HMS Encounter (1846)

HMS Encounter was an early wooden screw sloop of the Royal Navy. She was ordered as one of a pair of Encounter-class sloops in 1845, but her sister-ship, Harrier, was suspended six months after the order, and cancelled in 1851. Encounter had her armament radically altered in 1850 and she was broken up at Devonport in 1866.

Design and construction
Encounter was designed by the master shipwright of Portsmouth Dockyard, John Fincham, in 1844 and was ordered from Pembroke Dockyard on 5 February 1845. Harrier, a second vessel to the same design, was ordered on 26 March 1846 but was suspended in September the same year and cancelled in 1851.

Built with a traditional wooden construction, Encounter was lengthened at Deptford Dockyard before commissioning. She was fitted with a John Penn & Co 2-cylinder horizontal single-expansion trunk steam engine driving a single screw. Her engine was rated at 360 nominal horsepower and developed 673 ihp, giving a maximum speed of 10.2 kn. She was equipped with a full sailing rig.

She was armed with one 56-pounder (87cwt) gun, one 10-inch (85cwt) gun, four 8-inch/68-pounder (65cwt) guns and two 32-pounder (17cwt) carronades. By 1850 these had been changed for a homogeneous armament of twelve 32-pounder muzzle-loading smoothbore guns, and another pair of weapons were added in 1856.

Service history
Encounter commissioned for the first time at Portsmouth on 12 October 1849.

1851 Experimental squadron
The Royal Navy ran a series of "Experimental Squadrons" during the 1830, and 1840s, with Encounter taking part in the 1851 event. The intention was to trial different types of vessel in a variety of sea and wind conditions, with the aim of building experience of the comparative characteristics of new ships.

1853 Naval Review
The port line of the 1853 Naval Review was lead by the brand new 91-gun ship-of-the line HMS Agamemnon (1852) (flying the flag of Rear Admiral Armar Lowry-Corry), with Encounter taking seventh place. Queen Victoria, embarked in the yacht Fairy, inspected the ships as she passed between the port and starboard lines on the afternoon of 10 August 1853 on her way to Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.

China Station
Deployed to Chinese waters, Encounter took part in April 1854 in joint British-American operations against Chinese imperial troops in Shanghai with HMS Grecian (1822) and USS Plymouth (1844). Imperial Chinese troops had began assaulting foreigners, sacking warehouses and exacting tolls on boats sailing up and down the Huangpu River. On 3 April two British citizens were accosted by sword-wielding soldiers, and the British and US ships resolved to drive off the Chinese troops. Sixty US sailors and marines and 30 sailors from American merchant ships moved against the left flank of the Chinese entrenchments, while a force of 150 British sailors and marines, and additional "Shanghai volunteers," attacked on the right. Supported by gunfire from two privately-owned field pieces and a howitzer, the Allied force routed the Chinese defenders, who "fled in great disorder, leaving behind them a number of wounded and dead."

On 3 November 1854 Encounter's boats took part in attacks on pirates in the Macao River. Ten days later her boats attacked and captured a shore battery and destroyed junks in Coulan Bay.

Crimean War
The eastern theatre of the Crimean War saw British ships attacking Russian possessions in the Far East. On 1 June 1855 a squadron consisting of Encounter, HMS Pique (1834), HMS Dido (1836), HMS Brisk (1851), HMS Barracouta (1851) and the French frigate Alceste entered the harbour of Petropalovsk. They discovered that the Russian ships had sailed for the River Amur. On 3 June, Encounter, Barracouta and Pique sent armed boats to Rakouina Harbour to capture the Russian whaler Aian. On 7-8 June, the same three ships destroyed the batteries and magazines at Petropalovsk.

Second Opium War
The Second Opium War broke out in October 1856. Encounter was sent from Hong Kong up the Pearl River to Canton and on 27 October opened fire on selected targets in the city. On 12 November she took part in the bombardment and capture of the Bogue forts and on the following day of the Anunghoy forts. On 4 December she took part in the capture of the French-folly Fort. British forces withdrew from Canton on 8 January 1857. A Parliamentary grant of £33,000 was given to be shared between 56 ships for services on the China Station between 1856 and 1858, in which the ship's company of Encounter shared.

Refit and return to China
Between February 1858 and September 1859 she refitted in Devonport, and on commissioning escorted the gunboats HMS Snap (1855) and HMS Bouncer (1856) to China via Madeira, Rio de Janeiro and Singapore. Between 11 May and 15 December 1862 Encounter's commanding officer, Captain Roderick Dew, in charge of a squadron of French and English gunboats supported Chinese troops in action against rebel and pirate forces attacking the treaty ports.

On 21 July 1864 Encounter arrived at Plymouth Sound. She paid off for the last time on 3 August 1864.

Fate
Encounter was broken up at Devonport in May 1866.