HMS Brisk (1851)

Brisk, Capt A. F. R. de Horsey drawn in 1860
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Brisk
Ordered	25 April 1847
Builder	Woolwich Dockyard
Cost	£47,482
Laid down	January 1849
Launched	2 June 1851
Completed	24 August 1853 at Devonport Dockyard
Commissioned	24 May 1853
Decommissioned	19 January 1869
Honours and awards	Pacific 1854–55
Fate	Sold on 31 January 1870
General characteristics as built
Type	Screw sloop (corvette from 1862)
Displacement	1,474 long tons (1,498 t)
Tons burthen	1,086 90/94 bm
Length	193 ft 7+1⁄4 in (59.0 m) gundeck 169 ft 9+1⁄4 in (51.7 m) keel reported for tonnage
Beam	35 ft (10.7 m) maximum, 34 ft 6 in (10.5 m) reported for tonnage
Draught	14 ft 8 in (4.5 m) forward, 16 ft 8 in (5.1 m) Aft
Depth of hold	20 ft 5+1⁄4 in (6.2 m)
Installed power	250 nominal horsepower 505 ihp (377 kW) (From 1864: 200 nhp & 837 ihp)
Propulsion	Scott, Sinclair & Co. 2-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engine Single screw (From 1864: Miller, Ravenhill & Salkeld 2-cylinder HSE steam engine)
Speed	7.35 kn (13.61 km/h) (From 1864: 9.989 kn (18.500 km/h))
Complement	170 to 175
Armament	2 × 68-pounder (87 cwt) MLSB guns 8 × 32-pounder (42 cwt) MLSB guns (increased to 12) final armament 1 × 68-pounder (87 cwt) MLSB gun 14 × 32-pounder (32 cwt) MLSB guns

HMS Brisk was a 14-gun wooden-hulled screw sloop designed by the Committee of Reference as part of the 1847 program. She is considered an enlarged Rattler with the design approved in 1847.^[1] She was ordered on 25 April 1847 from Woolwich Dockyard as a 10-gun sloop,^[2] but the guns were later increased due to the Russian War, to 14 guns by increasing the number of 32-pounder guns. She was launched on 2 June 1851 from Woolwich Dockyard.^[3] She served in the Russian War of 1854- 55 and as part of the Southern African anti-slavery patrol, with a final commission on the Australian Station. She was sold in 1870 for use in a pioneer, but unsuccessful, telegraph service.

Brisk was the fourth vessel of the name, since it was introduced for a 16-gun sloop launched by Jacobs of Sandgate on 6 May 1784 and sold in May 1805.^[4]