HEIC Nemesis

[Spankbucket]

Having watched a recent episode of Niall Ferguson's TV series on China my attention was drawn to this ship, very advanced for its time, that played a decisive role in the First Opium War.

Please see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_(1839)

She is there claimed to be the first sea-going iron ship and went to China around the Cape of Good Hope.

Has any one ever researched and/or built one of these?

Any info would be appreciated as she's now on my list of possible future projects

Cheers...Bernie

[Spankbucket]

Hi All

Whilst hunting for details of this ship I came across a book:

Paddle Warships by D K Brown

I already possess other Conway books by Mr Brown so I am confident this will be a worthy tome!

However does any other member have (or have access) to a copy and if yes, does it contain enough detail on 'Nemesis' to give her a go...as it were??

Many Thanks in advance.....Cheers....Bernie

[Spankbucket]

BTW...forgot to say two things:

1: I have corrected her title to Honorable East India Company for whose navy she was commissioned.

2: The Paddler book referred to earlier is out of print and expensive to buy secondhand...hence the request for help.

Thanks

[Spankbucket]

Hi all

I am delighted to be able to report success!

Having tried the Wirral Archives, British Library and NMM I drew a blank. So I went the alternative HK route described below.

By net searching I had discovered that a model of her exists in the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence (http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/ce/Museum/Coastal/en/section1-1.php) and my enquiry to them was fruitful.

Although they held no plans they identified the model maker who had been commissioned to make her about 10 years ago. I contacted them in their present guise ( http://www.rcihk.com/ ) and after a bit of searching in one of their archives were able to come up with 2 Turbocad drawings showing complete plan, elevation, sections and fittings!!! These plans had been assembled with help from a deceased UK academic, details not specified, so I will make the presumption that they are accurate.

In my search for these plans I also learnt that Henri de Dupuy de Lome, the great French naval architect, was commissioned by the French government to visit England in the early 1840's and when he returned he produced a book entitled 'memoires sur le construction du batiments du fer' published in Paris in 1844. A digital copy can be found here:
 
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6208536h

It includes descriptions, dimensions etc. on all iron ships built in the UK up to the time of his visit. This inludes amongst many others the 'Nemesis'. As far as I can tell this book contains text only but there is an Appendix called 'Atlas' which contains plans but I failed to find a copy on-line. There seemed to be a copy of both volumes in the British Library Rare Books collection but you have to visit in person to access it.

I received exemplary help from the CEO at RCI and he is happy for his company to be referenced on this site. They seem to have built at least one other paddler on commission, the 'California' for a US line.

Sorry to go on a bit but I have really learned a lot from this project so far and wanted to share it!!!

Cheers...Bernie

[PeeWee]

its great to see that persistence in research can pay dividends.   the internet is a great help that we have now a days when looking for the obscure