HMS Ganges (1821)

HMS Ganges was an 84-gun second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 10 November 1821 at Bombay Dockyard, constructed from teak. She is notable for being the last sailing ship of the Navy to serve as a flagship, and was the second ship to bear the name.

Admiralty orders of 4 June 1816 directed her to be built as a facsimile of HMS Canopus (the ex-French ship Franklin, which had fought at the Battle of the Nile). Building began in May 1819, under the direction of master shipbuilder Jamsetjee Bomanjee Wadia.

She was commissioned at Portsmouth in 1823, and served in several locations over the following decades. Notable events included a period as flagship of the South America Station for three years, during which she landed Royal Marines in Rio de Janeiro after a mutiny by Brazilian soldiers. She also saw action in the Mediterranean in 1838&mdash;40, bombarding Beirut and blockading Alexandria. She was paid off during the Crimean War, and saw no action.

From 1857–61, she was the flagship of the Pacific Station, based at Valparaíso, Chile under the command of Rear admiral Robert Lambert Baynes. She spent considerable time addressing the San Juan Boundary Dispute from the Esquimalt Royal Navy Dockyard at the Colony of Vancouver Island after which she returned to England to be converted into a training ship; she began service as the training ship HMS Ganges in 1865 at Mylor Harbour, near Falmouth; in 1899, she was moved to Harwich.

In 1905, she became part of RNTE (Royal Naval Training Establishment) Shotley, which also included the ships HMS Caroline and HMS Boscawen III.

In 1906, she was renamed HMS Tenedos III, then moved to Devonport to become part of the training establishment HMS Indus; on 13 August, 1910, she was renamed HMS Indus V. In October 1922, she was renamed as HMS Impregnable III and transferred to the training establishment HMS Impregnable, also at Devonport. In 1923, she was finally taken out of service and transferred to the dockyard, and in 1929 she was sold for breaking up. In 1930, after over a century in service, she was finally broken up at Plymouth. The captain's cabin in the stern was used in the construction of the art-deco hotel on Burgh Island in Devon, where it still remains to this day.

The town of Ganges, British Columbia and the adjacent waters of Ganges Harbour are named for HMS Ganges. The community of Vesuvius Bay, also on Saltspring Island, was named for HMS Vesuvius (1839), which was on assignment with the Ganges.

The ships badge has been adopted by the Saltspring Island Sailing Club and the badge's distinctive elephant is the key symbol in the club's burgee. In addition the transom board of one of HMS Ganges' ships boats has pride of place in Centennial Park in the town of Ganges, B.C.