Ariadne HMS 1816

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Ariadne HMS 1816

Post by shipstamps » Tue Aug 26, 2008 4:41 pm

H.M.S. Ariadne (third ship of the name), was a 28-gun sloop, launched at Pembroke Dock on February 10, 1816. She was of 511 tons displacement and carried a crew of 135 men. Her length, beam and draft were 122 ft., 31 ft., and 10 ft. In 1826, Capt. Isham Fleming, of the Ariadne, was tried by court martial at Portsmouth for having purchased a female negro slave at Zanzibar and taken her to sea. The woman mysteriously disappeared off the African coast. Capt. Fleming was dismissed the Service, but was subsequently restored to his rank. The stamp design is similar to the model of the ship in the Science Museum, London, which has the sails furled. However neither stamp nor model depict the ship as a steam frigate which the stamp title claims, mistakenly, as her rating. The model is of special interest, as it is said that its construction and rigging were supervised by Capt. Marryat, the novelist, who commanded the Ariadne from 1828 to 1830. It should be remembered, however, that the correct identification of models is notoriously difficult. After some years service as a coal hulk at Alexandria the Ariadne was sold in 1841. The figurehead is Ariadne, daughter of Minos of Crete, who loved Theseus and gave him the thread by which he escaped from the labyrinth after killing the Minotaur. He married her, but deserted her in Naxos, whence Dionysus carried her off to Zemnos and set the crown he gave her among the stars.
Liberia SG1127
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