HMS Daring (1874) facts for kids

HMS Daring's sister ship, HMS Egeria
Quick facts for kids History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Daring
Builder	Blackwall Yard, London
Laid down	1872
Launched	4 February 1874
Completed	September 1874
Decommissioned	1889
Fate	Sold for scrap, August 1889
General characteristics
Class and type	Fantome-class sloop
Displacement	949 long tons (964 t)
Tons burthen	727 bm
Length	160 ft (48.8 m) (p/p)
Beam	31 ft 4 in (9.6 m)
Draught	14 ft (4.3 m)
Depth	15 ft 6 in (4.7 m)
Installed power	915 ihp (682 kW)
Propulsion	1 shaft 1 × 2-cylinder horizontal compound trunk steam engine 3 × cylindrical boilers
Sail plan	Barque rig
Speed	10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Range	1,000 nmi (1,900 km; 1,200 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	125
Armament	2 × 7-inch rifled muzzle-loading guns 2 × 6.3-inch 64-pounder rifled muzzle-loading guns

HMS Daring was a cool ship that belonged to the Royal Navy, the United Kingdom's navy. It was a type of ship called a sloop, which was a smaller warship often used for scouting or carrying messages. Daring had 4 guns and was launched in 1874. It spent most of its time sailing in the Pacific Ocean before being sold in 1889.

Building a Strong Ship

Daring was built using a special method called 'composite' construction. This meant it had a strong frame made of iron, but its outer hull was covered with teak wood and copper. This made the ship both strong and protected its wooden parts from rot and barnacles.

The ship was powered by a steam engine, which was quite advanced for its time. It also had a full barque rig, meaning it had three masts with a mix of square and fore-and-aft sails. This allowed Daring to travel using either wind power or steam, or both!

Adventures at Sea

HMS Daring traveled to many places during its service. It spent time in the Pacific Ocean and the China Station, which were areas where the Royal Navy had ships stationed.

Sometimes, Daring even worked with the Canadian Government. One important job it did was hydrography, which means mapping out coastlines and ocean depths. This was super important for making safe navigation charts for other ships. Canada paid half the cost for this work!

In the 1870s, Daring helped Joseph Howe, who was a government official in Canada. The ship took him to the Tangier River in Halifax County, Nova Scotia. There, he helped organize gold mining areas, making sure everything was fair and orderly.

Later, in 1877, a commander named John Hammer used Daring to create a basic map of the entrance to the Skeena River. This shows how important these ships were for exploring and mapping new areas.

Crew of HMS Daring around 1885, with their fun mascot, a rooster!

The End of Its Journey

After many years of service, HMS Daring was sold in 1889 to a person named Mr. J Cohen. The ship was then broken up, which means it was taken apart for its materials. This was a common end for many ships once their service was complete.