Editing HMS Blossom (1806)

{{short description|19th-century British Royal Navy ship}}
{{other ships|HMS Blossom}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2015}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
| Ship image = [[File:HMS Blossom (1806).jpg|300px|HMS Blossom]]
| Ship caption = His Majesty's ship ''Blossom'' off the Sandwich Islands
}}
{{Infobox ship career
| Hide header = 
| Ship country = United Kingdom
| Ship flag = [[File:Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg|60px]]
| Ship name = HMS ''Blossom''
| Ship ordered = 19 November 1805
| Ship builder = Robert Guillaume, [[Northam, Hampshire|Northam]]
| Ship original cost = 
| Ship yard number = 
| Ship laid down = February 1806
| Ship launched = 10 December 1806
| Ship completed = 21 April 1807
| Ship acquired = 
| Ship commissioned = 
| Ship renamed = 
| Ship reclassified =*Exploration ship in 1825
*[[Survey ship]] in 1829
*Hulked in 1833
| Ship motto = 
| Ship nickname = 
| Ship honours = 
| Ship fate = Broken up in August 1848
| Ship notes = 
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
| Hide header = 
| Header caption =<ref name=Winfield>Winfield (2008), pp.261–2.</ref>
| Ship class = 18-gun {{sclass|Cormorant|ship-sloop|0}} [[sloop-of-war]]
| Ship type = 
| Ship tons burthen = 427 [[Builder's Old Measurement|bm]]
| Ship length =*{{convert|108|ft|4+1/2|in|m|1|abbr=on}} (overall)
*{{convert|90|ft|11+1/2|in|m|1|abbr=on}} (keel)
| Ship beam = {{convert|29|ft|8+3/4|in|m|1|abbr=on}}
| Ship height = 
| Ship draught = 
| Ship hold depth = {{convert|9|ft|m|1|abbr=on}}
| Ship power = 
| Ship sail plan = [[Full-rigged ship]]
| Ship speed = 
| Ship range = 
| Ship endurance = 
| Ship complement = 121
| Ship armament =* (as built)
* Main deck: 16 × 32-pounder [[carronade]]s
* [[Quarterdeck|QD]]: 6 × 18-pounder carronades
* [[Forecastle|Fc]]: 2 × 6-pounder guns + 2 × 18-pounder carronades
| Ship notes = 
}}
|}

'''HMS ''Blossom''''' was an 18-gun {{sclass|Cormorant|ship-sloop|0}} [[sloop-of-war]].  She was built in 1806 and is best known for the 1825–1828 expedition under [[Frederick William Beechey|Captain Beechey]] to the Pacific Ocean. She explored as far north as [[Point Barrow]], [[Alaska]], the furthest point into the Arctic any non-[[Inuit]] had been at the time. She was finally broken up in 1848.

==Napoleonic Wars==
On 26 February 1808 ''Blossom'' was in company with {{HMS|Eclipse|1807|2}} when they captured ''Sally and Hetty'', William Fleming, Master.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=16332|date=9 January 1810|page=63}}</ref> ''Blossom'' was in company with [[French corvette Perçante (1795)|''Jamaica'']] when they recaptured the American brig ''Iris''.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=16420|page=1733|date=30 October 1810}}</ref>

In the mid-morning of 23 February 1812, ''Blossom'' was {{convert|5|league|spell=in|lk=in}} off [[Cabrera, Balearic Islands|Cabrera]] when a strange schooner sailed towards her, mistaking her for a merchantman. When the schooner realized her mistake a five-hour chase followed before ''Blossom'' was able to capture the schooner {{ship||Jean Bart|1807 ship|2}}. ''Jean Bart'' was of 147.5 tons [[Builder's Old Measurement|(bm)]] and had been launched in [[Marseilles]] only five weeks earlier. She was armed with five 12 and two 6-pounder guns, and had a crew of 106 men under the command of Jean Francis Coulome. She had made no captures but within the previous five days her excellent sailing had enabled her to evade two British frigates and a brig.<ref>{{London Gazette|page=756|issue=16596|date=21 April 1812}}</ref>

On 18 August 1812, shortly after the outbreak of war with America, ''Blossom'' and {{HMS|Hyacinth|1806|2}} were in sight when the [[letter of marque]] {{ship||Sir Alexander Ball|1809 ship|2}} captured the American ship ''Grace Ann Green''.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=17106|page=210|date=3 February 1816}}</ref>

==Post-war==
''Blossom'' was re-rated as a 24-gun [[sixth rate]] in February 1817. Between July 1824 and August 1825, she was at Deptford and Woolwich being converted to serve as an exploration ship in "icy seas". In January 1825 Commander Frederick Beechey commissioned her for exploration of the [[Pacific Northwest]].<ref name=Winfield/>

In 1917 a copper plate was discovered in the [[Bonin Islands]], inscribed with a message claiming the islands as a British possession:{{Blockquote|text=HBM Ship ''Blossom'' Capt F. W. Beechey took possession of this Group of Islands in the Name of and on the behalf of His Britannic Majesty George the IV on the 14th June 1827.<ref>{{cite journal | last =Oldman | first =W. O. | title =Historical Relic | journal =The Journal of the Polynesian Society | volume =53 | issue =4 | page =211 | publisher =The Polynesian Society | date =December 1944 | jstor =20702990}}</ref>}}

In 1827, Captain Beechey discovered a submerged obstacle in [[San Francisco Bay]], that threatened ships sailing to the young port of [[San Francisco, California]]. His soundings revealed that it was a large rock, whose top was {{convert|5|feet|m}} below the water line at mean low tide. The rock was previously uncharted, and too large to be removed from the channel by the technology available then. Beechey named the obstacle [[Blossom Rock (San Francisco Bay)|Blossom Rock]], in honour of his ship. Beechey also discovered that two especially prominent giant [[Sequoia (genus)|sequoia]] trees on the east coast of the bay could serve as a navigational aid to locate the position of the rock, allowing ships to bypass the obstacle and avoid a wreck.{{efn|The two trees were thereafter known as "Navigation Trees." They grew in Alameda County, California in what is now [[Roberts Regional Recreation Area]] until the early 1850s, when they were cut down by loggers.<ref name= "OHP">[http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/ListedResources/Detail/962 "Site of Blossom Rock Navigation Trees – Historical Landmark." California Office of Historic Preservation. 13 November 1984.] Accessed 7 September 2017.</ref>}} This location is marked by California Historical Landmark #962, "Blossom Rock Navigation Trees." In 1870, American military engineers, led by R. S. Williamson, were able to develop technology adequate to remove enough of Blossom Rock to mitigate the hazard to ships.

''Blossom'' was paid off in May 1828. Between April and August 1829, she was at Woolwich being fitted as a [[survey ship]]. In May, Richard Owen recommissioned her for the [[Jamaica Station (Royal Navy)|Jamaica station]]. She remained there until some point in 1832.<ref name=Winfield/> While she was there the 1-gun schooner {{HMS|Monkey|1826|2}} served as ''Blossom''{{'}}s [[ship's tender]] until ''Monkey'' wrecked in 1831. The Navy then purchased a second schooner to function as a tender for ''Blossom'', and renamed the tender {{HMS|Monkey|1831|2}}. The Navy sold ''Monkey'' after ''Blossom'' returned to Britain in 1832.

==Fate==
''Blossom'' was hulked as a [[Lazaretto|lazarette]] at [[Sheerness]] in January 1833, and was broken up at Chatham in August 1848.

==See also==
* [[European and American voyages of scientific exploration]]
* [[Blossom Point]], [[Wrangel Island]], named after the ship.

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==Sources==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite book |title=Narrative of A Voyage To The Pacific And Beering's Strait, To Co-Operate With The Polar Expeditions Performed In His Majesty's Ship Blossom, Under The Command Of Captain F. W. Beechey, R. N. In The Years 1825, 26, 27, 28 |last=Beechey |first=Frederick William |author-link=Frederick William Beechey |year=1832 |publisher=Carey & Lea |location=Philadelphia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7YcBAAAAYAAJ |access-date=2009-08-15}}
* {{Cite Colledge2006}}
* {{winfield}}
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=kpMGlc-cvAoC&dq=%22hms+blossom%22&pg=PA19 Ships of discovery and exploration, by Lincoln P. Paine]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090509233237/http://nihongo.human.metro-u.ac.jp/~long/bonins/chap01.htm Earliest Records of the Islands Their Discovery by Captain Beechey, H.M.S. ''Blossom'']
* [http://www.pdavis.nl/ShowShip.php?id=2491 Mid-Victorian RN vessel HMS ''Blossom'']

== External links ==
{{Commons category|2=HMS Blossom}}
* {{OL subject|blossom_(ship)|HMS ''Blossom'' (1806)}}
* [https://views.tlcmap.org/collection-journey.html?line=route&load=https://ghap.tlcmap.org/publiccollections/56/json Map of the 1825-1828 voyage under the command of Beechey]

{{Polar exploration}}
{{Royal Navy Arctic exploration}}
{{Cormorant class ship-sloop}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blossom (1806)}}
[[Category:1806 ships]]
[[Category:Arctic exploration vessels]]
[[Category:Cormorant-class ship-sloops]]
[[Category:Survey vessels of the Royal Navy]]
[[Category:Victorian-era sloops of the United Kingdom]]