HMS Megaera was originally constructed as an iron screw 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"...

 for 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...

, and was one of the last and largest ships built by William Fairbairn's

William Fairbairn

Sir William Fairbairn, 1st Baronet was a Scottish civil engineer, structural engineer and shipbuilder.-Early career:...

 Millwall shipyard.

Launched on 22 May 1849, HMS Megaera was one of the first iron ships ordered by the Royal Navy. She was named after the mythological figure Megaera

Megaera

Megaera is one of the Erinyes, Eumenides or "Furies" in Greek mythology. Lamprière's Classical Dictionary states "According to the most received opinions, they were three in number, Tisiphone, Megara [sic] and Alecto" and "Megaera .....

, one of the Erinyes

Erinyes

In Greek mythology the Erinyes from Greek ἐρίνειν " pursue, persecute"--sometimes referred to as "infernal goddesses" -- were female chthonic deities of vengeance. A formulaic oath in the Iliad invokes them as "those who beneath the earth punish whosoever has sworn a false oath"...

(or Furies, in Roman mythology).

The Admiralty was at the time sceptical about iron ships in general and this slow ship did nothing to change its mind. Megaera never saw service as a frigate, the Admiralty instead ordering her to be converted to a troopship

Troopship

A troopship is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime...

 and storeship. On her maiden voyage as a troopship on 7 June 1851, she broke down and had to be towed back to port. Megaera was refitted and sailed again, ordered to use her sails to conserve coal. She became an operational ship and made several voyages to the Crimea

Crimea

Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...

 but was not well liked.

Final voyage

In 1871, Megaera was assigned to transport Royal Navy recruits to Australia to replace crewmembers on and and departed from England on 22 February 1871. She suffered damage in a storm and put in at Queenstown

Cobh

Cobh is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland. Cobh is on the south side of Great Island in Cork Harbour. Facing the town are Spike Island and Haulbowline Island...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, for repairs. The ship's officers complained that the vessel was overloaded with baggage and riding too low in the water; there was an article in The Times

The Times

The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

, questions were asked in the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 and eventually an inspection resulted in 127 tons of cargo being removed.

On 28 May 1871, Megaera departed Simonstown, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

. Aboard her were 42 officers, 180 sailors, and 67 recruits en route to Australia. On 8 June, a leak was reported in the ship's hold, and for some days was managed using hand-pumps and bailing. Around 14 June it became more serious, and the water began to gain on the pumps. The steam pumps were then brought into play, and they managed to keep the inflow in check. On 15 June Captain Thrupp

Arthur Thomas Thrupp

Arthur Thomas Thrupp was an officer of the British Royal Navy during the Crimean War and Opium Wars, who held several sea commands, including , which he deliberately beached at the isolated Île Saint-Paul when she became unseaworthy.-Career:Born in 1828 at Paddington to Charles Joseph Thrupp and...

 decided to steer for the nearest land, the uninhabited St. Paul Island

Île Saint-Paul

Île Saint-Paul is an island forming part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands in the Indian Ocean, with an area of . It is located about southwest of the larger Île Amsterdam, and south of Réunion...

, where he could anchor and examine the hull.

St. Paul Island

On 17 June, the ship anchored at St. Paul in 84 ft (25.6 m) of water so that the leak could be examined, and a diver

Diving

Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...

 was sent to inspect the damage. However, the anchor cable broke and they were obliged to take the diver back on board before he could carry out any work. After she snapped a second anchor cable, Megaeras divers were finally able to make an inspection and the leak was found: one of her iron plates was worn away, and had a hole whose edges were so thin they could be bent by hand. In addition, many of the ship's beams were corroded through at the bottom, and others nearly so. The bilge pumps were continually becoming choked by pieces of rusted iron. As Thrupp stated in his later despatch concerning the wreck, the ship's girders were separating from the bottom, the bottom was leaky in one place and very thin in many others, and the pumps were continually becoming choked with thick pieces of iron. The chief engineer of the Megaera, George Mills, advised Thrupp on 17 June that it would be most unsafe to proceed with the voyage to Australia, the nearest point of which was 1800 mi (2,896.8 km) away, and his advice was backed up by two other ship's engineers on board, Edward Brown of HMS Blance

HMS Blanche

Ten ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Blanche:*HMS Blanche was a 36-gun fifth rate captured from the French in 1779. She foundered in 1780....

, and J.B. Richards of HMS Rosario

HMS Rosario (1860)

HMS Rosario was an 11-gun Rosario-class screw sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1860 at Deptford Dockyard. She served two commissions, including eight years on the Australia Station during which she fought to reduce illegal kidnappings of South Sea Islanders for the Queensland labour market. She...

.

Since the weather was very stormy, and the anchorage could not be depended on, Thrupp announced to the ship's company on the morning of Sunday, 18 June, after reading prayers, that they would land at once. The following day, due to the stormy weather, which had halted the landing of stores, and the difficulty in keeping the ship in position (she had had three anchors carried away and lost since first anchoring), it was decided to beach

Beach (nautical)

Beaching is when a vessel is laid ashore, or grounded deliberately in shallow water. This is more usual with small flat-bottomed boats. Larger ships may be beached deliberately, for instance in an emergency a damaged ship might be beached to prevent it from sinking in deep water...

 her. Thrupp had Megaera run on to a bar at full speed, in a depth of 10 ft (3 m) of water forward and 18 ft (5.5 m) aft, and at high water she filled up to the level of the main deck. Her provisions and stores were put ashore over the following week, and she was not finally abandoned for 11 days, when Captain Thrupp declared the dangerous wreckage to be off-limits. Two-thirds of the cargo had by then been unloaded.

Rescue

On 16 July, Captain Visier of the Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 vessel Aurora spotted the flagpole which Megaeras crew had erected and Lieutenant

Lieutenant

A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

 Lewis Jones sailed with her to Surabaya

Surabaya

Surabaya is Indonesia's second-largest city with a population of over 2.7 million , and the capital of the province of East Java...

, Java

Java

Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...

, which they reached on 2 August. He despatched telegrams to the British Consul

Consul

Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...

 in Batavia (now Jakarta

Jakarta

Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...

) and to the Royal Navy 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:...

 in Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

, who ordered to sail to the rescue.

On 7 August, a second Dutch ship took five men from St. Paul Island, and on the same day the captain of the British clipper

Clipper

A clipper was a very fast sailing ship of the 19th century that had three or more masts and a square rig. They were generally narrow for their length, could carry limited bulk freight, small by later 19th century standards, and had a large total sail area...

 Mountain Laurel asked to be paid to rescue the crew of Megaera, claiming that he would have to jettison his cargo

Cargo

Cargo is goods or produce transported, generally for commercial gain, by ship, aircraft, train, van or truck. In modern times, containers are used in most intermodal long-haul cargo transport.-Marine:...

 to accommodate so many people. Captain Thrupp declined this offer and on 26 August Lieutenant Jones arrived on the British merchant steamship Oberon with supplies. On 29 August, the Dutch vessel Malacca arrived and took off the remaining survivors of the shipwreck, which she conveyed to Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

. The Rinaldo was blown off the island, and so played no route in the rescue. En route to Australia the Malacca encountered a homeward bound mail steamer, which Captain Thrupp transferred to.

Aftermath

Captain Thrupp and his crew subsequently faced a court martial in November 1871 at Plymouth and a Royal Commission

Royal Commission

In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...

 was appointed to inquire into the loss of the ship. Thrupp was subsequently honourably acquitted when the court decided that the beaching of the ship was perfectly justifiable.