HMS Birkenhead

1852

Danger Point, the Birkenhead drill Location: Danger Point, Gansbaai, South Africa · Coordinates: 34.63°S 19.30°E · Casualties: ~450 · Survivors: 193 · Depth: 30 m · Cause: grounding — Struck a submerged rock off Danger Point on the south coast of the Cape Colony at 02:00 on 26 February 1852 while ferrying reinforcements to the Cape Frontier War. The bow section tore open and flooded the forward troop compartments. She broke in half within twenty minutes. · Fate: broken up · protected · Type: troopship · paddle-steam frigate · Tonnage: 1,400 tons · Crew: 138 · Flag: United Kingdom · Launched: 1845 British troopship, one of the first iron-hulled naval vessels, ferrying reinforcements for the Cape Frontier War. Struck an uncharted rock off Danger Point at two in the morning on 26 February 1852. The senior officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Seton, ordered his soldiers to stand fast on deck so the three boats could take the women and children first. Of 445 aboard, 193 survived. The protocol she accidentally invented, the 'Birkenhead drill', became custom through the age of steam. The Vessel HMS Birkenhead was a British paddle-wheel iron troopship of the Royal Navy, built at the John Laird yard at Birkenhead on the Mersey between 1844 and 1846. She had originally been laid down as an iron-hulled steam frigate, but the Royal Navy's reassessment of iron warship construction during her building (specifically, the 1845 trials at Portsmouth which demonstrated that iron hull plates shattered catastrophically under solid shot impact) led to her completion as an unarmed troopship rather than a warship. She was 64 metres long, 1,405 tons displacement, and propelled by two paddle wheels driven by a 564-horsepower twin-cylinder steam engine. Her conversion to troopship role meant that her primary function was the transport of British Army personnel to imperial garrisons, predominantly along the eastern Atlantic and Indian Ocean trooping circuits. Her accommodation had been configured for approximately 620 embarked troops plus a crew of 125; the troop accommodation was located on her main deck with basic berthing arrangements, whilst the ship's officers and the senior army officers were quartered in the stern cabins. Her master on her final voyage was Captain Robert Salmond, 43, an experienced Royal Navy officer who had commanded Birkenhead since 1850. Her senior embarked army officer on the final voyage was Colonel Alexander Seton of the 74th Regiment of Foot, who commanded the embarked reinforcement draft of officers and enlisted men bound for the Eighth Xhosa War in south The Disaster At approximately 01:55 on 26 February 1852, HMS Birkenhead struck a previously uncharted submerged rock near Danger Point, approximately 2.5 kilometres offshore. The impact holed her hull below the waterline on the port side; her forward watertight compartment began flooding immediately. The second compartment breached within approximately 90 seconds of the initial impact. She began to settle by the bow. Captain Salmond's assessment, made within approximately three minutes of the impact, was that the ship could not be saved. The seas were moderate, the air temperature was approximately 18 degrees Celsius, the water temperature was approximately 15 degrees Celsius, and the shore lay approximately 2.5 kilometres to the north. The ship carried three serviceable lifeboats; together they had capacity for approximately 120 people, far fewer than the 630 aboard. The specific response that made Birkenhead historically significant was the conduct of her embarked army officers and ranks. Colonel Seton, commanding the embarked troops, assessed the situation and ordered his soldiers to assemble on the upper deck in parade formation. The standing orders given to the troops were explicit: the lifeboats would be loaded exclusively with the women and children aboard, followed by such sailors as were required to man the boats; the soldiers would remain in parade formation on the sinking ship until the boats had cleared. The soldiers obeyed the order. All 25 civilian women and children were su