HMS Amethyst (1873)

Amethyst at anchor
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Amethyst
Namesake	Amethyst
Builder	Devonport Dockyard
Cost	Approximately £77,000
Laid down	1872
Launched	19 April 1873
Completed	July 1873
Fate	Sold for scrap, November 1887
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	Amethyst-class wooden screw corvette
Displacement	1,934 long tons (1,965 t)
Tons burthen	1,405 bm
Length	220 ft (67.1 m) (p/p)
Beam	37 ft (11.3 m)
Draught	18 ft (5.5 m)
Installed power	2,144 ihp (1,599 kW)
Propulsion	1 × shaft 1 × 2-cylinder compound expansion steam engine 6 × cylindrical boilers
Sail plan	Ship rig
Speed	13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Range	2,060–2,500 nmi (3,820–4,630 km; 2,370–2,880 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	225
Armament	12 × 64-pounder (160 mm) 71-cwt rifled muzzle-loading guns 2 × 64-pounder (160 mm) 64-cwt rifled muzzle-loading guns

HMS Amethyst was the lead ship of the Amethyst-class corvettes built for the Royal Navy in the early 1870s. She participated in the Third Anglo-Ashanti War in 1873 before serving as the senior officer's ship for the South American side of the South Atlantic. The ship was transferred to the Pacific Station in 1875 and fought in the Battle of Pacocha against the rebellious Peruvian ironclad warship Huáscar two years later. This made her the only British wooden sailing ship ever to fight an armoured opponent.^[1] After a lengthy refit, Amethyst again served as the senior officer's ship on the South American station from 1882 to 1885. She was sold for scrap two years later.