HMS Sappho (1837)

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Career
HMS Ringdove, a sister-ship to HMS Sappho.
Ordered:	1832 ?
Laid down:	December1834
Launched:	February 1837
Status:	Foundered with all hands February 1858 off the SE Coast of Australia
General Characteristics
Displacement:	428 Builders' Measurement
Length:	78 ft 7 in keel 100 ft 6 in overall
Beam:	32 ft 4 in
Draught:	15 ft 4 in
Speed:	Unknown
Complement:	Varied. Normally about 110
Armament:	12 × 32 pounders (15 kg)

HMS Sappho was a British Navy Brig that gained public notoriety for causing a diplomatic incident over the slave trade with the United States of America and then going missing of the Australian coast in 1857-58.

1 Construction and Service Career
2 Diplomatic Incident
3 Disappearance of the Sappho
4 Cause of the Disaster
5 References

[edit] Construction and Service Career

The Sappho, one of a class of nine Second Class Brigs, was built at the Plymouth Dockyard and over her 20-year career she was variously armed with 16 and later 12 guns. The Sappho was the second Royal Navy vessel to be named after the famous Greek poetess Sappho of the 6th and 7th Century B.C., the first, a slightly smaller Star class brig, having been broken up in 1830.

The Sappho was one of a large number of warships designed by Sir William Symonds that were intended to be both very fast under sail and carry heavy fire power. One of the main drivers for their design was the suppression of slavery. During her 20-year career the Sappho was engaged in four commissions: West Indies and North American Station (1837-1842), Africa and Cape of Good Hope Stations (1843-1847), West Indies and North America Station (1849-1852) and African Station (1856-1857). Suppression of slavery was the main duty on the African and West Indies stations. On 25 December 1849 the Sappho stranded on a cay in the Gulf of Honduras but was later refloated.

[edit] Diplomatic Incident

The Sappho left Portsmouth in March 1856 with a crew of about 140 under the command of Commander Fairfax Moresby, eldest son of Admiral Sir Fairfax Moresby, to be part of a British squadron patrolling the coast of West Africa to suppress the slave trade.

On 9 May 1857 the Sappho seized the American barque Panchita, Captain Sladden at Porto de Lenha. Lieutenant Ireland and twelve men were transferred to the Panchita and she was sailed to New York under arrest, arriving on 9 July. On the following day the owner J. P. Weeks bought suit against the prize crew on the grounds of unlawful seizure, as a result of which they were arrested, and held in bail to $15,000. Ultimately the American courts found for the owners, although compensation had not been settled over two years later. The incident was also raised in the United States Congress.

On 10 September 1857 the Sappho legally intercepted a 150-ton schooner preparing to board slaves, and burned her. On 18 September the Sappho legally engaged a much larger slaver, the 1088-ton full-rigged ship Charles of New Orleans, about 40 miles from Loando and drove it ashore - about 380 slaves were rescued but about 150 were drowned. The British Navy later awarded prize money to the crew of the Sappho for this capture.

[edit] Disappearance of the Sappho

Commander Moresby was censured for his handling of the Panchita incident and the Sappho was ordered to proceed to the Australian Station. She sailed from the Cape of Good Hope for Sydney on 8 January 1858 but failed to arrive. As she was not expected in Sydney her non-appearance caused no concern until late in the year. In October 1858 Admiral W. Loring in Sydney was informed that the Sappho had been seen by the crew of the schooner Yarrow off Cape Bridgewater, Victoria at the western entrance to Bass Strait on 18 February. Extensive searches by a number of vessels including HMS Elk and HMCS Victoria failed to find any trace of the missing vessel.

Late in 1858 rumours began spreading in England that the vessel had been wrecked on "an island off the coast of Australia," that some survivors had been rescued and that Captain Moresby had gone insane. These rumours did the rounds of the international press for over a year as they were picked up and passed along. There was no truth to any of these rumours.

[edit] Cause of the Disaster

Naval authorities believed it most likely that the Sappho had hit one of the many rocks and islets in Bass Strait and foundered with all hands. Modern reconstructions of events believe it more likely that she capsized during gales that lashed Bass Strait on the days immediately after she was last seen. Naval brigs such as the Sappho were unstable due to the combination of fine hull-lines, heavy armament and high sail area. Between 1856 and 1860, three similar vessels went missing without trace and a fourth, HMS Camilla, capsized off the West Coast of Africa on 9 May 1859 with the loss of about 50 of her crew.

The Apollo Bay Historical Society asserts on its Historical Shipwrecks Roll of Honour that the HMS Sappho disappeared in between Cape Otway and Cape Patton, off the Victoria Coast near the Otway Ranges. They are unsure as to how this claim is made, although residents of the townships at Wye River and Kennett River claim to be descendants of a ship of the Royal Navy.