View source for HMS Wellesley (1815)

{{Short description|Ship of the line (1815–1948) of the Royal Navy}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=[[File:HMS Wellesly (1815).jpg|300px|HMS Wellesley]]
|Ship caption=''Wellesley'' sailing along a rocky coastline
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United Kingdom
|Ship flag= {{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}}
|Ship name=HMS ''Wellesley''
|Ship namesake= [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington]]
|Ship ordered=3 September 1812
|Ship builder=[[Bombay Dockyard]]
|Ship laid down=May 1813
|Ship launched=24 February 1815
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=
|Ship decommissioned=
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship renamed=TS ''Cornwall'', 1868
|Ship struck=
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship honours=China 1840–42
|Ship captured=
|Ship fate=Sunk by bombing, 24 September 1940, raised and broken up 1948
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=<ref name="Lavery, SoLv1 p189">{{harvnb|Lavery|2003|p=189}}</ref>
|Ship class=Officially part of the {{sclass|Black Prince|ship of the line|4}}, but built to the lines of the {{sclass|Vengeur|ship of the line|4}}
|Ship tons burthen=1745 {{small|{{frac|75|94}}}} ([[Builder's Old Measurement|bm]])
|Ship length=*[[length overall|o/a]]:{{convert|175|ft|10+3/4|in|m|1|abbr=on}}
*Keel:{{convert|144|ft|11+1/2|in|m|1|abbr=on}} (keel)
|Ship beam={{convert|47|ft|7|in|m|1|abbr=on}}
|Ship draught=
|Ship hold depth={{convert|21|ft|m|1|abbr=on}}
|Ship sail plan=[[Full-rigged ship]]
|Ship complement=
|Ship armament=*Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
* Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns
* [[Quarterdeck|QD]]: 4 × 12-pounder guns + 10 × 32-pounder [[carronade]]s
* [[Forecastle|Fc]]: 2 × 12-pounder guns + 2 × 32-pounder carronades
* Poop deck: 6 × 18-pounder carronades
|Ship notes=
}}
|}

'''HMS ''Wellesley''''' was a 74-gun [[third rate]], named after the [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Duke of Wellington]], and launched in 1815. She captured [[Karachi]] for the British, and participated in the [[First Opium War]], which resulted in Britain gaining control of Hong Kong. Thereafter she served primarily as a training ship before gaining the distinction of being the last British [[ship of the line]] to be sunk by enemy action and the only one to have been sunk by an air-raid.

==Construction and class==
Although ''Wellesley'' was ordered as a {{sclass|Black Prince|ship of the line|3}}, plans meant for her construction were lost in December 1812 when [[USS Constitution|USS ''Constitution'']] captured {{HMS|Java|1811|6}}. She was therefore built to the lines of {{HMS|Cornwallis|1813|6}}, a {{sclass|Vengeur|ship of the line|3}} which had just been launched at Bombay. The [[East India Company]] built her of teak, at a cost of £55,147, for the [[Royal Navy]] and launched her on 24 February 1815 at [[Bombay Dockyard]].<ref name="Lavery, SoLv1 p189"/>

==Active duty==
In 1823 ''Wellesley'' carried Sir [[Baron Stuart de Rothesay|Charles Stuart de Rothesay]] on a mission to Portugal and Brazil to negotiate a commercial treaty with [[Pedro I of Brazil]]. The artist [[Charles Landseer]], brother of the famed artist [[Edwin Henry Landseer]], accompanied the mission.

On 23 November 1824, ''Wellesley'' was driven ashore at [[Portsmouth]] during a [[gale]].<ref name=Times261124>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=THE LATE GALES |date=26 November 1824 |page=3, 4 |issue=12508 |column=E, A }}</ref> Between 25 November 1824 and 30 January 1825, her tender, ''Wolf'', took several prizes, for which prize money was payable.<ref name=LG18145>{{London Gazette|page=1021|issue=18145|date=11 June 1825}}</ref>{{efn|A first-class share of the prize money was worth [[£sd|£]]14 16[[shilling|s]] {{frac|9|1|2}}[[pence|d]]; a sixth-class share, that of an ordinary seaman, was worth 1s {{frac|9|3|4}}d.<ref name=LG18145/>}}

''Wellesley'' was the [[flagship]] of [[Frederick Lewis Maitland (Rear Admiral)|Rear Admiral Sir Frederick Lewis Maitland]] in the Mediterranean between 1827 and 1830.

===Karachi===
On 19 June 1837 Captain [[Thomas Maitland, 11th Earl of Lauderdale|Thomas Maitland]] took command of ''Wellesley'', which became the flagship of Rear-Admiral Frederick Lewis Maitland.

On 2 and 3 February 1839 ''Wellesley'', {{HMS|Algerine|1829|6}} and troops captured Kurrachee (modern [[Karachi]]). ''Wellesley'' sailed into the harbour and proceeded to fire at the mud fort on [[Manora, Karachi|Manora]] Island, quickly pulverising it. The purpose of the unprovoked attack was to induce the local rulers to sign a new treaty with the [[East India Company]].

=== Anglo-Persian Treaty ===
In March 1839 relations between [[Iran|Persia]] and Britain came to a confrontation over a number of British demands, including that the Shah permit the British a permanent base on [[Kharg Island]], which they had occupied. Attacks on the British Residency in [[Bushehr Province|Bushire]] led to the dispatch of ''Wellesley'' and ''Algerine'' to Bushire. The outcome was the Anglo-Persian Treaty, signed 28 October 1841, which recognised a mutual freedom to trade in the territory of the other and for the British to establish consulates in [[Tehran]] and [[Tabriz]].

Admiral Maitland died on 30 November whilst at sea on board ''Wellesley'', off Bombay; Commodore Sir [[Gordon Bremer]] replaced him.

===First Opium War===
''Wellesley'' saw active service in the Far East during the [[First Opium War]]. Led by Commodore [[Gordon Bremer]] in ''Wellesley'', a British expedition [[Capture of Chusan|captured Chusan]] in July 1840 after an exchange of gunfire with shore batteries that caused only minor casualties to the British.<ref>{{London Gazette|pages=2990–2991|issue=19930|date=15 December 1840}}</ref> When she returned from this service, some 27 cannonballs were found embedded in her sides.

[[File:Attack on Chusan 1841.jpg|thumb|left|250px|''Wellesley'' (second from left) in the [[Capture of Chusan (1841)|second capture of Chusan]] on 1 October 1841]]
On 7 January 1841 she participated in the [[Second Battle of Chuenpi]] and the bombardment of fortifications at Tycocktow; both Chuenpi and Tycocktow guarded the seaward approaches to [[Guangzhou|Canton]] on the [[Humen|Bocca Tigris]] (Bogue). This campaign resulted in the British taking possession of [[Hong Kong Island]] on 26 February 1841.

That same day ''Wellesley'' participated in the [[Battle of the Bogue]], which involved bombardments, landings, capture and destruction of nearly all the Chinese forts and fortifications on both sides of the Bocca Tigris up to Canton. Next day, seamen and [[Royal Marines]] of the naval squadron attacked and captured the fort, camp and guns at a Chinese position during the [[Battle of First Bar]]. The squadron also destroyed the Chinese Admiral's vessel ''Cambridge'', formerly a 34-gun [[East Indiaman]].

Between 23 and 30 May, she participated in joint operations that led to the [[Battle of Canton (May 1841)|capture of Canton]], and subsequent payment by the Chinese of a six million dollar reparations payment imposed on them. Rear-Admiral Sir [[Sir William Parker, 1st Baronet, of Shenstone|William Parker]] replaced Commodore Sir Gordon Bremer as commander-in-chief of the squadron in China on 10 August.

On 26 August ''Wellesley'' participated in the destruction of batteries and defences surrounding [[Amoy]]. At one point Captain Maitland placed the ''Wellesley'' within 400 yards of the principal battery. This action included the temporary occupation of that town and island, along with its key defensive positions on the island of [[Gulangyu]]<!--Koo-Lang-Soo-->, which were garrisoned. Lastly, on 1 October the British, who had withdrawn in February, [[Capture of Chusan (1841)|reoccupied Zhoushan]] and the city of [[Dinghai]]. The British proceeded to [[Battle of Amoy|capture Amoy]], [[Battle of Ningpo|Ningbo]], [[Battle of Woosung|Wusong]] and Shanghai, ending with the [[Battle of Chinkiang|seizure of Zhenjiang]] and closing the entrance to the [[Grand Canal (China)|Grand Canal]] on 21 July 1842.

For his services during the war, Captain Maitland was nominated a [[Order of the Bath|Companion of the Bath]]. He was knighted in 1843. Some 609 officers, men and marines of ''Wellesley'' qualified for the China Medal. In all, 18 crew and 17 marines died, though not all did so in combat.

==Harbour service and training==
[[File:HMS Wellesley, Royal Naval Burying Ground, Halifax, Nova Scotia.jpg|thumb|Monument in the [[Royal Navy Burying Ground (Halifax, Nova Scotia)]] to the 11 crew of HMS ''Wellesley'' who died at Halifax]]
In 1854 ''Wellesley'' was a [[guard ship]] at [[Chatham, Medway|Chatham]]. That same year she became a harbour flagship and [[receiving ship]] at Chatham.

In 1868 the Admiralty loaned her to the London School Ship Society, which refitted her as a [[Reformatory School]]. She was renamed ''Cornwall'' and was moored off [[Purfleet]] in April. Later, ''Cornwall'', renamed ''Wellesey'', was moved to the Tyne and served as The Tyne Industrial Training Ship of [[Wellesley Nautical School]]. The actress and theatrical manager [[Lena Ashwell]] was born aboard her in 1872.<ref>{{Cite ODNB|id=30476|title=Ashwell, Lena [''real name'' Lena Margaret Pocock; ''married name'' Lena Margaret Simson, Lady Simson]|first = Maggie B. |last = Gale| date = 23 September 2004 }}</ref> On 10 August 1887, she was run into by the steamship ''Aviemore'' and was severely damaged at the stern.<ref name=Times110887>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Latest Shipping Intelligence |date=11 August 1887 |issue=32148 |page=11 |column=C }}</ref> In 1928, due to industrial development at that location, she was moved to Denton, below [[Gravesend, Kent|Gravesend]].

==Loss==
[[File:Figurehead from HMS Wellesley - geograph.org.uk - 580271.jpg|thumb|200px|Figurehead of HMS ''Wellesley'']]
On 24 September 1940 a [[Nazi Germany|German]] air-raid severely damaged ''Wellesley'' and she subsequently sank.<ref name = Lyon115>{{harvnb|Lyon|1993|p=115}}</ref> She was raised in 1948 and beached at [[Tilbury]], where she was broken up. Some of her timbers found a home in the rebuilding of the [[Royal Courts of Justice]] in London, while her figurehead now resides just inside the main gates of [[Chatham Dockyard]].<ref name="Chase">{{cite web |url= http://www.thurrock-history.org.uk/wooden.htm |last=Chase |first=Sherwin |work=Wooden Walls of Purfleet |title=The Training and Powder ships moored at Purfleet |access-date=11 November 2007}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==Citations==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite Colledge2006}}
* {{cite book |last=Lavery |first=Brian |year=2003 |title=The Ship of the Line |volume=1: The development of the battlefleet 1650–1850 |publisher=Conway Maritime Press |isbn=0-85177-252-8 }}
* {{cite book |first=David |last=Lyon |year=1993 |title=The Sailing Navy List, All the Ships of the Royal Navy – Built, Purchased and Captured 1688–1860 |publisher=Conway Maritime Press |isbn=0-85177-617-5 }}
* {{cite book |first=Rif |last=Winfield |year=2008 |title=British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates |publisher=Seaforth |isbn=978-1-86176-246-7 }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline|HMS Wellesley (ship, 1815)}}

{{Black Prince class ship of the line}}
{{1824 shipwrecks}}
{{1887 shipwrecks}}
{{September 1940 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wellesley (1815)}}
[[Category:1815 ships]]
[[Category:Black Prince-class ships of the line]]
[[Category:First Opium War ships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:History of Thurrock]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in November 1824]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in August 1887]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in September 1940]]
[[Category:Ships of the line of the Royal Navy]]
[[Category:Ships sunk by German aircraft]]
[[Category:World War II shipwrecks in the North Sea]]
[[Category:Ships in art]]
[[Category:Maritime paintings]]
[[Category:Military history of Karachi]]