HMS Reynard (1848)

HMS Reynard was an 8-gun screw sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1848, conducted anti-piracy work in Chinese waters and was wrecked on the Pratas Islands in the South China Sea on 31 May 1851.

Construction
The Admiralty originally ordered the ship on 25 April 1847 from Woolwich Dockyard as the steam schooner Plumper. She was re-ordered from Deptford Dockyard as the screw sloop Reynard on 12 August 1847 to a design by John Edye, and laid down in August that year. She was launched on 21 March 1848 at Deptford and commissioned at Woolwich on 1 August 1848.

Reynard was the only ship ever built to the design. She was constructed of wood, was 147 ft long and 27 ft in the beam, and had a mean draught of 11 ft. She had a displacement of 656 tons.

She was powered by a J. and G. Rennie two-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engine driving a single screw. Rated at 60 nominal horsepower, and developing 165 indicated horsepower, this unit was capable of driving her at 8.2 kn.

Her armament of 8 guns consisted of two 32-pounder (56 cwt) muzzle-loading smooth-bore guns and six 32-pounder (25 cwt) muzzle-loading smooth-bore guns mounted to fire in a traditional broadside arrangement.



Service
After commissioning, Reynard served in the Channel Fleet under Sir Charles Napier, taking part in an abortive amphibious landing against Riff pirates in February 1849. On leaving the Channel Fleet. she sailed for the East Indies, leaving Singapore in company with HMS Cleopatra (1835) for Labuan and China on 10 October 1849, and arriving in Hong Kong on 14 November. She served on the China Station in an anti-piracy role, recapturing two junks and apprehending 15 Chinese pirates on 23 March 1850. She left Hong Kong to return to Woolwich to pay off, but on her way was required to accompany the brig Pilot to rescue the crew of the brig Velocipede, which had run aground on Pratas shoal, 170 miles southeast of Hong Kong.

Fate
In rescuing the crew of Velocipede, Reynard herself was wrecked on the Pratas Islands in the South China Sea on 31 May 1851. The whole crew survived the sinking. The ship could not be saved, and she was paid off as a total loss on 27 February 1852.