HMS Vulture (1843)

HMS Vulture was a steam-powered wooden-hulled second-class paddle frigate of the Royal Navy. The Vulture carried 6 guns - two 8-inch guns of 95 cwt mounted on pivots at bow and stern, and four 8-inch guns of 65 cwt on broadside trucks, and had a displacement of 1,960 tons. She was launched on 21 September 1843 and was then fitted with Fairbairn engines in East India Docks until 23 January 1844. She had cost £24,323 to build and £22,395 to fit out (including £21,429 for the 476 NHP engines). The compact engines were the subject of an illustrated article in July 1844, and had two vertical cylinders of 80in diameter with 5 ft 9in stroke, with steam provided by four boilers. The paddle wheels were 26 ft 6in diameter to the extremity of the floats, which were 8 ft 9in wide.

The Vulture was first commissioned in February 1845 under Captain J. McDougall, for the West Indies, and completed fitting for sea (for a further £9,173) at Sheerness Dockyard until 7 June 1845. She paid off on return from the East Indies in 1847, and underwent a Small Repair at Sheerness and Woolwich in 1848-49 (for £17,334). She was recommissioned in November 1852 under the command of Captain Frederick Henry Hastings Glasse, and was used in the Baltic theatre of the Crimean War in 1854. She was in action with the Russians on 7 June 1854, in the action at Gamla Carleby, Finland. She was recommissioned again in December 1859 under Captain C. Packer, for service in the Mediterranean. The ship was finally decommissioned in 1860, and laid up at Portsmouth. She was sold in 1866 to Castle & Son, Charlton to be broken up.