Ship Spotter Steve
  • Home
  • Bulk Carriers
  • Cement Carriers
  • Container Ships
  • Crude Oil Tankers
  • Cruise Ships
  • Dredgers
  • Ferries
  • Fishing Vessels
  • General Cargo Ships
  • Military & Law Enforcement
  • Off Shore Supply/Safety/Support
  • Pilot Vessels
  • Research Ships
  • Sailing Ships
  • Tankers
  • Tugs
  • Vehicle Carriers
  • Misc
  • Funnels
  • Work Boats
  • Pleasure Boats & Yachts
  • Tenders & Launches
  • Prints, Postcards & Paintings
  • Buildings, Monuments & Places
  • Yearly Statistics
  • Ship List
  • Links
  • Blog
  • Blog Index
Contact me

HMS HECLA & TWO ACTS OF HEROISM

3/11/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Using the Hovercraft and sailing from Ryde to Southsea we visited Portsmouth on 30 October 2013.

Whilst walking into the town center I noticed the above large rock which was inlaid with a bronze plaque describing an engagement in 1854.

In 1854 during the Crimean War a landing party from HMS Hecla was attacked by a large body of Cossacks and many would have been killed if it had not been for the courage of two sailors who taking cover behind this stone kept the enemy at bay until the safety of the whole party was assured. After the engagement the commander of the vessel Captain Hall had this boulder carried to his ship and transported to Portsmouth. 

HMS Hecla was a 2nd class steam powered sloop launched on 14 January 1839, she was armed with 6 guns had a wooden hull and a displacement of 1096 tons, she was sold in 1863.
Picture
Another story relating to HMS Hecla relates to one of the earliest act of bravery to win a Victoria Cross. This was carried out by Charles Davis Lucas, a twenty-year-old mate serving on HMS Hecla with the Baltic Fleet under Admiral Sir Charles Napier in the summer of 1854. 

Napier was a highly popular admiral but he and his fleet had come under public and parliamentary criticism for lack of success against the enemy. The Russians were content to stay in port sheltering inside their coastal fortresses, one of which was at Bomarsund which guarded the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia.

Although perhaps not normally good tactics for ships to attack heavily defended shore forts on 21 June 1854 Captain Hall commanding HMS Hecla led his ship and the two 16-gun paddle-steamers HMS Odin and HMS Valorous through the narrow channel to Bomarsund. 

Although the ships were fired on by troops and artillery from the shore and also from the main batteries in the fort all three ships dropped anchor in the evening and began an intermittent bombardment which lasted until one o'clock the next morning. This apparently resuted in little lasting damage to the shore defences and although Captain Hall was later commended by the King of Sweden he was criticised by the Admiralty for using so much ammunition.

At the height of the bombardment a live shell from an enemy battery landed on Hecla's upper-deck, with its fuse still hissing. All hands were ordered to fling themselves flat on the deck, but Lucas ran forward, picked up the shell and tossed it overboard. It exploded before it hit the water resulting in some minor damage to the ship and two men being slightly hurt but thanks to Lucas nobody was killed or seriously wounded. He was immediately promoted to Acting Lieutenant for his bravery and the Admiralty later confirmed the promotion on Napier's strongest recommendation. Lucas's Cross was gazetted in the first list of 24th February 1857 and he was present at the first Investiture to receive his Cross from Queen Victoria in Hyde Park on 26th June that year.

As a side note Captain Hall's only daughter married the then Captain Charles Davis Lucas in 1879.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    My interest in ships and the sea started back in 2006 when I worked for a couple of years  on the banks of the River Mersey. I have since been on a couple of cruises around the Med and in the Far East and have started to take more interest in researching and photographing some of the ships and other vessels seen on my travels.

    Archives

    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.