HMS Doterel (1880)

The Doterel class was designed by Nathaniel Barnaby as a development of William Henry White's 1874 . The graceful clipper bow of the Ospreys was replaced by a vertical stem and the engines were more powerful. The hull was of composite construction, with wooden planks over an iron frame. Ships of the class were armed with two 7-inch (90 cwt) muzzle-loading rifled guns on pivoting mounts, and four 64-pounder muzzle-loading rifled guns (two on pivoting mounts, and two broadside). Four machine guns and one light gun completed the weaponry. All the ships of the class were provided with a barque rig, that is, square-rigged foremast and mainmast, and fore-and-aft sails only on the mizzen mast. Crew Doterel would have had a normal complement of 140–150 men, although on the day of the explosion and sinking she had 155 men on board, despite five having deserted since leaving Sheerness. Some of the supernumeraries may have been bound for ships already on station in the Pacific; one of the survivors, Engineer Walker, was due to join . ==Construction==

Doterel was ordered from Chatham Dockyard and laid down on 13 May 1878. She was launched on 2 March 1880 from Number 3 slip, and was named by Miss Hunt-Grubbe, daughter of the captain of Steam Reserves at Chatham. She was commissioned on 7 December 1880. ==Service==

Sloops such as Doterel were used in the far-flung parts of Britain's maritime empire for constabulary duties. Barnaby, Doterels designer, was an enthusiast of heavily armed but un-armoured frigates, sloops and corvettes, arguing that the Navy's tasks were best accomplished by a number of small, cheap ships. The system of colonial cruisers provided an inexpensive peace-keeping force for the protection of British interests, and gave imperial representatives a supply of sailors, marines and guns to deal with local rulers, rebellions and banditry. Doterel was assigned to the Pacific Station, which included the western coasts of North and South America as well as China and Japan. Under Commander Richard Evans she sailed from Sheerness, Kent on 17 January 1881. Having called at Madeira, St Vincent and Montevideo, she anchored at Punta Arenas, Chile on 26 April 1881 at 09:00. ==Sinking==

At about 10:15 Eyewitnesses described how objects of every type were thrown high into the air, and a huge column of smoke was seen to rise from the ship. Boats of every kind put off from shore to seek survivors, as well as from the missionary schooner Allen Gardiner, the Chilean schooner San Jose, and the pontoon Kate Kellogg. The captain was one of the twelve survivors, rescued by a boat from San Jose. He was found stripped naked by the blast and bleeding from several wounds. The various body parts were put into boxes and buried at sea the same afternoon. The contemporary rules governing pensions allowed the widow or dependent children of the dead men a gratuity equal to a year's pay, although the loss of their property was not compensated. ==Cause of the explosion==

Initial reports blamed an explosion in the boilers, which detonated the magazine. Conjecture also suggested the Fenians could have blown up the ship with a coal torpedo, the explosion could have been caused by a Whitehead torpedo lost by in 1878, or coal gas from the bunkers might have caused the explosion. An enquiry was held at Portsmouth, which referred the evidence to a scientific committee. It is a terebene, a series of hydrocarbons produced from oil of turpentine and sulphuric acid. While cleaning the leaking explosive liquid from beneath the forward magazine, the men may have broken the rule of not having an open flame below decks. The xerotine siccative exploded first, and a system of ventilation was recommended for all ships of the Royal Navy. ==Memorials==

• A memorial plaque made of wood and canvas was placed in the "British section" of Punta Arenas Cemetery in 1936 by the crew of the Turquoise. • A marble wall tablet was placed in the chapel lobby of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, now the Old Royal Naval College. • A private memorial exists in Winchester Cathedral to William Carmichael Forest, 1st Lieutenant of HMS Doterel, son of Captain Forest, Chief Constable of Hampshire and his wife Selina. William's body was recovered much later and buried in the cemetery at 'Sandy Point' on July 4, 1881, according to the memorial. • A sister ship of the Doterel, HMS Gannet, still exists at Chatham's historic dockyard and can be visited there. ==In literature==

Arthur Conan Doyle referred to the sinking of Doterel in the short story "That Little Square Box". ==Notes==