Galatea HMS 1859

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Galatea HMS 1859

Post by shipstamps » Sun Jun 29, 2008 5:31 pm

H.M.S. Galatea featured on the 4'/2d. stamp was a frigate built at Woolwich and launched in 1859. Under the command of Capt. Rochfort Maguire, she was employed in the Baltic and on the Mediterranean and West Indies stations; on the latter station she assisted in suppressing the insurrection in Jamaica and destroyed the batteries on Cape Haitien.
On January 24, 1867, H.M.S. Galatea was commissioned by Capt. H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh, K.G. She sailed from Woolwich on February 18, 1867 for Plymouth Sound, where she completed storing for a world cruise, commencing the voyage on February 26 and completing it at Spithead at noon on June 14, 1868.
A call was made at Tristan da Cunha on August 5, the warship arriving there just after daylight and sailing again at 4 p.m. The settlers stated that they did not have a name for the little village and requested permission to call it Edinburgh after the title of His Royal Highness. This permission was readily granted and the settlement has henceforth been called Edinburgh.
H.M.S. Galatea had the following dimensions: length overall, 317 ft., beam, 50 ft., deepest draft, 22 ft. 7 ins. and tonnage 3,227. Her horse power was 800 and speed on trials 13 knots, her bunker capacity being 700 tons of coal.
Tristan da Cunha SG76, 108 and 514.
(Info E Argyle SB 4/65)
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aukepalmhof
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Re: Galatea HMS 1859

Post by aukepalmhof » Wed Aug 30, 2017 8:29 pm

Built as wooden 6th class screw corvette by the Woolwich Drydock for the Royal Navy.
09 April 1856 ordered.
02 February 1857 keel laid down.
14 September 1859 launched under the name HMS GALATEA one of the Ariadne class. The class was before completed re-classed in frigate.
Tonnage 3.227 (bm), displacement 4.686 ton. Dim. 85.43 x 15.24 x 6.5m. (draught)
Powered by a 2-cyl horizontal single expansion steam engine, manufactured by Maudslay, Sons & Field. 3.061 ihp, single hoisted screw, speed 11.7 knots.
Armament 24 – 10 inch guns on main deck, 2 – 68 pdr. guns on upper deck.
Crew 450.
14 September 1859 completed, commissioned February 1862. Building cost £139.991.

In 1865 a revolt was underway in Haiti against President Geffard, one of the ports in the hand of the rebels was Cape Haiten. When HMS BULDOG confronted the rebel steamer PROVIDENCE in Cape Haiten, the rebels in that port seized refugees of the British Consulate.
On 09 November 1865 under command of Captain Macguire HMS GALATEA bombarded Cape Haiten, Haiti together with a British squadron, in conjunction with a attack by President Geffard forces on the town, the defensive works of the town were destroyed and the town was falling in de hand of the government forces. The rebels escaped to Monto Christ, Dominican Republic.

January 1867 Alfred Ernest Albert, Duke of Edinburgh the second son of Queen Victoria was appointed as captain of HMS GALATEA.
24 January 1867 the GALATEA sailed from Plymouth under his command for the Mediterranean, sailed on 07 June from Gibraltar for a official state visit to the Emperor of Brazil, from there he sailed for South Africa, during this voyage he visited Tristan da Cunha on 05 August 1867, at 09.00 the Duke and some officers and the chaplain Rev. John Miller landed. At that time around eighty-six people lived on the island.
The same day the GALATEA left the island and sailed for South Africa, to honour his visit on the island the only village on the island was named Edinburgh.
After two months at the Cape she sailed for Australia and arrived at Adelaide on 31 October 1867.
It was the first Royal visit to Australia, he visited Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Tasmania during his stay of around five months.
During a picnic in Sydney on 12 March 1868 he was shot in his back by an Irishman Henry James O’Farrell, the Prince recovered quickly from his wound, but O’Farrell was hanged.

06 April 1868 the GALATEA under the command of the Duke sailed from Sydney bound for the U.K., arrived Spithead 26 June 1868 after a voyage of seventeen months.

The GALATEA made an other voyage to Australia under his command, arrived Fremantle 28 January 1869 and sailed from Sydney on 03 April, he visited New Zealand, he arrived 11 April 1869 made calls at Dunedin, Christchurch and Auckland and other parts of the North Island. From there he visited India were he arrived in December 1869 and Hong Kong later that voyage.

The GALATEA made an other call at New Zealand, when she arrived at Wellington on 27 August 1870, sailed from this port on 3 September 1870.

In 1870 he arrived again in Australia, the GALATEA was docked at Sydney after he on 15 September arrived, and visited Melbourne. Under the Duke’s command she sailed late 1870 bound for the U.K. via New Zealand arriving there on 08 December 1870 and left 16 January 1871. During this visit the Flying Squadron escorted him.
After she arrived in the U.K. most probably the Duke was relieved from the GALATEA.

1879 Was she based at Devonport.

June 1883 was she sold to Castle at Charlton for breaking up.

Source: The Sail & Steam Navy List by David Lyon & Rif Winfield. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A040127b.htm http://www.centralairconditioners.net/a ... burg-Gotha
http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/d2/de_soto-i.htm
http://www.geocities.com/cox_nz/November_2000.htm?20062 (page 15)

Tristan da Cunha 1965 4½d sg76, scott?. 1991 30p sg 514, scott 496. 2001 30p sg?, scott?

What is given by a new stamp on the HMS GALATEA:

At 7 o'clock on a misty August morning 150 years ago a boat containing eight men set forth from Tristan da Cunha. Its aim was to make contact with a newly arrived Royal Navy steam-frigate, and the flimsy craft was laden with fresh produce, a gesture always appealing to passing ships. At the helm of the little boat was Dutch-born Peter Green, the oldest man on Tristan and the island's spokesman in any bartering negotiations. Waiting to meet him on the frigate, HMS Galatea, was its recently-appointed commander - Queen Victoria's second son, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh. The date was 5 August 1867 and the events which followed turned the next few hours into one of the most illustrious days in Tristan's history.
The prince was only 22 and captain of a ship of 3200 tons, with twenty-six guns and a complement of 515 officers and men. It had just called at Rio de Janeiro, and eleven days after leaving Brazil those aboard sighted the summit of the great peak of Tristan, watching in awe as the setting sun 'changed the snow [on it] to a bright pink colour'. Regrettably the prince doesn't sound a particularly engaging individual. Shy by nature and traumatised by the early death of his father, Prince Albert, he was reportedly ill at ease with strangers, though there is no evidence that this was apparent on the day of his visit. Indeed, Alfred's first thought was to enquire what the islanders most needed. Upon hearing the reply he gave instructions for a substantial stock of supplies to be pulled together: fabric for clothing, groceries, tobacco and rum - a consignment worth about £110 (possibly £25,000 in today's terms). With that business concluded, the prince together with a party of officers set off in two naval cutters to cross the turbulent mile or so of ocean to a suitable landing place. Green acted as their pilot. With rollers breaking heavily most of the men struggled ashore on foot, though Green actually carried the prince onto the beach, an experience he never forgot.
Once on firm ground the party began its tour of the little nameless settlement, a cluster of some eleven stone cottages, meeting all fifty-three inhabitants in succession. Amongst the prince's party was the artist Oswald Brierly who climbed up the slope above the plain to sketch the scene from Peter Green's house, alongside which there fluttered an exceedingly ragged old flag. Another member of the group was the ship's chaplain Rev. John Milner, who christened sixteen children and offered without success to conduct marriage ceremonies for any of the adults who wished for one. Soon it was time for lunch and a spread of mutton, potatoes, eggs and bread was laid on for all.vBy then 2 o'clock was approaching and the weather looked increasingly threatening. In haste the prince and his entourage made it back to the frigate accompanied by Green and his companions. During their final conversation, and probably at Milner's prompting, Green asked the duke's permission to call 'their little village' Edinburgh. This was agreed, and so it has been known ever since.
How did Tristan benefit from this auspicious visit a century and a half ago? In many respects the gain was incalculable. To any of Britain's colonies having a royal in its midst was patent evidence that the throne held it in high regard; it made real that 'vital bond' mentioned by The Times in an editorial in 1867, a linking of support on the one hand and loyalty on the other. The prince's presence on Tristan da Cunha demonstrated for all the world the British government's commitment to take responsibility for protecting its inhabitants' interests, while the media coverage of the visit significantly raised the island's profile in the eyes of an influential readership right across the settled Empire.
Following Prince Alfred's call ninety years were to pass before the people of Tristan had a chance to welcome a second royal visitor, Prince Philip in 1957. It is surely the hope of many that it won't be much longer before a modern-day Galatea brings a third royal personage to charm the islanders with warmth, encouragement and goodwill.
Text by Neil Robson, a member of the Tristan Association and a keen local historian based in south-west London where he is the editor of the Wandsworth Historian. Articles by him have appeared in a number of journals.

http://www.tristandc.com/po/stamps201706.php
Tristan da Cunha 2017 80p sg?, scott?
Attachments
2017 Galatea FDC.jpg
2017 GALATEA.jpg
Image (15).jpg

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