HMS Perseus by Thukydides - 1:64 - POB - Sphinx Class 6th Rate

[Thukydides]

Welcome to my build log for documenting progress on my scratch build of HMS Perseus using @Alex M's Sphinx plans as a starting point. In order to keep this organized I have reserved this first post for a table of contents in order to allow future readers to jump ahead to sections they are interested in if so desired. I will also include any significant resource links in this first post so they are all together in one place.

 

Related Threads & Resources

Transcription of the Contract for Perseus & Unicorn

 

Table of Contents

Log #1: Introduction

Log #2: Service History Part I - Design & Construction

Log #3: Service History Part II - George Keith Elphinstone

Log #4: Service History Part III - George Keith Elphinstone Continued

Edited August 20 by Thukydides

[Thukydides]

Log #1: Introduction

HMS Perseus was a 20-gun Sphinx class post ship launched in 1776. Post ships were the smallest ship rated to be commanded by a post captain, larger than a sloop, but not as large as a frigate.

She saw service in one of the most turbulent periods of the Royal Navy’s history. She took part in both the American revolutionary war and the French revolutionary war under at least 11 different commanders from Captain George Keith Elphinstone to Commander Thoms Searle. In many ways she was an example of the changing technology of naval combat being one of the first Royal Navy ships to be coppered and an early adopter of the carronade. Late in her career she was converted to a bomb ship before being broken up in 1805 after almost 30 years of service.

I plan to depict Perseus as she appeared under the command of Captain James Dacres between 1780 and 1783. My goals for this build are:

1. Build Quality - I learned a lot on Alert, but the quality of my work was not uniformly to a high standard. The goal for this build is to improve on my consistency to bring all parts of the model up to a higher standard.
2. Historical Accuracy - I am aiming to make this as historically accurate a model as possible. As much as possible I am attempting to trace every aspect of the build back to primary sources.
3. Artistic Coherence - At the end of the day the model is a piece of art and so it needs to aesthetically come together. Design decisions will also be informed by aesthetic considerations where there are more than one historically valid options.
    

Edited July 25 by Thukydides

[Javelin]

You have your first follower. Just a minute ago I posted in your Alert log and my curiosity is already satisfied. 

If this will be even just near your Alert quality, it will already be a very impressive model. 

That said, it's going to take a while to complete, since scratch building is going slow, but so much more satisfying for the builder.

[jpalmer1970]

Good luck with this build. I look forward to following your progress.

[TJM]

I will be following this for sure!

[Thukydides]

42 minutes ago, Javelin said:

That said, it's going to take a while to complete, since scratch building is going slow, but so much more satisfying for the builder.

Yes, if Alert took three years (granted with a 6 month break in the middle) I expect this is going to take 5 or more. Apart from the larger size and all the extra time required to build everything from scratch, this time I have resolved that I must find sources (ideally primary ones) for just about everything so I imagine that is going to slow things down a lot.

 

I am working on a research document which I am using to summarize and organize my thoughts and it has already reached 150 pages (and I haven't even begun researching the rigging).

Edited July 24 by Thukydides

[Nipper]

I will follow along, and I look forward to this very much.

 

I'm especially looking forward to your thoughts and conclusions from the research that you will do.  I think that the research is as enjoyable as the building of the model, especially when it leads to a bit of creativity in changing the model to better match the historical evidence.  Or as you refer to above - to those occasions when the evidence is inconclusve and you have to decide which way to go!  Some of the most enjoyable moments I have experienced in buildng my models have been when I've gone to bed, with my mind still mulling over a problem - do I do what source A says, or do I follow source B? Sometimes the clearest solutions appear at those sleepy moments!

 

Nipper

[Ronald-V]

Good luck on your next step! It's quite brave to take this kind of a step up regarding difficulty. At least...that would it be for me lol.  

 

Will be very interesting to see how this develops! 💫

[brunnels]

Can't wait to follow the progress on this one.

[GrandpaPhil]

Looking forward to this!

[AJohnson]

Also will be pulling up a chair to follow along. 

[CiscoH]

you do high quality work Thukydides; I will follow with interest

[Thukydides]

Log #2: Service History Part I - Design & Construction

Thank you to everyone who has pulled up a chair to follow along with me on this journey. It really does help motivate me to do these logs when I know others find them helpful. I apologize in advance as the entries for the foreseeable future will involve more text than pictures until I actually start construction.

 

My Alert log was an exploration of ship modeling from a beginner perspective. I tried to show my thought processes working through the necessary modeling techniques (both the successes and failures). This log I plan to focus on the why of ship modeling. What sources informed my modeling decisions, why did I choose those sources and so on.

 

We are going to start by working our way through the history of Perseus, then we will consider some of the key sources of information available to us and hopefully by the time we get through all that I will have started building the model and I will have stuff to show you.

 

HMS Perseus was a 20-gun Sphinx class 6th rate post ship launched in 1776. As was previously noted, post ships were the smallest ship rated to be commanded by a post captain, larger than a sloop, but not as large as a frigate.

Draught of HMS Sphinx, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. ZAZ3917, 23 April 1773.

 

The Sphinx class ships were designed by John Williams, the surveyor of the Navy from 1765 to 1784. In this time he designed at least 21 different classes of ships ranging from the 100-gun Royal Sovereign to the 10-gun Childers.

 

List of Sphinx Class Post-Ships

Name	Ordered	Launched	Out of Service	Fate
Sphinx	15-Apr-1773	25-Oct-1775	24-Jun-1811	Broken up
Camilla	1-Dec-1773	20-Apr-1776	13-Apr-1831	Sold
Daphne	1-Dec-1773	21-Mar-1776	?-May-1802	Sold
Galatea	1-Dec-1773	21-Mar-1776	?-Apr-1783	Broken up
Ariadne	10-April-1775	27-Dec-1776	1-Aug-1814	Sold
Vestal	1-Aug-1775	22-May-1777	31-Oct-1777	Foundered
Perseus	3-Nov-1775	20-Mar-1776	?-Sep-1805	Broken up
Unicorn	3-Nov-1775	23-Mar-1776	7-Aug-1787	Broken up
Ariel	3-Jul-1776	7-Jul-1777	10-Sep-1779	Captured
Narcissus	8-Jan-1777	9-May-1781	3-Oct-1796	Wrecked

The Sphinx class were the first batch of 20-gun ships ordered in more than 20 years after the Glasgow, the last of the Seaford class was launched in 1757. Though the Sphinx class ships had somewhat finer lines, they were in many respects identical to their predecessors, with the same armament, approximate length and layout. They carried 9 pounder guns and had a complement of 160 souls. In total ten were built with the lead ship of the class, Sphinx, launched in 1775 and the final ship, Narcissus, launched in 1781. The first of them were built at Navy dockyards, but with the start of the revolutionary war in North America and shipbuilding capacity stretched, additional ships were ordered to be built by contract at private yards.

 

HMS Perseus was constructed at Cuckols Point, a private dockyard in Rotherhithe, London, England. Her sister ship, HMS Unicorn, was also contracted to the dockyard in 1775 with both ships being launched in March 1776.

The Sphinx class post-ships saw service over a turbulent period of the RN’s history. It was a period of war, from the revolutionary war in America to the French Revolutionary Wars, and a time of technological change, with the advent of the carronade. Many of the Sphinx class served in the North American theater in the early part of their careers and those that were not broken up or sold during the peace went on to serve at various stations in the French Revolutionary Wars. The last to remain in service, HMS Camilla, was sold on the 13th of April, 1831.
 

Edited July 25 by Thukydides

[Thukydides]

Log #3: Service History Part II - George Keith Elphinstone

A lot of work is going on in the background that is not yet ready to share, but to avoid this log going too dead I am going to keep dribbling out some of what I have already gotten done. We are going to work our way through the service life of Perseus starting today with her first and most famous commander George Keith Elphinstone. As I have a lot of info on his time in command of Perseus I am going to break this up into two parts.

 

I should also note that all of these posts are lifted from the research document I am working on which I plan to release on MSW whenever it is finished (likely not for a while yet). That document will contain more detail as well as extensive notes linking almost every assertion made back to primary sources. If in the meantime anything I am talking about peaks your interest I am more than happy so share relevant sections of the draft for feedback / to aid you in your own research.

 

A painting of Elphinstone in 1799, Royal Collection Trust. RCIN 400990.

 

George Keith Elphinstone was born on the 7th of January 1746 in the county of Stirling in central Scotland. At the age of fifteen he joined the navy as a midshipman on board the Gosport (44) under Captain John Jervis. With the start of the peace in 1763 Elphinstone found himself transferred from ship to ship in search of a berth. There were few opportunities for midshipmen in this period and so the young Elphinstone resigned the navy in favor of an opportunity with the East India Company on board a vessel commanded by his elder brother William.

 

Elphinstone returned from his eastern expedition sometime in early 1771 and with war looming on the horizon he was shortly thereafter reinstated in the Royal Navy  with credit given for the experience gained in his time with the East India Company. On the 21st of May, 1771 he was appointed 2nd Lieutenant of the Trident (64) part of the Mediterranean fleet of Admiral Sir Peter Dennis keeping an eye on French and Spanish ports.

 

He received his first command on the 18th of September 1772 with the sloop Scorpion (14). He spent several years cruising the Mediterranean until in the summer of 1774, Scorpion was ordered back to England.

 

Elphinstone was given command of the Romney (50) on the 11th of March 1775 with his promotion to post Captain coming on May 11th. However, his time on Romney was to be short lived. After returning from escorting a convoy to North America, in March 1776, Elphinstone was appointed to command the newly constructed Perseus (20).

 

The Romney in action later in her career, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. PAF5826.

 

Elphinstone by all accounts appears to have been an active and competent commander. In his writing you get a sense of his forceful personality and the energy with which he carried out his responsibilities. Perseus had been built by contract and Elphinstone was not pleased with her status upon first inspecting her. There are a number of letters in which he makes a flurry of requests for surveys to fix defects and supplies for the fitting out of the ship.

 

Perseus departed Spithead in July 1776 with a convoy of vessels bound for North America. Perseus was evidently the only Man of War present and a number of the vessels in her charge went missing. Elphinstone recounted many of these difficulties in his explanatory letter to Vice Admiral Howe, the British Naval Commander for the North American Theatre, on November 6, 1776.

 

It is beyond a doubt that I chased different Ships of the Convoy the whole day, fired a great many Shot at the offenders, rebuked the Masters &c. and with difficulty once more collected them. On the 18th I parted from the Lark and the Snow under her Convoy, consequently 17 remained under charge of the Perseus, not one of which was lost before our being driven on the Banks of Newfoundland, where we were dispersed by Gales of Wind and thick fogs.
(Elphinstone, Nov 1776)

 

It is evident that Elphinstone had a talent for taking prizes. There are Admiralty prize records for at least 24 different prizes captured from 1776 to 1780. His first prize was taken before he even reached his station. While escorting the aforementioned convoy, he took the American Schooner Viper. This incident also illustrates the energy with which he did everything. The Captain’s log for the 26th of September 1776 describes how with great difficulty they managed to get one of the 9-pdrs. up to the forecastle to fire on the schooner as they pursued her.

 

Once in North America Elphinstone was placed in a squadron of 4 ships under the command of Andrew Snape Hamond of the Roebuck.

 

There was a brief period in 1776 when Elphinstone was transferred to the Pearl (32) and command of Perseus was given to Captain Hon. Charles Phipps. The transfers were ordered by Vice-Admiral James Young while the squadron was refitting at Antigua following the death of the Pearl’s captain, but upon them regaining their station in North America, the appointments were reversed by Vice-Admiral Lord Howe, as he considered the appointment should have only been made by him.

 

Edited August 5 by Thukydides

[Thukydides]

Log #4: Service History Part III - George Keith Elphinstone Continued

From late 1776 until late 1779 and the siege of Charleston, Elphinstone continued cruising up and down the North American coast taking prizes at a remarkable rate. One of his most prolific periods was between September 1776 and and September 1777 when he captured at least 14 different prizes ranging from privateers to merchants.

 

In January of 1777, Elphinstone and the Perseus captured the snow Thomas, a British ship which had recently been captured by the Continental brig Andrew Doria. This event is notable as the American prize officer in charge of the Snow, Lieutenant Joshua Barney, later had a memoir written which recounted the events providing some insight into Elphinstone’s character.

 

Due to the limited number of crew available, Barney convinced a number of the prisoners to help make up the complement of his crew. A few days later a British warship, the Perseus, was seen on the horizon and it was at this point the prisoners became mutinous and refused to assist in setting sails until Barney shot one of them through the shoulder. However, the delay allowed the Perseus to close the distance and the Thomas was boarded and captured.

 

Upon being transferred over to the Perseus, the sailor who had been shot by Barney complained to Elphinstone regarding Barney’s actions. Elphinstone, without bothering to even enquire of Barney as to his version of events, chastised the sailor and “declared that the latter had done no more than he would himself have done in a similar situation.”

 

Joshua Barney

National Museum of the United States Navy, NH 56818

 

This problem of desertion and insubordination appears to have been quite common for both sides of the conflict. Later in the same year, 10 men who had previously been in the service of the Continental Forces deserted the Perseus taking with them an 8 oared cutter. Despite Elphinstone’s attempts to capture them, they made it to shore at Annapolis and were welcomed by Major John Fulford who requested in a letter to his superior, Governor Thomas Johnson, if he could keep the boat and pay the deserters for it. 

 

Elphinstone’s most significant prize of his North American career was the capture of the 20 gun French ship La Therèse in November 1779 off Cape Charles. The La Therèse proved a difficult opponent and it took 40 minutes of action in which time she “did considerable damage to the masts, sails, and rigging of the Perseus before she struck.”

 

In late 1779, the decision was made that the time had come for the British to capture the port of Charleston. A barrier to the northward progression of British success in Florida and Georgia, the city was protected from the sea by a sand bar and heavily fortified islands guarding the harbor.

 

Alonzo Chappel, The Siege of Charleston

Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.

 

Elphinstone was dispatched in advance of the campaign to procure galleys and transports for the assault as well as procuring the necessary supplies to support the seaborne invasion force. Once the attack began in earnest, Elphinstone lead a force of four hundred and fifty seamen ashore to support the attack and serve as the line of communication between the army and the fleet.

 

The city fell on the 12th of May and as a reward for his efforts, Elphinstone and the Perseus were selected to carry Sir Andrew Hammond with the dispatches announcing the fall of Charleston back to England. Perseus was paid off on the 17th of July, 1780 and Elphinstone was given command of Warwick (50).

 

Elphinstone, who is perhaps best known in modern times for his appearance in the Jack Aubry novels as Lord Keith, went on to have a very successful career becoming one of the more decorated and famous naval officers of the Napoleonic period. Notably, it was under his command that Napoleon was transferred from the Bellerophon to the Northumberland for his exile to St. Helena in 1815.  He retired having reached the rank of Admiral and passed away on the 10th March 1823 in Tulliallan Castle in Scotland.