HMS Gannet 1878

HMS Gannet is a Doterel class screw sloop of war. She was laid down at Sheerness Royal Dockyard in December 1876 before being launched 31st August 1878. On 17th April 1879 Gannet was commissioned into the Royal Navy.

Built of a composite construction consisting of a wooden hull over an iron frame she was armed with two 7" muzzle-loading rifled guns on pivoting mounts, and three 64pound guns, one on a pivoting mount, and two broadside. Gannet was crewed by 140 men. Power was provided by sail and steam. The steam engine being a Single shaft, two cylinder, horizontal compound expansion engine powered by three cylindrical boilers.

Her first commission was spent shadowing the events of the War of the Pacific from 17th April 1879 to July 1883 whereby she returned to Sheerness for a two year refit.

On 3rd September 1885 Gannet was recommissioned again at Sheerness this time sailing to join the Mediterranean Fleet. Initially she was used in a supporting role during the first Suakin Expedition in the Sudan. Following this anti slavery patrols searching for suspicious ships took her to the Red Sea. On 11th September 1888 while undergoing a mid-commission refit in Malta she was ordered back to port of Suakin, Sudan to relieve HMS Dolphin. By 17th September 1888 Gannet was engage for nearly a month by Anti-Anglo-Egyptian forces under the command of Osman Digna. During this time she fired 200 main armament shells and nearly 1,200 Nordenfelt rounds. On 15th October 1855 Gannet was relieved by HMS Starling, she returned to Malta where she was paid off on 1st November 1888.

Her final commissions saw her perform survey work in the Mediterranean from 10th November 1888 to December 1891 with her final commission seeing her conduct more survey work in both the Mediterranean and Red Sea between 26th January 1892 and 16th March 1895 where she returned to Chatham to be decommissioned.

After this time Gannet was transferred to harbour service in Chatham until 1900 when she was placed on the non effective vessels list, by the autumn of 1900 she was leased to the South Eastern and Chatham Railway Company to be used as an accommodation hulk for the Port Victoria Railway Station on the Isle of Grain.

In June 1903 Gannet was sent to relieve the training ship HMS President at South West India Docks in London. She underwent major alterations to convert her into a drill ship and was subsequently renamed HMS President II in 1909. By 1911 Gannet again found herself on the non effective vessels list having been relieved of her duty as a training ship by HMS Buzzard.

1913 saw Gannet loaned to C. B. Fry to become a dormitory ship on the River Hamble for the Training Ship Mercury, she retained the name President. The main purpose of the school was to train young boys who wouldn’t have many options on life to join the Royal Navy. By 1968 the school had closed bringing Gannets service to an end.

Gannet who found herself under Royal Navy stewardship again was handed over to the Maritime Trust for restoration. In 1987 the Historic Dockyard at Chatham chartered Gannet from the Maritime Trust so she could be restored to her 1888 configuration whereby she saw her only naval combat.

She is now on display at the Historic Dockyard Chatham as a museum ship.