel Hood is one of my heroes. The problem with the Juno was that the Toulon incident was the primary one and that was not quite enough to fulfil D. If I ever do a 64 it will be Hood’s Zealous at the Nile D) The Phoebe – The fightingnest ship of the Napoleonic Wars. If you like ship to ship actions then this is the one. If I ever do a second frigate it will be the Phoebe as it stands my eventually winner trumped it on D So we now come to my winner. I had encountered it earlier in my reading but discarded it on C as its ‘famous’ action was a late war one at the battle of Lissa. I then encountered it again and the more I found out the more I grew interested. Its run of ‘interest’ was quite outstanding First up it was designed by Sir William Rule (the junior surveyor at the time) but had been extensively re-worked by Gambier at the Admiralty to take some more attributes of the Triton. This must have been mortifying for Rule but the resultant ship turned out well. Gardener states The modifications, presumably down to Gambier’s influence, show striking similarities with ideas behind the Triton ordered a month earlier: the extra length gave the ship the greatest length: breadth ratio of any frigate so far designed by the Surveyors, and the raked bow owes something to Triton’s most individual feature. Contrary to accepted wisdom this design-by-committee produced not a camel but a racehorse – in service the Amphion proved fast, weatherly and manoeuvrable, and was particularly good in strong winds. . So it had an interesting origin. I was initially further put off because Goodwin describes it as a fir ship and I have already stated my irrational dislike of fir. Fortunately (along with a mis-captioned Triton as the Amphion in his book) he was wrong and the Amphion was not fur built. Next up the ship had acted briefly as Nelson’s flagship on his way to the Med. I then found it had also transported the Archduke Charles on an abortive trip to Spain. Charles was the Austrians best fighting general so that was in itself an interesting point for me. It was also involved in the treasure ship action where four British frigates intercepted the Spanish treasure fleet under Graham Moore. The Amphion was fighting the Mercedes when she blew up possibly due to fire. So she now could be placed at a pivotal point in the war playing an important part. Moving on she was involved in the chase of the combined fleet to the Caribbean and back though being detached just before Trafalgar. Finally she was Hoste’s flagship at the battle of Lissa of which plenty has been written. All the above gave me plenty of interest but the decider was where she was built. The Amphion matched my pointy A because she was designed to be smaller than most standard frigates because the Admiralty wanted to use shipyards outside of the existing range. I also knew she was built in Essex but just assumed this meant a yard Southend way or on the Thames. When I eventually checked her actual build location (at Mistley) she was actually built on the Stour on the border between Essex and Suffolk very close to Manningtree and Capel. Most of my mother’s family come from (and still live in ) this very region. The possibility of my relatives knowing about her or even working on her were more than any other ship I could think of. The Amphion at Lissa -
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Head figure of Swedish royal yacht Amphion 1778 (3D model , finished )
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