View source for HMS Dwarf (1843)

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[[File:H.M.S Dwarf with Woodcroft&#039;s Patent Varying Pitch Screw Propeller 1844. Diagrammatic view of hull RMG PU6183.jpg|thumb|HMS ''Dwarf''. A diagrammatic view of her hull and Woodcroft's Patent Varying Pitch Screw Propeller of 1844.]]
'''HMS ''Dwarf''''' was launched in 1840 as the mercantile ''Mermaid''. The [[Royal Navy]] purchased her in 1843 as the Navy's first screw-propelled vessel. She was broken up in 1853.

==''Mermaid''==
''Mermaid'' was an iron vessel built at [[Blackwall Yard|Blackwall]] for mercantile use. She was fitted with [[Bennet Woodcroft]]'s patent varying pitch screw [[propeller]].<ref name="Barlow 1844">{{cite web |last1=Barlow |first1=H. B. |title=H.M.S Dwarf with Woodcroft's Patent Varying Pitch Screw Propeller 1844. |url=https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/110334.html |website=National Maritime Museum |accessdate=27 February 2019}}</ref>

She was of 164 tons, and her mean [[Draft (hull)|draught]] on her trial trip was only {{convert|5+1/2|ft|m}}.{{sfnp|Chatterton|1911|p=128}}

==HMS ''Dwarf''==
The [[British Admiralty]] purchased ''Mermaid'' from [[J. and G. Rennie]], Holland Street, Blackfriars, on 22 June 1843,{{sfnp|Loney}}<ref name="NMM Dwarf (1843)">{{cite web |title=HMS Dwarf (1842); Warship; Sloop; Screw (Full hull model; Rigged model) (SLR0790) |url=https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/66751.html |website=National Maritime Museum |accessdate=27 February 2019}}</ref> according to [[Sir George Cockburn, 10th Baronet|Sir George Cockburn]]'s advice, and on the condition that she should steam {{convert|12|mph}} (7 March 1842). The Navy renamed her HMS ''Dwarf''.

''Dwarf'' underwent trials on 15 May 1843. Over six runs she achieved a mean speed of 12.142 miles.<ref name="South Kensington Museum catalogue">{{cite book |title=Catalogue of ship models and marine engineering in the South Kensington Museum: with classified table of contents, and an alphabetical index of exhibitors and subjects. |date=1878 |publisher=George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for Her Majesty's Stationery Office |page=19 |url=https://archive.org/stream/S0002442/S0002439_djvu.txt |accessdate=27 February 2019}}</ref> The results of her extensive propeller trials were published in December 1844.{{sfnp|Hampshire Telegraph and Naval Chronicle|1844}}

''Dwarf'' went on to serve as a [[Ship's tender|tender]] to {{ship|HMY|Victoria and Albert|1843}}, she was under the command of Lieutenant Commander Edward Halhead Beauchamp-Proctor<ref>For more on Edward Halhead Beauchamp-Proctor see: {{Cite NBD1849 |wstitle=Proctor, Edward Halhed Beauchamp}}</ref> until March 1843, when the vessel was [[paid off]] at [[Woolwich Dockyard|Woolwich]].{{sfnp|Loney}}

[[Albert, Prince Consort|Prince Albert]] while on board HMY ''Victoria and Albert'' at [[Cowes]] in October 1844 professed interest in ''the little screw'' and came on board with [[Queen Victoria]] for a closer look.<ref name="The Standard">{{cite news |title=Her Majesty at the Isle of Wight, East Cowes |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/401675057/?terms=H.M.S.%2BDwarf |accessdate=27 February 2019 |publisher=The Standard |date=21 Oct 1844 |page=3}}</ref>
[[File:Her Majesty's visit to the Great Britain steam-ship on Tuesday last ILN 1845-0426-0001.jpg|thumb|Her Majesty on board the ''Dwarf'' visits the {{SS|Great Britain}} at Blackwall on 22 April 1845]]
In December 1845, ''Dwarf'' was sent to [[Sheerness]] to take on the duties of that port's admirals' tender.{{sfnp|Loney}}

Lieutenant Osborne, when in command of ''Dwarf'' on the coast of Ireland in 1848, fitting out in the [[HMNB Portsmouth|Portsmouth Basin]], heard the cry of "a boy overboard," he immediately plunged in with his full uniform on, including his sword, and saved the boy. A first-class certificate was awarded, and he was strongly recommended to the Parent Society in London.<ref name="Hampshire Telegraph 27 Jan 1849">{{cite news |title=Boy saved |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28930765/hms_dwarf_1843/ |accessdate=27 February 2019 |publisher=Hampshire Telegraph and Naval Chronicle |date=27 Jan 1849 |page=5}}</ref>

''Dwarf'', while moored in [[Dún Laoghaire|Kingstown Harbour]], Ireland, sent an armed boat's crew to ''Ann Kenney''  and captured an unrecognised emerald silk flag.<ref name="Glasgow Herald 8 Jun 1849">{{cite news |last1=Waterford Mail |title=HMS Dwarf captures an Irish flag |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28933079/hms_dwarf_1843_in_1849_captures_an/ |accessdate=27 February 2019 |publisher=Glasgow Herald |date=8 Jun 1849 |page=4 |quote=Capture of an Irish Flag. The Ann Kenney, now lying in the river, receiving passengers for Quebec, had a gaudy-looking green ensign flying from her topmast, with a union on one corner, and a harp, without a crown, on the field of the flag. An officer from HMS the Dwarf, with a boat's crew, armed, proceeded on board the Ann Kenney, and made capture of the unrecognised emerald silk. Waterford Mail.}}</ref>

On 26 September 1849, she was run down by and collided with {{HMS|Trident|1845|6}} in the [[Atlantic Ocean]] {{convert|60|nmi|km}} southeast of the [[Old Head of Kinsale]], [[County Cork]]. ''Dwarf'' was severely damaged. Her crew were taken off by ''Trident'', which towed her into [[Kinsale]], County Cork for repairs.<ref name="Daily News 3 Oct 1849">{{cite news |title=Collision at Sea, Between HMS Trident and Dwarf |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28929828/collision_at_sea_between_hms_trident/ |accessdate=27 February 2019 |work=Daily News |date=3 Oct 1849 |ref=Cork Reporter}}</ref>

==Fate==
''Dwarf'' was [[Ship breaking|scrapped]] in 1853.{{sfnp|Loney}}

The second screw vessel in the Royal Navy was {{HMS|Bee|1842|6}} a paddle vessel, built of wood and launched in 1842 as a tender to the Royal Academy, Portsmouth. ''Bee'' had additional screw propulsion fitted in 1844. She was broken up in 1874. Both vessels were purely experimental and never intended for active service.{{sfnp|Smith|1938|p=72}}

== Citations==
{{reflist|30em}}

==References==
*{{cite book |last1=Chatterton |first1=E. Kebble |title=The Romance Of The Ship; the story of her origin and evolution |date=1911 |publisher=J. B. Lippincott, Philadelphia. Seeley and co, limited, London. |page= |url=https://archive.org/stream/romanceofshipsto00chat/romanceofshipsto00chat#page/127/mode/1up |access-date=27 February 2019}}
*{{cite news |title=Result of the propeller trials are published |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28932277/hms_dwarf_1843_and_propeller_trial/ |access-date=27 February 2019 |work=Hampshire Telegraph and Naval Chronicle |date=28 December 1844 |page=4 |quote=The recent trials of H.M. Steamer Dwarf having been made with the view of determining the relative merits of the different propellers suggested by Messrs. Kennie, Stemman, and Smith, we now have it in our power to give the results in the order that they were tried viz. Steinman, 9.457 miles per hour; Rennie, 9.612; Smith, 9.823. In each case the speed appears to be much the same, as indeed it might be expected from the circumstances of each propeller having precisely the same principle, varying only in a slight degree as regards form and number of threads; that of Mr. Steinman being with four threads, that of Kennie three threads that of Smith's, two threads, which is by far the lightest and most compact of any. We are Informed that the two threaded screw is a model of the one that has proved so successful in H.M. Ship Rattler, at Woolwich in which vessel upwards of twenty trials have been made in order to ascertain the best forms of screw prior to its general adoption. in the Royal Navy. The recent trial or the Great Britain, at Bristol, which is also fitted with Mr. Smith's screw, must, we should think, have removed all doubts as to the fitness of the screw propeller for any class of vessels, however large, and we hope soon to see the principle applied as auxiliary to our line of battle ships, whereby they, according to the opinion of most naval men, would be rendered doubly effective under general circumstances.|ref={{sfnref|Hampshire Telegraph and Naval Chronicle|1844}}}}
*{{cite web |last1=Loney |first1=William |title=Dwarf |url=http://www.pdavis.nl/ShowShip.php?id=1376 |website=pdavis.nl |access-date=27 February 2019}}
*{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Edgar C. |title=A Short History of Naval and Marine Engineering |date=1938 |publisher=Cambridge at the University Press |page=|isbn=9781107672932 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zfvXAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA72&lpg |access-date=27 February 2019}}

== External links ==
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{{1849 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dwarf (1843), HMS}}
[[Category:1840 ships]]
[[Category:Ships built by the Blackwall Yard]]
[[Category:Experimental ships]]
[[Category:Steamships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Victorian-era naval ships of the United Kingdom]]