Active was 270 feet (82.3 m) long between perpendiculars and had a beam of 42 feet 1 inch (12.8 m). Forward the ship had a draught of 16 feet 5 inches (5.0 m), but aft she drew 21 ft 5 in (6.5 m). Active displaced 3,078 long tons (3,127 t) and had a burthen of 2,322 tons. Her iron hull was covered by a 3-inch (76 mm) layer of oak that was sheathed with copper from the waterline down to prevent biofouling.[1] Watertight transverse bulkheads subdivided the hull.[2] Her crew consisted of 340 officers and ratings.[1]
Active was ship rigged and had a sail area of 16,593 square feet (1,542 m2).[1] The lower masts were made of iron, but the remainder of the masts were wood. The ship's best speed under sail alone was 12.5 knots (23.2 km/h; 14.4 mph). Her funnel was semi-retractable to reduce wind resistance[3] and her propeller could be hoisted up into the stern of the ship to reduce drag while under sail.[1]
HMS Active was laid down in 1867 and launched on 13 March 1869. The ship was completed in March 1871 at a total cost of £126,156. Of this, £85,795 was spent on her hull and £40,361 on her machinery.[1] Unlike her sister shipVolage, Active was placed in reserve after completion until 1873 when she was commissioned to serve as the flagship of the Commander-in-Chief, Cape of Good Hope and West Coast of Africa Station, CommodoreWilliam Hewett. The ship participated in naval operations during the Third Anglo-Ashanti War of 1874 and some of her crew were landed to reinforce the forces ashore. Commodore Francis Sullivan replaced Hewett in 1876 and he retained command until 1879 when the ship returned home to refit.[5]
Attached to the No.1 column commanded by Colonel Charles Pearson, they crossed the Tugela River from Natal into Zululand on 12 January 1879.[6] On 22 January they saw action in the Battle of Inyezane, driving off an attacking force of Zulus with rockets, Martini-Henryrifles and the Gatling gun.[8] The same day the British main force was defeated at the Battle of Isandlwana, and so Pearson's column advanced to Eshowe, where it was besieged for two months, until relieved on 3 April.[6] In February, Active ran aground in Tugela Bay whilst assisting HMS Tenedos, which had also ran aground. They were refloated 36 hours later.[9] During the campaign, Active's crew suffered only one man killed, and nine wounded in action against the enemy, while nine died of disease during the siege, and one man drowned while crossing the Tugela.[6] In 1881 the South Africa Medal was awarded to those members of Active's crew that had served there.[10]
Active was rearmed and refitted in 1879 and placed in reserve until she was selected in 1885 to be the commodore's flagship in the newly formed Training Squadron. Active was the last square-rigged naval ship to leave Portsmouth Harbour under sail. She was paid off in 1898[5] and was sold for scrap on 10 July 1906.[1]
Hms Active monument in Portsmouth
A memorial to the men of Active who lost their lives during the African campaigns can be found in Victoria Park, Portsmouth.[11]
Notes
^"cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 64 cwt referring to the weight of the gun.
^Hall, D.D. (January 1979). "Artillery in the Zulu War 1879". Military History Journal. 4 (4). The South African Military History Society. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
Ballard, G. A. (1937). "British Corvettes of 1875: The Volage, Active and Rover". Mariner's Mirror. 23 (January). Cambridge, UK: Society for Nautical Research: 53–67.
Winfield, R.; Lyon, D. (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC52620555.
