HMS Minotaur (1816)

HMS Minotaur was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 15 April 1816 at Chatham Dockyard.

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

Minotaur in 1851
History
UK
Name:	HMS Minotaur
Ordered:	3 December 1811
Builder:	Robert Seppings (1812-1813), George Parkin (1813-1816), Chatham Dockyard
Laid down:	December1812
Launched:	15 April 1816
Fate:	Broken up, 1869
General characteristics
Class and type:	Ganges-class ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1726 ​^3⁄94 bm
Length:	139 ft 7.5 in (42.558 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	48 ft 2.5 in (14.694 m)
Depth of hold:	20 ft 3.75 in (6.1913 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Complement:	550
Armament:	74 guns: Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs Upper gundeck: 28 × 18 pdrs Quarterdeck: 14 × 9 pdrs Forecastle: 4 × 9 pdrs

The receiving ship Minotaur on moorings in front of Blockhouse Point, Sheerness and the '1 o'clock boat' (steamer) in the foreground, 25 January 1851

She was never commissioned for sea service; on completion of construction the new vessel was immediately placed in reserve at Sheerness Dockyard until 1842 when she was fitted as a receiving ship for naval conscripts. By 1859 she had become a guardship in Sheerness harbour, and in 1861 was converted into a floating lazarette for passengers from merchant vessels who were suspected by the Customs Service of bringing in disease. Five years later she was sailed to Gravesend to serve as a hospital for cholera patients.[1]

In July 1866 she was renamed Hermes, but was broken up at Sheerness Dockyard in 1869.[1]

Notes

1. Winfield 2014, pp. 81-82

References

• Winfield, Rif (2014). British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1793-1817. London: Seaforth. ISBN 9781844157174.