HMS Blanche (1867)

Blanche aground (probably off New Hanover Island, Papua New Guinea in April 1870) by William Frederick Mitchell, 1874
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Blanche
Builder	Chatham Dockyard
Laid down	1865
Launched	17 August 1867
Completed	November 1867
Decommissioned	1881
Fate	Sold for scrap, September 1886
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	Eclipse-class wooden screw sloop (later corvette)
Displacement	1,760 long tons (1,790 t)
Tons burthen	1,268 bm
Length	212 ft (64.6 m) (p/p)
Beam	36 ft (11.0 m)
Draught	16 ft 6 in (5.0 m)
Depth	21 ft 6 in (6.6 m)
Installed power	2,158 ihp (1,609 kW)
Propulsion	1 shaft 1 × 2-cylinder steam engine 4 × rectangular boilers
Sail plan	Barque rig
Speed	12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement	180
Armament	2 × 7-inch rifled muzzle-loading guns 4 × 6.3-inch 64-pounder rifled muzzle-loading guns

HMS Blanche was a 1760-ton, 6-gun Eclipse-class wooden screw sloop built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1860s by Chatham Dockyard.^[1]

She was sent to the Australia Station in January 1868, arriving in April 1868. She undertook a punitive action against Solomon Island natives in September 1869. During 1870, she joined in the search for the schooner Daphne, which was unsuccessful. Under the command of Captain Cortland Simpson, she undertook a survey of Rabaul's Harbour in 1872. Blanche Bay is named after HMS Blanche.^[2] She finished service on the Australia Station in 1875. While sailing to England she was almost lost rounding Cape Horn in bad weather.

After being refitted and rearmed, she was sent to the North America and West Indies Station, where she remained until 1881.