HMS Bramble was a 161-ton, 10-gun cutter launched on 8 April 1822 from Plymouth Dockyard.[1]

HMS Bramble
History
Royal Navy EnsignUnited Kingdom
NameHMS Bramble
Ordered20 March 1819
BuilderPlymouth Dockyard
Laid downAugust 1820
Launched8 April 1822
Commissioned21 June 1824
Decommissioned1876
FateSold as a lightship, 23 December 1876
General characteristics
Class and typeBramble-class cutter
Tons burthen161 bm
Length70 ft 9 in (21.6 m)
Beam26 ft (7.9 m)
Draught10 ft 3 in (3.1 m)
Sail planFore-and-aft rig
Armament10 guns

Naval career edit

She operated from April 1842 to April 1847, under the command of Lieutenant Charles Bampfield Yule as a tender to HMS Fly. In the East Indies Station she undertook surveys around Australia. After April 1847, still commanded by Charles Yule as a tender to HMS Rattlesnake, she undertook surveys and explored the southern part of New Guinea and the Louisiade Archipelago.[2]

Between 1855 and 1859 she was assigned as a tender to HMS Calliope undertaking survey work around Australia and also for diving operations at Sydney. Bramble was then assigned to the Australia Station in 1859 before being decommissioned in 1876.[1][2]

Civilian career edit

She was sold as a lightship and was anchored at Sow and Pigs reef situated just on the eastern side of the channel between Middle Head and South Head, Sydney Harbour. She was purchased by Colonial Sugar Refining Co. and was fitted out as a lighter. In 1938, during the Sesquicentennial celebrations, she was chartered to the Maritime Services Board, who made the vessel into a replica of the historic HMS Supply. Afterwards she was reconverted into a lighter and was known as Registered lighter No. 79.[3]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b Bastock, p.30.
  2. ^ a b "HMS Bramble". Retrieved 16 March 2010.
  3. ^ "The Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday 28 August 1937, p. 13". Retrieved 17 March 2010.