HMS Driver (1840)
The warship HMS Driver was the first steamship to circumnavigate the earth.
It left Great Britain on March 16, 1842 and carried out military and governmental assignments on its way. In China, for example, the ship was temporarily involved in traffic between several ports and used to combat piracy in East Indian waters. The crew and ship also played a role in a Māoria uprising in New Zealand . On May 14, 1847, the steamship completed its voyage around the world at its anchorage at Spithead on the Hampshire coast .
Furnishing
The HMS Driver was a paddle steamer of 1,058 tons, with engines of 280 horsepower ; he was rigged as a brig . The ship had four large guns: two 68-pounders and two 34-pounders. Another source states that the steamer was armed with six guns. The crew numbered 175 officers and men. His figurehead attracted a lot of attention: it represented an Old English stagecoach with an overcoat and whip.
The Royal Navy ship was launched in 1840 and was shipwrecked off Mayaguana on August 3, 1861 .
Use in New Zealand
On the way there
The steamer had previously participated in the suppression of piracy in East Indian waters and was stationed in China for some time. On December 4, 1845, the HMS Driver was the first steamship to arrive in Fremantle , Western Australia . When smoke was noticed on the horizon, it was initially thought that a ship was on fire. It wasn't until the vehicle came into view that people realized that a steam-powered ship was approaching.
The warship arrived unexpectedly in Sydney on January 10, 1846, en route via Fremantle on the Swan River and the Tasmanian Hobart . It was supposed to take up provisions and fuel here in order to prepare its onward journey to New Zealand.
Since the required amount of coal could not be bought in Sydney, the question arose whether the HMS Driver should drive to Newcastle herself . Because of doubts about the safety and draft of a ship of this size, it was decided to send smaller ships to bring coal for the steamer to Sydney. You can therefore expect a lay time of over a week. The HMS Driver needed 500 tons of coal for the trip to New Zealand.
On January 15, the HMS Driver surprisingly left port at 2 a.m. Shortly before, a large coal transporter had arrived from Newcastle and supplied the warship. Tenders were instructed to move 500 tons of coal to Auckland for consumption by the HMS Driver . The warship took £ 5,000 in gold and £ 5,000 in silver for the colonial administration of New Zealand on its voyage.
activities
On January 20, the HMS Driver was the first steamship to reach Auckland.
In New Zealand, the HMS Driver was used for military tasks before and during a Morian uprising . On February 3, 1846, the steamer transported almost 600 soldiers from Auckland to Wellington together with the frigates Castor and Calliope , the government brig Victoria and the Bark Slains Castle .
The commotion caused by the arrival of such a large corps of British soldiers - the colonial force in Wellington rose to nearly eight hundred men - was increased by the spectacle of the steamship. The HMS Driver was the first steamer in the port. For many colonists it was a wonderful vehicle. He surprised the Māori, who gathered to marvel at the strange ship of the strangers, which sailed with fire inside and fought easily and quickly against wind and tides.
When the news of the conflict with the Māori in the Hutt Valley reached Governor George Edward Gray in Wellington some time later , he instructed the HMS Driver to lift anchor and transport troops. Together with the frigate Calliope and the Bark Slains Castle , the steamer sailed up the coast to Porirua on April 9 , where the units went ashore.
A decisive factor in the pacification of the Wellington district was the capture of the highest Māori chief Te Rauparaha . Under a directive from Governor Gray, a group of sailors from HMS Driver carried out a secret midnight raid on Taupo Pa near Porirua on July 22, 1846, and Te Rauparaha was arrested on charges of treason. He was kept under guard on the HMS Calliope to the delight of the colonial government, but treated more as a guest than a prisoner of war. When the district was pacified a few months later, he was released and did not cause any further trouble.
Others
A man named Ingwood, who served as a seaman aboard the HMS Driver , was the first European to be hanged for murder in Hong Kong . He had thrown another European, his one-time drinking companion, into the water from a sampan and watched him drown.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Battleships-cruisers.co.uk
- ^ Education Resource Kit . (PDF; 1.2 MB) Fremantle Prison - Government of Western Australia , archived from the original on August 2, 2007 ; accessed on August 12, 2014 .
- ↑ HMS Driver - Unexpected Arrival at Sydney . Archived from the original on January 20, 2004 ; accessed on August 12, 2014 .
- ↑ Derek Brown : THE PIONEER LAND SURVEYORS OF NEW ZEALAND CA LAWN, FNZIS . (PDF; 811 kB) Archived from the original on October 14, 2008 ; accessed on August 12, 2014 .
- ^ John Newson : A Look at Hong Kong's Legal History in the Nineteenth Century . Hong Kong Lawyer , archived from the original on May 17, 2008 ; accessed on January 12, 2016 .