HMS Swiftsure

HMS Swiftsure (1870)

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Name	Swiftsure (1870)	Explanation
Type	Central battery ironclad
Launched	15 June 1870
Hull	Iron
Propulsion	Screw
Builders measure	3893 tons
Displacement	6910 tons
Guns	14
Fate	1908
Class	Swiftsure
Ships book	ADM 135/463
Note	1901 hulk. 1904 = Orontes
Snippets concerning this vessels career
Date	Event
26 September 1872 - 24 June 1874	Commanded by Captain the Hon. William John Ward, home waters
9 July 1874 - 15 December 1877	Commanded by Captain John Kennedy Erskine Baird, Mediterranean (then 16-30 December 1877 on passage)
6 December 1877 - 4 October 1878	Commanded (until paying off at Plymouth) by Captain Nowell Salmon, Mediterranean
27 March 1882 - 11 September 1884	Commanded by Captain Henry Compton Aitchison, flagship of Rear-Admiral Algernon McLennan Lyons on the Pacific station
1904	Renamed Orontes
*Extracts from the Times* newspaper**
Date	Extract
Fr 9 April 1875	The following vessels are under orders to return home from their respective stations, to be paid out of commission:- The Avon, 4, double screw composita gun-vessel, Commander A.T. Powlett, from China. This vessel was re-commissioned on that station on the 18th of July, 1871, when a fresh crew was sent out from England. The Blanche, 6, steamship, Capt. C.H. Simpson, from Australia. This vessel has also served two commissions, having been re-commissioned on the Australian station on the 12th of October, 1871, by a fresh crew sent out for that purpose from England. The Boxer, 4, double screw composite gun vessel, Lieut-Commanding William Collins, from the Pacific. This vessel has, like the two previous ones, served two commissions, having been re-commissioned on the 6th of October, 1872. The Cameleon, 7, steamship, Commander A.J. Kennedy, from the Pacific. The Dido, 8, steamship, Capt. W.C. Chapman, from Australia, The Elk, 4, double-screw composite gun-vessel, Commander Robert H. Harris, from China. The Iron Duke, 14, double-screw iron armour-plated ship, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Sir C.F.A. Shadwell, K.C.B., Capt. William Arthur, from China. The Reindeer, 7, steam sloop, Commander C.V. Anson, from the Pacific. The Rosario, 3, steam sloop, Commander A.E. Dupuis, from Australia. The Scout, 17, corvette, Capt. R.P. Cator, from the Pacific. The Shearwater, 4, surveying vessel, Commander W.J.L. Wharton, from the East Coast of Africa. The Spartan, 8, steam sloop, Capt. Richard Carter, from North America and West Indies. The Swiftsure, 14, iron armour-plated ship, Capt. J.K.E. Baird, temporary flagship of Vice-Admiral the Hon. Sir. J.R. Drummond, K.C.B., from the Mediterranean. The Volage, 18, iron steam corvette, cased with wood, Capt. Henry Fairfax, employed on special service.
Sa 9 October 1875	Malta, Oct. 8. Vice-Admiral Drummond and his family arrived here to-day from Naples in the flagship Hercules, accompanied by the Swiftsure, Rapid, and Helicon. The Serapis arrived here yesterday from Plymouth, having experienced bad weather. She will leave for Brindisi on the 12th inst.
Fr 15 October 1875	MALTA, Oct. 13. Her Majesty’s ships Invincible and Pallas left here on Monday for Brindisi. Vice-Admiral Drummond, the Commander of the Mediterranean squadron, sailed yesterday in the Hercules for the Piraeus, accompanied by the Swiftsure, in order to form an escort of honour to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. The Serapis proceeded to Brindisi to-day, the Royal yacht Osborne following. BRINDISI, Oct. 14. The Italian ironclad ships Maria Pia and Castelfidardo, who will escort the Serapis on the embarkation of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, arrived here this morning. Two British war vessels are in sight.
Fr 5 November 1875	Our Malta Correspondent writes under date October 26:— "Her Majesty’s training ship Cruiser, 4, Commander John Hext, was at Naples on the 22d inst. Mr. George H. Beaton, chief engineer of Her Majesty's dockyard at Malta, returned from Brindisi to-day by the Italian packet. Mr. Beaton was ordered by telegram from the Admiralty to proceed to Brindisi in the Serapis from Malta, the boilers and engines of which ship were fitted here with several improvements by Mr. Beaton, to prevent the violent priming which hindered her attaining proper speed. These fittings proved most successful, and the Serapis, on her passage from this to Brindisi, worked up to a speed of 13·4 knots, and averaged 12·2 knots all the way, without the slightest sign of priming. Her Majesty's Indian troopship Malabar, Capt. Edward Kelly, arrived at Malta from Portsmouth and Queenstown with troops on the 22d inst, and proceeded on her voyage to Bombay, viâ the Suez Canal, on the next day. Her Majesty's iron ship Hercules, l6, Capt. William Codrington (bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral the Hon. Sir James R. Drummond, K.C.B.), and the iron ship Swiftsure, 14, Capt. John K.E. Baird, are expected here from the Piraeus on the 2d proximo, after calling at Zante and Corfu. At the latter port they will find the armour-plated turret-ship Devastation, Capt. Frederick W. Richards, which ship will return with the Commander-in-Chief to Malta.

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