1812–1847 Trincomalee is one of two surviving British frigates of her era—her near-sister (of the modified
Leda class) is now a museum ship in
Dundee. After being ordered on 30 October 1812,
Trincomalee was built in
Bombay,
India, by the
Wadia family of shipwrights in
teak, due to oak shortages in Britain as a result of shipbuilding drives for the Napoleonic Wars. The ship was named
Trincomalee after the 1782
Battle of Trincomalee off the Ceylon (
Sri Lanka) port of that name. Work on the Trincomalee began in May 1816. Ceremonially an engraved silver nail was hammered into the ship's keel by the master shipbuilder
Jamsetjee Bomanjee Wadia, this being considered vital for the ship's well-being, according to
Parsi Zoroastrian tradition. With a construction cost of £23,000 (approximately £2,015,000 in 2020),
Trincomalee was launched on 12 October 1817. Commander Philip Henry Bridges sailed her to
Portsmouth Dockyard, where she arrived on 30 April 1819, with a journey costing £6,600. During the maiden voyage the ship arrived at
Saint Helena on 24 January 1819, where she stayed for 6 days, leaving with an additional passenger, a surgeon who had attended
Napoleon at
Longwood House on the island, Mr John Stokoe. After being fitted out at a further cost of £2,400,
Trincomalee was placed in
reserve until 1845, when she was re-armed with fewer guns giving greater firepower, had her stern reshaped and was reclassified as a
sixth-rate spar-decked
corvette.
1847–1895 Trincomalee departed from Portsmouth in 1847 and remained in service for ten years, serving on the
North America and West Indies Station. During her time, she was to help quell riots in
Haiti and stop a threatened invasion of
Cuba, and serve on anti-
slavery patrol. In 1849, she was despatched to
Newfoundland and
Labrador before being recalled to
Britain in 1850. In 1852 she sailed to join the
Pacific Squadron on the west coast of
America, and upon returning to England in 1857, she was put back 'in ordinary' after arriving at Chatham on 4 September. She was used in conjunction with as an accommodation ship, a training ship, and a holiday ship first based in
Falmouth and then
Milford Haven. The relocation caused great dismay in Falmouth. She was based in
Portsmouth Harbour in 1954. She remained in service until 1986, after which she was again restored and renamed back to
Trincomalee in 1992.
Later years Now listed as part of the
National Historic Fleet, following her recent restoration
Trincomalee has become the centrepiece of the
National Museum of the Royal Navy based in
Hartlepool.
Trincomalee holds the distinction of being the oldest British warship still afloat as , although 52 years her senior, is in
dry dock. Until his death in 1929, the Falmouth-based painter
Henry Scott Tuke used the ship and its trainees as subject matter. == Figurehead ==