HMS Daphne (1866)

HMS Daphne was an Amazon-class sloop, of the Royal Navy, built at the Pembroke Dockyard and launched on 23 October 1866. She was 187ft long, displaced 1,640 tones, had a crew of 146 and was armed with 4 rifled guns.

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Daphne.

HMS Daphne 's sister-ship, HMS Dryad
History
UK
Name: HMS Daphne
Launched: 23 October 1866
Fate: Sold for breaking up, 1882
General characteristics
Class and type: Amazon, Sloop
Tons burthen: 1081 bm
Length: 187 ft
Propulsion: Screw
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Armament: Gundeck: 4 guns
Notes: 150 men

The vessel's entire career was spent in the Indian Ocean, on anti-slavery operations off the east coast of Africa, and also in the South China Sea. Arab vessels were carrying negro slaves on the main slaving route of Zanzibar to Aden. The Royal Navy was tasked to provide a strong 'policing’ presence in the western Indian Ocean, which demanded to interdiction of this activity, with its crew of 146, HMS Daphne was well-suited to this work.

Rescued East African slaves taken aboard HMS Daphne from a dhow, November 1868

First commission under Commander G.L. Sullivan

HMS Daphne's first commission was from Plymouth on 12 June 1867, with Commander George Lydiard Sullivan in charge. Its 'dhow-chasing' / 'slave-chasing' mission has been described by Julia Turner in her book [1], which has also been utilised by Alan J Brown who has researched the ship's log. [2]

″Daphne left Aden on 18th July 1868, and visited Mahe in the Seychelles, Tamave in Madagascar, Mayotte in the Comoros Islands and Mozambique. The vessel arrived in Zanzibar on 12th October.

The log records that on 20th September 1868, when the Daphne was between Mayotte and Johanna, in the Mozambique Channel, two dhows were sighted. These were chased and brought to when two shots were fired. The dhows were boarded, but on this occasion were not carrying slaves.

Later in the month on 28th September, as a change from dhow-chasing, the ship was stood-down and dressed overall 'in honour of the Coronation of Her Majesty the Queen of Portugal’. The next recorded operational activity involving dhows was on 7th October, between Zanzibar and Mozambique, when a slave dhow was boarded 'name unknown'.

Sultan Burghash bin Said of Zanzibar had a treaty with the British Government by which he was supposed to control the Arab slave traders working out of his port. However, he was in fact in cahoots with the traders. Obviously realising this, whilst in port, Sullivan made it known that his intentions were to leave the port and sail for Bombay, whereas in fact this was a deception. When Daphne sailed on 21st October, once out of sight of land she headed north along the coast.

Between 26th October and 4th November, Daphne was sailing between Zanzibar and Bombay, and a great deal of dhow-chasing took place. Sullivan's log records that as soon as the Arab ships saw the Daphne, they would run their boat ashore and wreck it before the Naval cutter or whaler could negotiate the offshore reefs. By the time the sailors reached the shore the slaves had mainly run off and so there was no evidence with which to arrest the Arabs.

Sullivan thus changed his tactics. He found a part of the shore where a headland jutted out into the sea, and positioned the ship's boats behind this, where the approaching Arab ships could not see them. Daphne herself moved out of sight over the horizon. When Arab dhows spotted the boats, they would turn out to sea, and so run straight into the Daphne. These tactics proved very successful, as the next entries in the log show, and in all, HMS Daphne rescued about 2000 slaves on this commission.

Monday 26th October a.m. Sighted 3 dhows and 2 cutters. Took dhows and cutters in tow.p.m. Two dhows broke adrift. 4.40p.m. Fired a gun. Came to. 6.00p.m. Cast off dhow.

Tuesday 27th October a.m. Observed 2 dhows ahead. 11.15a.m. Mustered at oars. 1.40p.m. Sent galley and whaler to board dhows. Took 2 dhows in tow.

Wednesday 28th October p.m. Sighted sail on starboard bow. 4.50p.m. Stopped. Manned and armed boats. Sent whaler to board dhow. Dhow ran on shore and was wrecked. Whaler returned with 7 slaves. Thursday 29th October p.m. Weighed [anchor] and proceeded to chase dhow. Dhow ran on shore. Manned and armed boats and sent them to take dhow. Boats returned having captured 1 slave and destroyed dhow.

Saturday 31st October 2.45a.m. Sent boat in chase of a dhow and captured her. Got 2 dhows alongside. Employed getting out masts and sails and clearing dhows. Received slaves from dhows. Burnt 1 dhow. Observed dhow with cutter in chase. A slave swam off to the shore. Sent galley cruising. Cleared and burnt 1 dhow.''

Sunday 1st November 9.30a.m. Hauled 2 dhows and cutters alongside. Received 156 slaves from her and 15 from the 2nd dhow. Cleared and burnt 1 dhow.

Tuesday 3rd November a.m. Died, 1 slave child. Sent party to pump out dhow. Received on board 25 slaves.

Wednesday 4th November 5.20a.m. Sighted 2 dhows. Lowered whaler and 1st cutter and boarded. Fired 2 shots at dhows. Whaler brought dhow alongside. Received 35 slaves.

10.30a.m. Hauled off and set fire to dhow. Hauled alongside galley and dhow and received 26 slaves from her. Hauled off dhow and burnt her.

“.......her ever recurring appearance at so many successive slave running seasons earned a tradition of wrath at the mention of her name among the merchants in that line of business", wrote Admiral Ballard in July 1938.[3]


Captain Sullivan's Account of Slave-Chasing

In 1873, having completed his tour in charge of the Daphne in 1869, and promoted the same year, Captain Sullivan wrote a book about his experiences in the Indian Ocean entitled, 'Dhow Chasing in Zanzibar Waters: And on the Eastern Coast of Africa’. Sullivan would serve in the Royal Navy until 1892, and retired as a vice-admiral, and died in 1904 aged 72yrs. Of the slaves he helped free, he described one encounter;

″The deplorable condition of some of these poor wretches, crammed into a small dhow, surpasses all description; on the bottom of the dhow was a pile of stones as ballast, and on these stones, without even a mat, were twenty-three women huddled together—one or two with infants in their arms—these women were literally doubled up, there being no room to sit erect; on a bamboo deck, about three feet above the keep, were forty-eight men, crowded together in the same way, and on another deck above this were fifty-three children. Some of the slaves were in the last stages of starvation and dysenteryItalic text'


Chronology of HMS Daphne

23rd October 1866 - launched at Pembroke Dock

12th June 1867 - first commission, from Plymouth to East Indies and China, under Commander George Lydiard Sullivan

1st June 1869 - Commander George Amelius Douglas assumes command

24th May 1870 - returns to Plymouth, and is paid off

12th October 1871 - second commission, from Plymouth to East Indies and China, under Commander Richard Adams

26th February 1872 - Commander Adams dies of cholera aboard between Madras and Calcutta

6th March 1872 - Commander Richard Sacheverell Bateman assumes command

27th October 1873 - Commander Charles Edward Foot assumes command

4th January 1876 - Commander George Bruce Evans assumes command

January 1879 - Commander Dashwood Goldie Tandy assumes command

June 1880 - returns to Plymouth, and is paid off

7th November 1882 - sold

References
  1. Dr. William Dillon Navy Surgeon in Livingstone’s Africa
  2. http://www.ajbrown.me.uk/IndividualStories/WGOrchard/HMS_Daphne.htm
  3. Pembroke Dockyard and the Old Navy: A Bicentennial History By Lieutenant Commander Lawrie Phillips

Publications
  • Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.


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