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HMS Enterprise (1848) facts for kids

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The Devils Thumb, Ships Boring and Warping in the Pack, Dedicated by special permission to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty By their Lordships most obedient Servant W H Browne, Lieut R N
HMS Enterprise (left) and HMS Investigator (right)
Quick facts for kids
History
Royal Navy EnsignUnited Kingdom
Name Enterprise
Builder Money Wigram and Sons, Blackwall
Cost £24,545
Launched 5 April 1848
Acquired Purchased February 1848 on stocks
Fate
  • Coal depot 1860
  • Lent to the Board of Trade
  • Sold 15 September 1903
General characteristics
Class and type Arctic Discovery Ship
Tonnage 471 tons (Builder's Measure)
Length 125.6 ft (38.3 m)
Beam 28.8 ft (8.8 m)
Depth of hold 20 ft (6.1 m)
Sail plan Barque-rigged

HMS Enterprise was an Arctic discovery ship laid down as a merchant vessel and purchased in 1848 before launch to search for Sir John Franklin's lost expedition. She made two Arctic voyages before becoming a coal depot, and was finally sold in 1903. She was the tenth Enterprise (or Enterprize) to serve in the Royal Navy.

Construction

She was laid down as a merchant vessel at the Blackwall yard on the River Thames of Money Wigram and Sons, but purchased by the Admiralty in February 1848 and fitted for Arctic exploration. She was launched on 5 April 1848.

Career

Enterprise made two voyages to the Arctic, the first via the Atlantic in 1848-1849 under James Clark Ross, then in 1850-1854 via the Pacific and the Bering Strait in an expedition led by Richard Collinson. From 1860 she was lent to the Commissioners of Northern Lights for use as a coal hulk at Oban, and from 1889 she was lent to the Board of Trade. She was sold in 1903.

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