HMS Galatea (1810)

HMS "Galatea" was a 36-gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy.

"Galatea" was built at Deptford, London, England and launched on 31 August 1810. From 1825 to 1829 she was commanded by Captain Charles Sullivan, on the coasts of Portugal and South America. From 8 January 1829 to 28 January 1832 she was commanded by Captain Charles Napier who, in a letter written shortly after his appointment, described her as 'a ship that has the worst reputation in the Navy'. [Major-General Edward Elers Napier, "The Life and Correspondence of Admiral Sir Charles Napier K.C.B." (London: Hurst & Blackett, 1862), p. 132.] Napier fitted her with an experimental system of his own design of paddles, driven by winches on the main deck that were worked by a division of the crew, which were found useful for manouvering at speeds of up to 3 knots in windless conditions. [Ibid., p. 131.] Twice during this period she cruised to the Caribbean, calling at Jamaica, Havana, Cuba and Tampico, Mexico, and in mid-1831 she was engaged in guarding British interests in the Azores. She was hulked in 1836, moved as a coal hulk to Jamaica in 1840, and broken up in 1849.

References

*Colledge