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PIQUE (LA)
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Built in 1834, Plymouth.
Sold in 1910. |
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- 1834 She was first commissioned by Capt. Hon. Henry J. ROUS on 17 November 1834 and employed in the blockade of Santander.
In July 1835 she took the Governor General, Lord Gosford, to Canada and returned in September with his predecessor, Lord Aylmer.
To avoid bad weather in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Capt. ROUS took her through the Straits of Belleisle to the north of the island of Newfoundland.
On 22 September, in fog, she grounded on Point Forteau in Labrador and was on shore for 10 hours.
Despite gales and the later loss of a rudder she made the voyage back across the Atlantic.
At the beginning of October she was assisted by the French brig SUFREN which stood by until the weather moderated.
When she was docked at Portsmouth on 20 October it was found that her bottom was almost rubbed through and that a rock was plugging a hole.
The Captain and the master, William HEMSLEY, were acquitted of blame by a court martial. - Capt. ROUS re-commissioned PIQUE in July 1836 after she had been repaired and the following year her seamen and marines were landed in Northern Spain during the Carlist War.
- 1837 Capt. Robert BOXER commissioned her in August 1837.
Her foremast was damaged by lightning in the St. Lawrence River. - In 1840 Great Britain, Austria, Russia and Prussia signed a treaty supporting Turkey against the rebellious Mehemet Ali of Egypt.
PIQUE joined the British, Austrian and Turkish ships off the Syrian coast and on 9 September she among those covering Napier's troops as they landed north of Beirut.
On the 15th. HASTINGS, CARYSFORT and PIQUE captured Batroun and on the 24th. CASTOR and PIQUE captured Tyre on their own. She was nearly wrecked in December when she was dismasted during a storm while in the Bay of Acre. She was repaired in Malta. - 1841 Capt. Henry FORBES.
- 1842 Capt. Hon. Montagu STOPFORD, North American station.
- She was out of commission under repair during 1846 to 1851.
PIQUE was next commissioned by Capt. Sir Frederick NICOLSON in December 1853 for service in the Pacific. She took part in the bombardment of Petropovlovsk during the war of 1854. - After she returned to Plymouth in 1859 she remained laid up until 1871 when she was used as a quarantine ship to treat seamen with smallpox.
Later she was used as a permanent floating hospital. She was finally sold in 1910.
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