Arethusa

[anteros_lmc]

Last week Kent Online (no, I'd never heard of it before either) posted a rather nice story about the restoration of the Arethusa figurehead which stands outside the Arethusa Venture Centre in Kent. The figurehead originally belonged to HMS Arethusa which was launched in 1849 and had the disinction of being the last British naval vessel to go into battle under sail alone. After the ship was decomissioned she was given to a charity to provide refuge and schooling to children who had been sleeping rough on the streets of London and to train them for careers in the Royal and Merchant Navies. The ship was based at Lower Upnor on the Medway, where she remained in service until 1932 when the she was broken up, though her figurehead was. Apparently the figurehead had recently been damaged by a wasp attack (eh?!) and was restored with funds riased by members of the Arethusa Old Boys Association, who had formerly trained on the ship.

Of course this particular Arethusa is just one of many ships of that name commissioned by the Royal Navy. Wikipedia lists nine HMS Arethusas, commissioned between 1759 and 1963. The penultimate Arethusa was a 26 gun light cruiser that participated in the D-Day landings 69 years ago this month when she was part of the force that arrived off Sword Beach.

One of the most famous Arethusas of the sailing navy was the 38 gun Minerva class fifth rate frigate launched in 1781 and briefly captained by Sir Edward Pellew between 1794 and 1795. Pellew had enormous success with the Arethusa and, together with Sir John Borlase Warren's detached squadron, participated in the capture of the French frigates Babette, Pomone and Revolutionnaire. The Arethusa's success was commemorated by the popular ballad, "On Board of the Arethusa" (now often known as "The Saucy Arethusa") and a caricature by George Cruikshank, which showed the "Harryzuthers" celebrating, and squandering, their prize money.


Pellew's success with the Arethusa earned him both prize money and naval laurels and gained him sufficient credit with the Admiralty to enable him to effectively choose his next command. Pellew might have sought promotion to a ship of the line, but instead he requested an untested razee frigate that had previously sat on her blocks for ten years before being cut down from a 64 gun fourth rate to a 44 gun frigate. Lord Chatham, First Lord of the Admiralty, responded to Pellew's request as follows:

With respect to your wishes of going into the Indefatigable, I shall have great pleasure in meeting them, and this circumstance will occasion no change in your destination. I am sorry that the Arethusa has not answered in point of sailing, as I had expected her to have been among the best.

Pellew got his Indefatigable and the rest, as they say, is history :)

PS If you're interested, in Greek mythology, Arethusa was a Nereid or water nymphe, who was transformed into a cloud, a river and finally a fountain by the goddess Artemis while fleeing from the river god Alpheus.

Comments

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

There is always something so heart-aching about the way ships have the same names again and again. I think the people on the ships are made to know the stories, but often, at least in the USA, the public is not. You have to begin to paddle your feet in Naval history to get to the stories. I noticed the Arethusa at D-day, there was an Erebus there too.

Kind of like the 'Sammy B' (Roberts) third ship of the name. I cannot now remember if she was in Norfolk or Florida, but we used to see her sometimes. I did not know until recently the history of her name. heroic stuff there...

Also, as far as running away from Greek Gods, at least Arethusa got away. Leda, and that poor goat were not as lucky....

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

There is always something so heart-aching about the way ships have the same names again and again.
I know exactly what you mean!

I noticed the Arethusa at D-day, there was an Erebus there too.
Oh, I didn't know there was an Erebus there as well.

Kind of like the 'Sammy B' (Roberts) third ship of the name.
I'd never heard of Sammy B Robert's before. He certainly sounds like the kind of man who should have ships named after him.

[vespican.livejournal.com]

Interesting. In the Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower, Parkinson suggests that Horatio may have served for a time under Pellew in Arethusa before both transferred to Indefatigable.
Continuing a ship's name through "rebuilding" became rampant in the US, during the age of sail. USS Congress and USS Constellation were both victims of this practice. Both were originally 36, later rerated as 38 gun frigates, built as part of the original 6 frigates of the US Navy. Congress was "rebuilt" as a 44 gun frigate, the last designed for sail alone, and Constellation was "rebuilt" as a large spardecked corvette, the last pure sailing ship built for the USN. It was all an admin gambit, designed to obtain new ships via rebuilding, when Congress (the legislative body) wouldn't authorize construction of new vessels.
Dave

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Many of the Indefatigable's crew did indeed transfer from the Arethusa, 250 of them to be precise! nodbear has just patiently counted the numbers on the Indy muster for one of our book chapters. And prior to that 136 of the Arethusa's crew transferred from Pellew's previous ship Nymph. It's hardly surprising that he was so hurt when he was only allowed to take a handful of men with him to the Impetueux.