Built as a 5th rate frigate by the Bombay Dock yard, at Bombay for the Royal Navy.
05 Sept. 1819 launched under the name HMS SERINGAPATAM. She was named for the Indian city, capital of Mysore, taken by storm in 1799 by a combined Indian and British force led by Colonel Sir Arthur Wellesley, later Duke of Wellington. Mysore was ruled by Tipoo Sultan, a thorn in the side of the East India Company and allied to the French.
Tonnage 1.152 tons (bm). Dim. 157.6 x 40.6 ft.
Hull; teak.
Armament, 28 – 18 pdrs., 12 – 9 pdrs., 6 – 3 pdrs. carronades.
Commissioned under Capt William Walpole, her maiden voyage was homeward bound, loaded with the frame of another ship of the same class, and arrived in England on 16 October 1820.
Dec. 1820 under command of Capt. Samuel Warren, he was appointed to her when he was one month off his fifty-first birthday. At that time she was stationed in the Mediterranean.
During the summer of 1823 she conveyed Sir Benjamin Bloomfield, Ambassador to the Swedish court, to Stockholm.
05 Feb. 1824 decommissioned at Portsmouth. Her officers presented Capt. Warren with a gold snuffbox, valued 30 guineas, as a token of their admiration and respect.
1824 Command was taken over by Capt. Charles Sotheby, May 1824 again in the Mediterranean.
In May 1825 Capt. Sotheby, accompanied by HMS ALACRITY, demanded satisfaction from the Bey of Rhodes, after some Egyptian troops had attacked the house of the British consul and stolen 11.000 piatres. The Bey, whilst admitting the act, refused to make restitution so Capt. Sotheby embarked the consul and his family. When no answer to an ultimatum was received a shot was fired into the Bey’s house and this produced an immediate response. The consul returned home and ALACRITY was left to ensure his continuing safety.
In Sept. 1826 the boats of SERINGAPATAM, under command of Lieutenant William Burnett, and a party of Royal Marines under command of Lieutenant Parker, captured and destroyed three pirate vessels at Andros without loss to themselves.
1828 Stationed at Cork. 1829 under command of Capt. Hon. William Waldegrave in South America and Pacific.
15 March 1830 she visited Pitcairn Island, and Waldegrave wrote in his journal: I had the gratification to hear William Quintal say part of the catechism, and answer several questions as to his knowledge of the redemption in Christ.” I heard two little girls repeat a hymn, which showed to me how well they had been instructed. He noted in his private journal, that in the evening he walked to the graves of Christian and Adams, but that is not correct, till today the grave of Christian is not know.
He stated that the islanders appeared quite happy and that there was no complaint of fear of famine.
The SERINGAPATAM carried the first written letter from the island, when she left. The letter was dated 17 March 1830.
1833 Stationed Sheerness.
July 1847 receiving ship.
May 1848 under command of Master James Russel.
1852 Coal hulk at Cape Town and in June 1873 broken up at the Cape.
Tristan da Cunha 1975 4c sgMS161, scott?
Log Book. Vol 15/191. But mostly copied from
http://www.cronab.demon.co.uk/S1.htm
The Pitcairners by Robert Nicolson.
