HMS Calliope was a (later classified as a third-class cruiser) of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom which served from 1887 until 1951. Exemplifying the transitional nature of the late Victorian navy, Calliope was a sailing corvette—the last such ship built for the Royal Navy—but supplemented the full sail rig with a powerful engine. Steel was used for the hull, and like the earlier iron-hulled corvettes, Calliope was cased with timber and coppered below the waterline, in the same manner as wooden ships.Archibald, The Metal Fighting Ship in the Royal Navy (1970), p. 43.
Calliope was known for "one of the most famous episodes of seamanship in the 19th century", when the vessel was the only ship present to avoid being sunk or stranded in the tropical cyclone that struck Apia, Samoa in 1889.Lyon, Steam, Steel, and Torpedoes (1980), p. 39. After retirement from active service, Calliope served as a training ship until 1951, when she was sold for breaking.
Design and construction
Calliope and sister ship comprised the Calypso class of corvettes designed by Nathaniel Barnaby. Part of a long line of cruiser classes built for protecting trade routes and colonial police work,Lyon (1980), pp. 21–22, 35–40. they were the last two sailing corvettes built for the Royal Navy. Corvettes had been built of iron since the of 1867, but the Calypsos and the preceding used steel. Corvettes were designed to operate across the vast distances of Britain's maritime empire and could not rely on dry docks for maintenance. Since iron and steel hulls were subject to biofouling and could not easily be cleaned, the established practice of copper sheathing was extended to protect them; the metal plating of the hull was timber-cased and coppered below the waterline. The only armour was a 1.5-inch (38-mm) armoured deck covering the machinery spaces, but coal bunkers along the sides gave some protection to the machinery spaces.Osbon (1963), pp. 196, 206.
Calypso and Calliope differed from their nine predecessors of the Comus class in armament; they were also slightly longer, had a deeper draught, and displaced 390 tons more.Archibald, The Metal Fighting Ship in the Royal Navy (1970), p. 49. Originally planned as a ten-gun corvette, Calliope was completed with four breechloaders in sponsons fore and aft on each side, twelve breechloaders in broadside between the 6-inch guns, and six quick-firing Nordenfelt guns.Osbon (1963), pp. 207–08.
The compound-expansion steam engine was supplied with steam by six boilers and developed . This was 50% more powerful than the predecessor class, which gave the corvette one more knot of speed, a difference that would be crucial in the disaster that made Calliope famous.Archibald, The Metal Fighting Ship in the Royal Navy (1970), p. 49; Gray, Amerika Samoa (1960), p. 89. The engine drove a single feathering screw, and enabled the vessel to reach a speed of 13¾ knots, or 14¾ knots with forced draught. The vessel nevertheless was a fully rigged sailing ship,The sail plan likely varied during the ship's career. Published sources say Calliope has a barque rig, and some photographs show a barque rig. E.g., Paine, Warships of the World to 1900 (2000), p. 29; Rousmaniere, After the Storm (2002), p. 96. Other images show a ship rig, with yards and square sails on the mizzenmast. Archibald, The Metal Fighting Ship in the Royal Navy (1970), p. 49; J.S. Virtue & Co., "HMS Calliope, 3rd class cruiser"; see also the "Starboard bow quarter view" on this page, which shows yards on the mizzen. A full-rigged ship has square sails on the mizzenmast, while a barque has fore-and-aft sails. allowing sustained service in areas where coaling stations were far apart. Calliope was well-suited to distant cruising service for the British Empire at its Victorian peak.
Although laid down in 1881, Calliope was not launched until 1884, and was placed in reserve at Portsmouth before completion. She was activated on 25 January 1887, when the vessel was placed in commission for the China Station,Evans, p. 1.Osbon (1963), p. 207. the sort of distant service for which the class had been designed.Paine, Warships of the World to 1900 (2000), p. 29. The same year, all corvettes and frigates were re-classified as "cruisers", with Calliope and Calypso falling into the "third-class cruiser" category.Winfield (2004), p. 265
Service with the fleet
The British Empire was the largest on Earth, and Britain protected that empire and its trade routes with the world's largest navy. Great Britain assumed the role of peacekeeper on the world's oceans, and the Royal Navy was the instrument by which the Pax Britannica was kept.Massie, Robert K., Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War (1991), pp. xx–xxii. New York: Random House, 1991. ; Lyon (1980), pp. 7–12. The global reach of the Royal Navy included the western Pacific Ocean, patrolled by the Australia Station. In 1887 Captain Henry Coey Kane took Calliope to the Pacific.Wilson (1996), pp. 51–52. At first assigned to the China Station, the vessel was reassigned to the Australia Station later in 1887. It was in New Zealand at the end of that year, and was the first vessel to enter the new Calliope Dock. In early 1888 Calliope was sent north to watch over a looming diplomatic crisis and potential military confrontation in Samoa."Calliope", Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
This crisis had its roots in the Great Powers' competition for colonies in the last decades of the 19th century. The German Empire, invigorated by its victory over France in the Franco-Prussian War and by its unification under the Prussian monarchy, had newfound imperial ambitions that stretched beyond Europe. It had shared in the division of Africa, and in the 1880s looked to the Pacific as well. Ships of its Imperial Navy were sent to Apia in Samoa, where German agents had fomented rebellion against the indigenous government. They were countered there by the Asiatic Squadron of the United States Navy. The United States had nearly completed establishing control over its territories on the North American continent, leading American ambitions to stretch beyond its shores. The squadron was at Samoa to assert US interests in the Pacific and to watch the Germans.Rousmaniere, After the Storm (2002), pp. 88–91.
In March 1889, the new corvette Calliope—sent to keep the peace and protect Britain's interests in Samoa—joined the competing squadrons of the Imperial German and United States navies at Apia.Wilson (1996), p. 51. The harbour there was primitive, small and nearly surrounded by reefs. Perhaps fit for four ships, the anchorage held seven warships and six merchant vessels on 14 March.Wilson (1996), p. 52. While Wilson gives the number of merchantmen as eight, Stevenson states there were six in Chapter X of A Footnote to History, a number consistent with Paine's total at page 29 of Warships of the World to 1900. Other sources give even higher numbers, (Lind, in "The Epic of HMS Calliope" gives a total of 20); the difference appears to lie in whether small coastal trading vessels are included.
The barometer began to fall that day and a tropical cyclone began to form. The 1889 Apia cyclone increased in ferocity over the next two days.Gray, Amerika Samoa (1960), pp. 88–89. Rain fell in sheets, cutting visibility. Winds of 70 to 100 knots (130–185 km/h, 80–115 mph) blew directly into the anchorage, trapping the ships in the V-shaped harbour.Rousmaniere, After the Storm (2002), pp. 93–94. The harbour bottom was scoured by currents and anchors lost their purchase. Operating their engines at full speed to resist the wind and waves, ships nevertheless dragged their anchors and were inexorably driven landward. Vessels collided and were thrown on the reefs or ashore, and some sank.Rousmaniere, After the Storm (2002), pp. 94–95, 97. By 09:00 on the 16th, Calliope, although still riding at anchor, had been hit by one ship and narrowly missed by another, and Captain Kane decided to attempt to escape.Wilson (1996), pp. 52–53. To relieve the strain on the five anchor cables, Calliopes boilers were producing maximum pressure; the engines were being worked "red hot", and the propeller was making 74 revolutions per minute, sufficient for 15 knots (28 km/h) in calmer waters. In spite of this titanic effort, the ship was barely able to make headway against the winds and the seas in the harbour, and anchor cables began to part.Kimberly, "Report" ; Rousmaniere, After the Storm (2002), p. 96.
To port and only 20 feet (6 m) away was the coral reef. Ahead were the US ships and ; to starboard were other warships. There was only a narrow opening between the vessels to one side and the ground to the other.Rousmaniere, After the Storm (2002), pp. 96–97. Hemmed in by these obstacles and with the rudder at times within 6 feet (2 m) of the reef, Calliope manoeuvred while still attached to the anchor cables, which began to give way. When Captain Kane saw an opening, he slipped the anchors and drove forward.Wilson (1996), pp. 52–53. Captain Kane's account of the escape is quoted by Admiral Kimberly in "Samoan Hurricane". Avoiding the helpless Vandalia, he approached the sinking Trenton, coming so close that Calliopes fore yard-arm passed over the American's deck. As Calliope rolled to port, the yard lifted over Trenton. The crew of the helpless and doomed American ship cheered Calliope as she slipped past. The British ship's drive for the open sea was called by the American commander on the scene "one of the grandest sights a seaman or anyone else ever saw; the lives of 250 souls depended on the hazardous adventure."Rousmaniere, After the Storm (2002), p. 87.
Making for the harbour mouth, Calliope's bow and stern alternately rose and plunged into the incoming waves; the propeller at times was spinning in air, requiring a careful hand on the throttle to keep the shaft from running away to destruction. Green seas were boarding the vessel and running the length of the deck. There were ten men on the wheel and more below handling relieving tackle on the tiller to assist in maintaining control of the rudder.Rousmaniere, After the Storm (2002), p. 96; Account of Captain Kane, quoted in Samoan Hurricane Taking two hours to travel four cables,Wilson (1996), p. 53A cable is one-tenth of a nautical mile; hence Calliope had moved only about 2400 feet (740 m) in two hours. the cruiser finally escaped the anchorage into the open sea, an achievement not known to Calliopes crew for some time, as sea spray and spume had reduced visibility to nothing.
The storm kept Calliope at sea the next two days. Re-entering the harbour on 19 March to search for the missing anchors, the crew discovered that every single ship present in the harbour—twelve in all—had been wrecked or sunk,The three German and the three American warships were wrecked, as were all six merchant ships. Paine, Warships of the World to 1900 (2000), p. 29. and nearly every crew had been diminished by the loss of men killed by the storm.Wilson (1996), p. 53. Unable to find the anchor amidst the wreckage,Gray, Amerika Samoa (1960), p. 91. and his ship having sustained significant damage, Captain Kane decided to return to Australia. He turned over Calliopes diving outfit to the US Navy to assist it in salvage, and received in return boats from the wrecked American ships to replace the boats which had been stripped from Calliope by the storm.