HMS Orpheus (1860)

**Orpheus**
	Painting of the Fall of Orpheus by Richard Brydges Beechey
Ship data
flag	United Kingdom
Ship type	corvette
class	Jason class
Shipyard	Chatham Dockyard , Chatham
Launch	June 23, 1860
Commissioning	October 24, 1861
Whereabouts	Sunk on February 7, 1863
Ship dimensions and crew
length	69 m ( Lüa )
width	12 m
Draft	Max. 5.8 m
displacement	2,365 ts
crew	258 men
Machine system
machine	4 steam boiler,; 2-cylinder steam engine
Machine ; performance	400 hp (294 kW)
Top ; speed	12 kn (22 km / h)
propeller	1
Armament
	20 × 8 in. (20.3 cm, 68 pounder) muzzle loaders ; 1 × 7 in. (17.8 cm, 110 pounder) breech loader ;

HMS Orpheus was a corvette of the Royal Navy , flagship of the Australian squadron. The 69 meter long ship was built from 1858 to 1860 in Chatham Dockyard in Kent , England and named after the Greek hero .

The Orpheus sank on February 7, 1863 at Whatipu off the west coast of Auckland , New Zealand , when she was to deliver ship equipment and reinforcements to Auckland under the command of Robert Heron Burton. 189 of the 259 men on board were killed in the accident. This is the shipwreck with the most deaths in New Zealand's waters.

Footnotes

↑ Quake will rank among worst disasters (Article in the New Zealand Herald, February 22, 2011)

[1] Quake will rank among worst disasters (Article in the New Zealand Herald, February 22, 2011)