.gif)
HMS Serapis (1866)
Encyclopedia
HMS Serapis was a Euphrates-class troopship
Euphrates class troopship
The Euphrates class was a five-ship class of iron screw troopships built for the Royal Navy during the 1860s. They were used for carrying troops to India, with two of them being later hulked and surviving into the early 20th Century.-Design:...
commissioned for the transport of troops to and from India. She was launched in the Thames on 26 September 1866 from the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company
Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company
The Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company, Limited was a shipyard and iron works straddling the mouth of Bow Creek at its confluence with the River Thames, at Leamouth Wharf on the west side and at Canning Town on the east side...
at Leamouth
Leamouth
Leamouth is the area to the west of the mouth of the River Lea at the River Thames at . The northern part of the area lies within a meander of the Lea; the southern part is bounded in the west by the former East India Docks, on two sides by the Lea and by the River Thames to the south...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and was the third 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...
ship to bear the name. She was sold in 1894.
Design
Serapis was one of five iron-hulled vessels of the Euphrates classEuphrates class troopship
The Euphrates class was a five-ship class of iron screw troopships built for the Royal Navy during the 1860s. They were used for carrying troops to India, with two of them being later hulked and surviving into the early 20th Century.-Design:...
. All five were built to a design of 360 ft overall length by about 49 ft breadth, although Malabar was very slightly smaller than the rest of the class. They had a single screw, a speed of 14 knots, one funnel, a barque-rig
Barque
A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...
sail plan, three 4-pounder guns and a white-painted hull. Her bow was a "ram bow" which projected forward below the waterline.
Career
She spent all of her career on the United Kingdom to India route carrying troops, a trip that averaged 70 days. She was the only one of her class to have been completed with a compound-expansion steam engine at build, and was the first of her class to be re-engined. While her sisters replaced their single-expansion engines with compound-expansion engines, she had the opposite adaption; her 4-cylinder horizontal compound-expansion steam engine was replaced in 1869 with a 2-cylinder single-expansion steam engine. The indicated power remained almost the same, and her top speed was largely unaffected, remaining at about 14 knots (27.4 km/h).In September 1875 she transported the Prince of Wales
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
to India to celebrate Queen Victoria's appointment as Empress of India. In 1884 the commanding officer, Captain Arthur Dupuis, was suspended after the ship grounded off Portland. In April 1886 she became part of the Indian training squadron.
Commanding officers
| From | Until | Captain |
|---|---|---|
| 12 November 1866 | Captain John Clark Soady | |
| 8 April 1870 | 1 June 1873 | Captain Henry Duncan Grant |
| 22 July 1875 | Captain Henry Carr Glyn | |
| 7 October 1876 | Captain Duncan George Davidson | |
| 16 February 1883 | 8 January 1884 | Captain Arthur Edward Dupuis |