HMS Tiger (1849)

HMS Tiger was a steam frigate of the British Royal Navy launched in 1849, which was lost in 1854 after grounding near Odessa during the Crimean War.

Ship history
The 1,221 ton ship, designed by John Edye, was built at Chatham Dockyard, and launched on 1 December 1849. Powered by a 400 horsepower steam engine which drove side-paddlewheels, she was originally rated as a 10-gun sloop, but was re-rated as 2nd class frigate in 1852, and carried 16 guns.

Bombardment of Odessa
On 6 April 1854, soon after the declaration of war by Britain and France on Russia, the British steam frigate HMS Furious (1850), under the command of Captain William Loring, sailed to Odessa and sent a boat into the port under a flag of truce to collect the British Consul there. When leaving the port the boat was fired upon by the Russians. The British naval commander Vice-Admiral James Dundas demanded an explanation from General Dimitri von der Osten-Sacken, military governor of Odessa, for this breach of the laws of war. His replies were considered unacceptable, so a squadron was quickly gathered to mount a punitive expedition.

The squadron consisted of eight steam paddle-wheel frigates; the French Descartes, Mogador and Vauban, and the British HMS Furious (1850), HMS Retribution (1844), HMS Sampson (1844), HMS Terrible (1845) and Tiger, supported by the 21-gun screw frigate HMS Highflyer (1851), the 50-gun sailing frigate HMS Arethusa (1849), and the 70-gun steam ship HMS Sans Pareil (1851). There were also six ship's boats armed with 24-pounder rockets; two from HMS Britannia (1820), and one each from HMS Agamemnon (1852), HMS Trafalgar (1841), Sans Pareil and Highflyer.

On 22 April the Anglo-French squadron arrived at Odessa. At 5 a.m the first division (Descartes, Sampson, Tiger and Vauban) sailed in and opened fire on the Russian positions from a range of about 2000 yd with little effect. Vauban was hit by a red-hot shot that started a fire aboard and was obliged to temporarily withdraw. The second division (Furious, Terrible, Retribution and Mogador) then joined the attack, while Arethusa, Highflyer and Sans Pareil remained offshore as a reserve. It was not long before a shot from Terrible hit a magazine on the Imperial Mole, which exploded causing great damage.

About 24 Russian ships in the military port were set on fire, and several British and French merchantmen confined there took advantage of the confusion to escape. Meanwhile, the rocket-boats set fire to the dockyard storehouses. Late in the action the Arethusa, under the command of Captain William Robert Mends, engaged batteries on the south side of the Quarantine Mole, until recalled. As numerous fires were now threatening the town, the attack was ended at 5.30 p.m., and the squadron withdrew.

Casualties were very light; 2 killed and 1 wounded in Vauban, 3 wounded in Retribution, 6 wounded in Sampson, and 1 killed and 4 wounded in Terrible.

Loss of Tiger
On 11 May 1854, Tiger, the screw sloop HMS Niger (1846), and paddle-wheel sloop HMS Vesuvius (1839) were detached to cruise off Odessa. Tiger became separated from her consorts in thick fog. At around 6 a.m on the 12th she grounded on the shore about five miles south-west of Odessa. She fired guns to attract the attention of the other ships, without result. She then launched her boats and streamed her anchors in an attempt to re-float herself, and also jettisoned all but one of her guns to lighten the ship. Around 9 a.m. a battery of Russian field artillery opened fire from the cliffs above the ship. Within ten minutes Tiger was on fire in two places, and the Captain and several others had been severely wounded. In this hopeless position, Tiger was compelled to surrender, but not before her crew attempted to burn her. The crew were taken as prisoners to Odessa, and with the appearance of the Niger and Vesuvius a few hours later the Russians, fearing that Tiger might be recovered, opened fire upon her, and succeeded in blowing her up. Some sources suggested that the Tiger was later salved by the Russians and commissioned by them under the name Tigr; but this is untrue and due to a misreading of Russian naval records; in fact the frigate's engines were salvaged and installed in the Russian royal yacht Tigr.

Captain Giffard lost his left leg, and later developed gangrene, from which he died on 1 June. He was buried at Odessa with full military honours on 2 June. A midshipman, two seamen, and a boy also died from their wounds, while three other wounded men recovered.

The Tiger gun
A month after her sinking the Russians raised several guns from Tiger. Two were taken to a nearby battery; one exploded during testing. In 1904, to mark the 50th anniversary of the bombardment, the remaining gun was mounted on a pedestal on Nikolaev Boulevard. In 2004 further restoration work was carried out and the gun was fired on 19 August. It is now located outside Odessa City Hall.