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HMS Albatross (1873)

Sloop of the Royal Navy

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Words: 101
Native text: 737 characters
Dictionary match: 80%
Revision: 1327188153 · 2025-12-13T02:30:34Z

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Overview

HMS Albatross was a 4-gun Fantome-class sloop built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1870s.

History

In May 1886, she was driven ashore at Hong Kong whilst going to the assistance of the British ship Dafila, which had also driven ashore. Both vessels were refloated, and HMS Albatross towed Dafila in to Hoikow, China.

Figurehead

This carving is not a true figurehead but a scroll designed for a sloop’s vertical bow. The carving was still at Chatham Dockyard in 1938 but 11 years later, it had been moved to HMS Ganges in Shotley, Suffolk. This establishment closed in 1984 and the carving was transferred to the collections of the then Royal Naval Museum. The carving can be seen in the Figureheads Gallery at the National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth.

History & culture