Built as a third class protected cruiser by Pembroke Dock, England for the Royal Navy.
01 May 1888 keel laid down.
22 October 1889 launched under the name HMS BLONDE, one of the Barracouta class, three sisters the BLANCE, BARROSA and BARRACOUTA. She was the 7th vessel in the Royal Navy that carried the name BLONDE.
Displacement 1.580 ton loaded. Dim. 233.0 x 35.0 x 15.0 ft. (draught), length bpp. 220.0ft.
Powered by two 3-cyl. triple expansion steam engines, 1.750 ihp., twin screws, speed 15 knots. Engine was manufactured by Earle.
Armament 6 – 4.7inch QF, 4 – 3pdr. QF, 2 –MG and 2 – 14 inch torpedo tubes.
Crew 160.
July 1891 completed.
The class was designed by William White and the first ships in the Royal Navy with triple expansion steam engines, and fitted with quick firing guns.
The class was built with a wooden hull and copper sheated for service on remote stations.
She served mainly in the English Channel and Mediterranean but also in Africa.
August 1895 under command of Commander Henry M. Festing was the BLONDE a unit of a squadron under command of Rear Admiral H.H.Rawson with his flag in the HMS ST GEORGE.
The squadron took part in the punitive expedition against Chief M’ Buruk bin Rashid of Jubaland, Somalia.
1896 Under command of Commander Peyton Hoskyns, was she during the Ashanti Expedition on the Ghana coast. When Colonel his Royal Highness Prince Henry Maurice of Battenburg got ill with malaria, during this expedition he boarded the BLONDE for his return voyage to England, but off the coast of Sierra Leone on 20 July 1896 he died. The BLONDE disembarked the body at the Canary Islands.
Together with HMS BLAKE and still under command of Hoskyns she took part in 1898 in suppressing the Sierra Leone Rebellion, when the British declared in 1896 Sierra Leone a protectorate, they introduced a “hut tax”. The natives under their chief Bai Burch refused to pay and a large-scale guerilla revolt started that lasted for 10 months. The upraising ended when Bai Burch was arrested on 11 November 1898.
The BLONDE proceeded to the Sherboro River to keep in check the rebels that were located in the neighborhood of Bouthe and Imperri.
She saved the Sherboro district from being over whelmed by the Mendi natives. Boat expeditions destroyed Gambia on the Bum Kittam, and on 4 May the boats pushed upstreams the Jong River so far as Bogo, where dreadful massacres had been committed before.
11 July 1905 sold to Ward at Preston, and broken up at Bo’ness.
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Source: The Sail & Steam Navy List by Lyon and Winfield. http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/n ... ries_b.htm