HMS Jasper was a British Algerine-class gunboat launched in 1857.
 HM ships Styx and Jasper capture the slaver Emilia off the Coast of Cuba on 22 March 1858
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Jasper |
| Ordered | 22 September 1856 |
| Builder | R & H Green, Blackwall Yard |
| Laid down | 26 September 1856 |
| Launched | 18 March 1857 |
| Commissioned | 28 July 1857 |
| Fate | Sold, 2 August 1862 |
| Lay-Osborn Flotilla | |
| Name |
|
| Namesake | Amoy |
| Acquired | 2 August 1862 |
| Decommissioned | 1863 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Algerine-class gunboat |
| Displacement | 370 long tons (376 t) |
| Tons burthen | 301 bm |
| Length | 125 ft 0 in (38.1 m) |
| Beam | 23 ft 0 in (7.01 m) |
| Draught | 9 ft 2 in (2.8 m) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | Single shaft |
| Speed | 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph) |
| Armament |
|
History edit
HMS Jasper was launched on 18 March 1857. It was commissioned on 28 July under Lieut. William Henry Pym and served in the North America and West Indies Station.[1] Her notable actions included the capture of United States[2] slave vessel Emilia (aka Marianna[3]) with HMS Styx off the north coast of Cuba on 22 March 1858. Emilia was towed to Port Royal by Jasper.[4] The capture of a US vessel ignited a diplomatic crisis between Great Britain and the United States, though it was later resolved when Great Britain agreed not to search US vessels.[2]
On 2 August 1862, Jasper was purchased by Horatio Nelson Lay, Inspector General of the Qing Dynasty Chinese Maritime Customs Service, as part of an effort to bolster the Qing Dynasty naval force in response to the ongoing Taiping Rebellion.[5][6] Thereafter she was renamed Amoy (Chinese: 廈門; pinyin: Xiàmén; Wade–Giles: Hsia Men; lit. 'Amoy'), and became part of the Lay-Osborn Flotilla commanded by Sherard Osborn.[7] She was put under the command of Lieut. Arthur Salwey,[8] and sailed for China in April 1863.[9] Upon her arrival in Tianjin, the Qing government ordered the ship to be renamed as Kuang Wan (Chinese: 廣萬; pinyin: Guǎngwàn).[5][10]
Disagreements between the Qing government and Lay over the command and composition of the Lay-Osborn Flotilla led to its disbandment in 1863, and Amoy was taken to Bombay by Osborn, presumably for sale. There are conflicting accounts of her fate.[5] She was possibly sold to Egypt on 30 December 1865,[9] or to Captain Charles Stuart Forbes of Keangsoo.[11] One Chinese source indicated that it was eventually sold to Satsuma Domain with Keangsoo.[10]
Citations edit
- ^ Winfield 2014, p. 377.
- ^ a b Merkin 2021, p. 236.
- ^ Parliamentary Papers. Vol. 36. H.M. Stationery Office. 1863.
- ^ "The Slave-Ship "Emilia."". The Illustrated London News. Vol. 32, no. 917. London, England. 15 May 1858.
- ^ a b c Chen 2013, p. 13.
- ^ Wright 2000, pp. 16–17.
- ^ Chen 2013, p. 7.
- ^ Clowes 1903.
- ^ a b Winfield & Lyon 2004, p. 230.
- ^ a b Chen 2002, p. 142.
- ^ Wright 2000, p. 19.
References edit
- Chen, Zhenshou (2002). Túshuōzhōngguóhǎijūnshǐ: Gǔdài-1955 图说中国海军史: 古代-1955 [A Pictorial History of the Chinese Navy: Antiquity-1955]. Fujian Education Publishing House. ISBN 978-7-5334-3536-3. Archived from the original on 12 January 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
- Chen, Yue (2013). Zhōngguójūnjiàntúzhì 1855-1911 中國軍艦圖誌1855-1911 [Album of Chinese Warships 1855-1911] (in Chinese). Hong Kong: The Commercial Press (Hong Kong). ISBN 9789620703614.
- Clowes, Sir William Laird (1903). The Royal Navy a History from earliest times to the death of Queen Victoria: Volume 7. London, England: Sampson Low Marston and Company. pp. 138–150. Archived from the original on 24 November 2021.
- Merkin, R. (2021). Marine Insurance: A Legal History. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78811-675-6.
- Winfield, R.; Lyon, D. (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC 52620555.
- Winfield, R. (2014). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1817-1863: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-169-4.
- Wright, Richard (2000). The Chinese Steam Navy, 1862-1945. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 9781861761446.