HMS Fisgard was a 46-gun fifth rate Leda-class

Leda class frigate

The Leda-class frigates, were a successful class of forty-seven British Royal Navy 38-gun sailing frigates. The design of Leda was based on the Sané-designed Hébé, a French Hébé class frigate that the British 44-gun fifth rate HMS Rainbow captured in 1782...

 frigate

Frigate

A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

 of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

. She spent sixty years in service on a variety of duties.

Construction and commissioning

Fisgard was a continuation of the successful Leda class that had been designed by Sir John Henslow

John Henslow

Sir John Henslow was Surveyor to the Navy a post he held jointly or solely from 1784 to 1806.-Career:He was 7th child of John Henslow a master carpenter in the dockyard at Woolwich...

 and served during the Napoleonic Wars

Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

. They had their armament increased from the earlier ships of that class, and mounted 46 guns instead of 38. Fisgard was ordered on 24 August 1815 from Pembroke Dockyard and was laid down in February 1817. She was launched on 8 July 1819 and commissioned on 27 August 1819, having cost a total of £23,493.

Career

Having been accepted into service, she was laid up in ordinary for 24 years, only being activated in 1843. She came under the command of Captain John Alexander Duntze on 13 May 1843 and spent some time in the Pacific, before returning to Woolwich

Woolwich

Woolwich is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.Woolwich formed part of Kent until 1889 when the County of London was created...

. Here she was designated as the harbour flagship

Flagship

A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...

 and was fitted for a commodore

Commodore (Royal Navy)

Commodore is a rank of the Royal Navy above Captain and below Rear Admiral. It has a NATO ranking code of OF-6. The rank is equivalent to Brigadier in the British Army and Royal Marines and to Air Commodore in the Royal Air Force.-Insignia:...

. Commodore James John Gordon Bremer hoisted his flag aboard her on 24 October 1847, the first of a number of such officers. On 20 December 1858 Fisgard became the flagship of Commodore James Robert Drummond

James Robert Drummond

Admiral Sir James Robert Drummond GCB was a British naval officer who commanded several ships in the Black Sea Fleet during the Crimean War and who commanded the Mediterranean Fleet from 1874 to 1877 before going on to be Fourth Naval Lord.-Naval career:Born the second of the eight children of...

, the commander-in-chief at Woolwich. Her last commodore was William Edmonstone, who took command on 6 April 1868. Between 1848 and 1872 she was also used to train engineers for the navy, and was the nominated depot ship

Depot ship

A depot ship is a ship which acts as a mobile or fixed base for other ships and submarines or supports a naval base. Depot ships may be specifically designed for their purpose or be converted from another purpose...

 for personnel stationed ashore.

Decommissioning

Fisgard was eventually paid off for breaking up, a process completed at Chatham

Chatham Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...

 by 8 October 1879. She would give her name to the later shore establishment named HMS Fisgard

HMS Fisgard (shore establishment)

HMS Fisgard was a shore establishment of the Royal Navy active at different periods and locations between 1848 and 1983. She was used to train artificers and engineers for the Navy.-The first Fisgard:...

, which would go on to train engineers and artificers during the late nineteenth century and into the twentieth.