HMS Trincomalee, 1817 - present
Trincomalee served on the Pacific Station from 1853-56, but its fame was rich enough that a fourteen-year
restoration project finds it preserved today in Hartlepool, England, where it is a
tourist attraction. Physically, it was impressive: a 24-gun, 1,312-tonne frigate sailing ship built of
Malabar teak at Mumbai—then Bombay—under the supervision of master shipbuilder Jamsetjee Bomanjee Wadia.
It is mentioned in
several despatches, most notably perhaps in its capacity as an imposing presence during what
Douglas describes as
a very large assemblage of the native tribes
at Victoria, who were, in his view,
well armed and equipped for war.
This same despatch goes on to report that, in light of Douglas's concerns, Captain
Houstoun, commander at the time, agreed to waylay the Trincomalee's eventual departure for San Francisco until the threat of hostilities subsided.
- 1. Andrew Scott, The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2009), 603.
- 2. Ibid.
- 3. HMS Trincomalee 1817, HMS Trincomalee—Construction, HMS Trincomalee Trust.