HMS Psyche (1814)

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

History

United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Psyche
Ordered:	1814
Builder:	Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard
Launched:	25 December 1814
Fate:	Laid up in 1815, presumed sunk at Kingston
General characteristics
Class and type:	Frigate

HMS Psyche was to have been a 54-gun fourth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built at the Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard in Kingston, Ontario during the War of 1812, using frames shipped from Britain and assembled in Canada. The ship was not completed until after the end of the war. Under the Rush–Bagot Treaty, the frigate was disarmed and laid up in Kingston. The hulk was sold in 1837.

Background

As the balance of power on the Great Lakes during the War of 1812 shifted between British and American forces, the naval effort turned to one of preservation. The opposing commanders on the Great Lakes, Sir James Yeo and Isaac Chauncey sought to build larger vessels to overpower the other while preventing an attack on their lines of communication. The ships that were constructed at Kingston were similar in design to those being built for war on the oceans.^[1]

Construction and career

Psyche was designed to be a 54-gun fourth rate frigate. Constructed out of fir,^[2] the vessel was built in Great Britain and dismantled. The pieces were transported across the Atlantic, portaged up the Saint Lawrence River to be assembled at Kingston. It was reported that this effort cost the Royal Navy £300,000. The decision by the Admiralty was based upon the belief that there was a lack of suitable white pine growing around Kingston to build frigates this large.^[1] The frigate was launched on 25 December 1814, but failed to commission before the war ended.^[2]

Following the end of the war in 1815 Psyche was hauled out and placed on a slipway, the frame stripped down for preservation. The Rush-Bagot Treaty limited the navies on the Great Lakes to one gunboat armed with one gun, which led to the remaining fleet being disarmed. The frigate remained in this condition until 1827, when, declining funds and the poor condition of the existing fleet led the Naval Commissioner to abandon hopes of refitting the existing vessels and instead start new construction. Beginning in 1832, all the vessels at Kingston were sold under the Whig government and the dockyard closed in 1835. Psyche was pulled apart on the slipway at Kingston throughout the 1830s. Those hulks that were not sold were either left to rot at Navy Bay or taken around Point Henry to Hamilton Bay and scuttled there.^[1] What remained of Pysche was sold in 1837.^[2]

References

1 2 3 "The 'Bones' of Deadman Bay". The Crowsnest. Vol. 5 no. 4. Queen's Printer. February 1953. pp. 4–6, 32.
1 2 3 Colledge, p. 323

Sources

Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.

External links

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