HMS Blazer and Captain Owen Stanley

In early 1843 gunboat paddle steamer HMS Blazer replaced Shearwater which was being used by Captain John Washington, to survey the East Coast. By 1845, Captain Washington had taken on additional, wider, responsibilities. Also at this time, Sir John Franklin’s North East Passage Expedition needed to sail north up the East Coast to the Orkneys to its departure point. This section of the voyage was beset by adverse winds, and delay would mean too late an arrival at Hudson Bay. Consequently, in May 1845, a tow was needed from Greenhithe to to Scapa Flow.

Lieutenant Owen Stanley,¹Stanley, Owen (1811–1850). In: Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. nephew of Lord Stanley of Alderney,²Stanley, Owen (1811–1850). In: Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. after returning from adventures in Australia and the East Indies in 1844, achieved Post Rank, aged thirty-four. Prior to this he had sailed in the Arctic in H.M.S.Terror and carried out survey work there.

In May 1845, partly to allow Washington to continue with his wider duties, Stanley replaced Washington as Captain of H.M.S.Blazer. Franklin’s ships, Erebus and Terror, were towed from Greenhithe by H.M.S.Rattler ³HMS Rattler was the ship which conducted trials of the screw against paddle steamers. See Wikipedia history and see 1856 On the Introduction and Progress of the Screw Propeller . There is a sketch of Rattler towing HMS Erebus and HMS Terror past HMS Porcupine off Harwich. There were problems with towlines breaking and fouling Rattler’s propellor so it may have been at this stage that Blazer and Monkey were assigned to assist with the work. Once at Scapa the fleet replenished, and was then towed out to sea. Stanley had served under Sir John, and with several others, who were to perish on the North-West Passage expedition.

We are fortunate in that, not only was Stanley an artist but that the sketchbook that bridged the period between Scapa Flow and his final voyage to the Southern Hemisphere was preserved by the National Library of Australia.⁴Departure of H.M.S. Erebus and Terror for the North Pole, 1845 Owen Stanley. – Trove.nla.gov.au – other sketchbooks are at the RMG. He made sketches of the expedition’s departure, and this was, of course, the last time he saw his friend and mentor and old ship.

Upon his return from the Orkneys, he was to survey the River Deben: this was the first detailed survey of the river. Blazer’s Master was Edward Calver, and he would have done much of the survey work. Stanley did make two local sketches. One was of the Seckford Alms Houses in Woodbridge.

The other, of course, was his ship at anchor at Woodbridge.

H.M.S. Blazer, the third of the name, was built at Chatham in 1835 as one of the two Tartarus first-class steam gun vessels and was armed with three guns⁵HMS Blazer : Figureheads see figureheads.ukmcs.org.uk. . She spent time in the Mediterranean and was then commissioned for Survey Work under Captain Washington in 1843. She was wooden, 145ft long, 28ft 6in wide, of 527 tons burthen and driven by side paddle wheels powered by two 120 h.p. steam engines⁶120 h.p. steam engines by Miller and Ravenhill. . The rapid evolution of steam vessels at this time would have contributed to the early retirement from her original role. She would however, have been well suited to survey work.

Stanley’s posting on Blazer was short as he left for Australia in April 1846. Blazer continued to be used as a survey ship, under Calver, although this was interrupted by a spell of famine relief work in Ireland. She was broken up at Portsmouth in 1853⁷H.M.S. Blazer details. see www.shipspottersteve.com. .

It has been suggested that the garment of the same name originated when a young Queen Victoria visited the ship causing the Captain to invent a smart jacket for his crew to impress her. This is plausible but unlikely⁸True Blue: A History of the Navy Blazer. See magazine.brooksbrothers.com/navy-blazer/ . The original H.M.S.Blazer was named after the First Sea Lord’s dog and the figurehead was, appropriately, a Golden Blazing Sun⁹HMS Blazer Royal Navy History  see www.royalnavy.mod.uk/our-organisation/the-fighting-arms/surface-fleet/patrol/archer-class/hms-blazer ¹⁰The word Blazer was little used until the 1890s – see Ngram..

The East Coast Survey work was surely one the easiest parts of Stanley’s career since in 1846-1849 he commanded an expedition to Australia in H.M.S Rattlesnake¹¹Macgillivray, F.R.G.S., J. Narrative of  The Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake Volume 1, Volume 2 . He died of an illness in Sydney, aged only thirty-nine in 1850, and was buried there: this was how his sketchbook came to be preserved in Australia. The Owen Stanley Mountain Range in New Guinea is named for him. Port Stanley in the Falklands was named after his uncle¹²Stanley, Falkland Islands. Wikipedia. .

One of his accomplishments was to propose the use of a micrometer screw for the sextant. This, in due course, replaced the vernier scale and was one of the incremental improvements in navigational accuracy. He did not patent the idea, nor live to see its widespread use.

There is a biography¹³Lubbock, Adelaide. Owen Stanley R.N. – Captain Of The ‘Rattlesnake’. Heinemann, 1967. of him as well as an account of his final voyage in H.M.S.Rattlesnake¹⁴v.1 (1852) – Narrative of the voyage of H. M. S. Rattlesnake, commanded by the late Captain Owen Stanley … – Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Although his involvement with the East Coast was minor, he was a most interesting character.

• 1
  Stanley, Owen (1811–1850). In: Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
• 2
  Stanley, Owen (1811–1850). In: Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
• 3
  HMS Rattler was the ship which conducted trials of the screw against paddle steamers. See Wikipedia history and see 1856 On the Introduction and Progress of the Screw Propeller
• 4
  Departure of H.M.S. Erebus and Terror for the North Pole, 1845 Owen Stanley. – Trove.nla.gov.au – other sketchbooks are at the RMG.
• 5
  HMS Blazer : Figureheads see figureheads.ukmcs.org.uk.
• 6
  120 h.p. steam engines by Miller and Ravenhill.
• 7
  H.M.S. Blazer details. see www.shipspottersteve.com.
• 8
  True Blue: A History of the Navy Blazer. See magazine.brooksbrothers.com/navy-blazer/
• 9
  HMS Blazer Royal Navy History  see www.royalnavy.mod.uk/our-organisation/the-fighting-arms/surface-fleet/patrol/archer-class/hms-blazer
• 10
  The word Blazer was little used until the 1890s – see Ngram.
• 11
  Macgillivray, F.R.G.S., J. Narrative of  The Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake Volume 1, Volume 2
• 12
  Stanley, Falkland Islands. Wikipedia.
• 13
  Lubbock, Adelaide. Owen Stanley R.N. – Captain Of The ‘Rattlesnake’. Heinemann, 1967.
• 14
  v.1 (1852) – Narrative of the voyage of H. M. S. Rattlesnake, commanded by the late Captain Owen Stanley … – Biodiversity Heritage Library.