Cherokee-class brig-sloop


The Cherokee class was a class of brig-sloops of the Royal Navy, mounting ten guns. Brig-sloops were sloops-of-war with two masts rather than the three masts of ship sloops. Orders for 115 vessels were placed, including five which were cancelled and six for which the orders were replaced by ones for equivalent steam-powered paddle vessels.
Many of these sailing vessels served as mail packet ships, and more than eight assisted with exploration and surveys. The best known of the class was, then considerably modified for Beagles second survey voyage under Robert FitzRoy, with the gentleman naturalist Charles Darwin on board as a self-funded.

Design

The carronade, nicknamed the "smasher" or "devil gun", was significantly smaller and lighter than conventional cannon. It was also found to have a more destructive broadside at close range, so that a smaller ship could be more effective in naval actions than a much larger man-of-war. Sir designed a small ship to operate in both shallow and deep waters, carrying eight 16-pounder or 18-pounder carronades plus two long 6-pounder cannon as forward-mounted chase guns.
Henry Peake completed the design for the Cherokee class in 1807. The design was approved on 26 November 1807, with the first four vessels having been ordered in March 1807 but not laid down until December; by the end of 1808 another thirty vessels had been ordered to this design. After these 34, another two were ordered in 1812 which were built of teak at Bombay. The design was revived after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and another 78 were ordered in two batches between 1817 and 1827. The first batch of these later vessels consisted of 35 orders whilst the second amounted to 44 new vessels of which four were cancelled and six replaced by orders for paddle vessels.
The class was much criticised, being popularly known as 'coffin brigs', following the loss by wrecking or foundering of a number of them. There seems to have been no particular fault in their design, but they were considered to be somewhat too small for the global duties they took on. Almost a quarter of them were lost, and they were also nicknamed "Half Tide Rock" as they had low freeboard so the deck was frequently awash with water, and solid preventing the water from being shed quickly. William James, in his Naval History written before May 1827, dismissed the supposed design faults, and said that it would be "surprising indeed that the navy board would continue adding new individuals by dozens at a time" to "this worthless class". These open flush-decked ships lacked a forecastle to deflect heavy seas crashing over the bow: one was added to Beagle in 1825 before its first voyage, together with a mizzen mast which improved the handling. Despite these modifications to the design, Captain Pringle Stokes protested that "our decks were constantly flooded".
Further extensive modifications were made for the second voyage of HMS Beagle. Darwin noted in his journal in April 1833 that "It blew half a gale of wind; but it was fair & we scudded before it. — Our decks fully deserved their nickname of a "half tide rock"; so constantly did the water flow over them", but John Lort Stokes who was on all three survey expeditions praised Beagle: "The reader will be surprised to learn that she belongs to that much-abused class, the '10-gun brigs'—coffins, as they are not infrequently designated in the service; notwithstanding which, she has proved herself, under every possible variety of trial, in all kinds of weather, an excellent sea boat."

Service

Few of the Cherokee class ships took part in sea battles of any importance. Large numbers of them went on to serve as passenger and mail carrying packet ships, running from the UK to the USA and Canada.
Several assisted with exploration and survey expeditions, including, which served with William Fitzwilliam Owen's survey of the African and Arabian coasts between 1821 and 1826 before being converted to a barque-rigged packet in 1829 and then being sold in 1836.
The first voyage of Beagle set out in 1826 under Captain Pringle Stokes as part of Phillip Parker King's survey of South American coasts, which returned late in 1830 with Beagle by then commanded by Robert FitzRoy. Captain Henry Foster commanded HMS Chanticleer on his survey around the South Atlantic, known as his "pendulum expedition", from 1827 to 1831. Chanticleer was then intended to be used for FitzRoy's next survey expedition, but was found to be in poor condition. Instead, the Beagle was repaired and modified for its famed second survey voyage from 1831 to 1836, which took along the naturalist Charles Darwin as a self-funded. The Beagle subsequently carried out a survey of coasts of Australia from 1837 to 1843 under John Clements Wickham and John Lort Stokes.
From 1838 to around 1841, commanded by Owen Stanley, carried out survey work and other duties around Australia and New Zealand. Other survey ships of this class included HMS Fairy from about 1832 to 1840, Scorpion from 1848 to 1858 and Saracen from 1854 to 1860.

1808–1816 vessels

The first four vessels listed below were ordered on 30 March 1807, two more on 26 November 1807 and the next twenty vessels on 31 December 1807. Eight more orders were placed during 1808.
NameBuilt by
contract by		OrderedLaid downLaunched
RollaThomas Pitcher, Northfleet30 March 1807December 180713 February 1808
CherokeePerry, Wells & Green, Blackwall30 March 1807December 180724 February 1808
LeveretPerry, Wells & Green, Blackwall30 March 1807December 180724 February 1808
CadmusJohn Dudman & Co., Deptford30 March 1807December 180726 February 1808
AchatesSamuel & Daniel Brent, Rotherhithe26 November 1807December 18071 February 1808
ParthianWilliam Barnard, Deptford26 November 1807December 180713 February 1808
Briseis31 December 180719 May 1808
Jasper31 December 180727 May 1808
Ephira31 December 180728 May 1808
Onyx31 December 18078 July 1808
Badger31 December 180723 July 1808
Opossum31 December 18079 July 1808
Wild Boar31 December 18079 July 1808
Rinaldo31 December 180713 July 1808
Chanticleer31 December 180726 July 1808
Goldfinch31 December 18078 August 1808
Woodlark31 December 180717 November 1808
Shearwater31 December 180721 November 1808
Calliope31 December 18078 July 1808
Hope31 December 180722 July 1808
Britomart31 December 180728 July 1808
Prince Arthur31 December 180728 July 1808
Cordelia31 December 180726 July 1808
Redpole31 December 180729 July 1808
Helicon31 December 18078 August 1808
Lyra31 December 180722 August 1808
BeaverApril 180816 February 1809
Drake27 June 18083 November 1808
Rosario27 June 18087 December 1808
Renard9 July 18085 December 1808
Tyrian18 July 180816 December 1808
Bermuda18 July 180820 December 1808
Rhodian18 July 18083 January 1809
Sarpedon30 September 18081 February 1809

Two vessels were ordered 2 October 1812. These were built in India at the Bombay Dockyard under a contract from the British East India Company. They were built of teak, but were otherwise identical to their predecessors.
NameBuilt byOrderedLaunchedDisposition
Bombay dockyard2 October 181225 January 1815Sold 1835
Bombay Dockyard,2 October 181215 January 1816Broken up 1849

1818–1821 orders

Unlike the wartime batch, all the post-war batches were built in the Royal Dockyards rather than by contractors. Note that several names of vessels from the 1808–1816 batch were re-used for vessels in the second or third batches.
Thirty-five vessels were ordered in 1817–1821 – twelve on 13 June 1817, twelve on 2 November 1818, two on 8 December 1818, six on 23 May 1820, one on 6 January 1821 and two on 19 April 1821.
NameBuilt by
HM Dockyard		OrderedLaid downLaunched
AlacrityDeptford13 June 1817October 181729 December 1818
ArielDeptford13 June 1817February 181928 July 1820
BarracoutaWoolwich13 June 1817June 181813 May 1820
Beagle
Woolwich13 June 1817June 181811 May 1820
BustardChatham13 June 1817November 181712 December 1818
BriskChatham13 June 1817November 181710 February 1819
DelightPortsmouth13 June 1817November 181710 May 1819
CygnetPortsmouth13 June 1817November 181711 May 1819
EclipsePlymouth13 June 1817March 181823 July 1819
Emulous Plymouth13 June 1817June 181816 December 1819
FalconPembroke13 June 1817May 181810 June 1820
FrolicPembroke13 June 1817August 181810 June 1820
Lyra Plymouth2 November 1818March 18191 June 1821
Jasper Portsmouth2 November 1818May 181926 July 1820
Britomart Portsmouth2 November 1818June 181924 August 1820
PartridgePlymouth2 November 1818December 181922 March 1822
Reynard Pembroke2 November 1818May 182026 October 1821
WeazleChatham2 November 1818May 182026 March 1822
KingfisherWoolwich2 November 1818December 182011 March 1823
ProcrisChatham2 November 1818March 182121 June 1822
AlgerineDeptford2 November 1818April 182110 June 1823
MagnetWoolwich2 November 1818June 182113 March 1823
HalcyonWoolwich2 November 1818unknownCancelled
21 February 1831
ZephyrPembroke2 November 1818November 18211 November 1823
Opossum Sheerness2 November 1818November 181911 December 1821
Onyx Sheerness2 November 1818November 181924 January 1822
PloverPortsmouth23 May 1820August 182030 June 1821
FerretPortsmouth23 May 1820August 182012 October 1821
Hope Plymouth23 May 1820March 18228 December 1824
MutinePlymouth23 May 1820April 182219 May 1825
ForesterDeptford23 May 1820unknownRe-ordered at Chatham
23 May 1826
GriffonDeptford23 May 1820unknownRe-ordered at Chatham
23 May 1826
Tyrian Woolwich6 January 1821April 182316 September 1826
PhilomelPortsmouth19 April 1821June 182128 April 1823
RoyalistPortsmouth19 April 1821August 182112 May 1823

1823–1826 orders

Forty-four vessels were ordered in 1823–1826, thirty on 25 March 1823, two on 23 November 1824, two on 7 December 1824, four on 23 May 1826 and six on 28 October 1826. Of these only thirty-four were built as sailing brigs; four were cancelled outright, and the orders for six more were replaced by orders for paddle vessels, using the same names.
NameBuilt by
HM Dockyard		OrderedLaid downLaunched
Leveret Portsmouth25 March 1823May 182319 February 1825
MusquitoPortsmouth25 March 1823May 182319 February 1825
HeartyChatham25 March 1823July 182322 October 1824
MyrtlePortsmouth25 March 1823July 182314 September 1825
LapwingChatham25 March 1823September 182320 February 1825
SheldrakePembroke25 March 1823November 182319 May 1825
HarpyChatham25 March 1823March 182416 July 1825
FairyChatham25 March 1823July 182425 April 1826
SkylarkPembroke25 March 1823May 18256 May 1826
EspoirChatham25 March 1823January 18259 May 1826
Calypso
Chatham25 March 1823March 182519 August 1826
SpeyPembroke25 March 1823July 18256 October 1827
VariablePembroke25 March 1823May 18266 October 1827
Briseis Deptford25 March 1823August 18273 July 1829
RapidPortsmouth25 March 1823January 182417 August 1829
RecruitPortsmouth25 March 1823February 182517 August 1829
ReindeerPlymouth25 March 1823December 182429 September 1829
ThaisPembroke25 March 1823July 182812 October 1829
Rolla Plymouth25 March 1823June 182510 December 1829
SavagePlymouth25 March 1823October 182929 December 1830
SaracenPlymouth25 March 1823December 182930 January 1831
ScorpionPlymouth25 March 1823June 183028 July 1832
SealarkPlymouth25 March 1823November 1830Cancelled
10 January 1831
Hyaena
Deptford25 March 1823unknownCancelled
21 February 1831
TermagentPortsmouth23 November 1824October 182926 March 1838
LynxPortsmouth23 November 1824February 18302 September 1833
NautilusWoolwich7 December 1824April 182911 March 1830
CurlewWoolwich7 December 1824November 182925 February 1830
Delight Chatham23 May 1826August 182727 November 1829
Algerine Chatham23 May 1826October 18271 August 1829
Griffon Chatham23 May 1826July 183011 September 1832
Forester Chatham23 May 1826September 183028 August 1832
Partridge Pembroke28 October 1826August 182812 October 1829
WizardPembroke28 October 1826October 182924 May 1830
CharybdisPortsmouth28 October 1826December 182927 February 1831
BuzzardPortsmouth28 October 1826December 182923 March 1834
FoxhoundPlymouth28 October 1826unknownCancelled
21 February 1831
HelenaPlymouth28 October 1826unknownCancelled
21 February 1831

Six of the vessels originally ordered 25 March 1823 were swiftly re-ordered as paddle steamers in May 1824 – Alban and Carron, Columbia, Confiance, Dee and Echo.