HMS Thalia

[Mike in Tiny]

Hi, I've been away for a while, but now I'm trying to find out about the hulk/ base HMS Thalia. Here's what I know:

HMS Thalia was the last ship to be built at Woolwich Royal Dockyard, laid down in 1866 and Launched 14th July 1869 and completed for teh Royal Navy in May 1870. She was of the Juno Screw Corvette class. (from worldnavyships.com)

HMS Thalia was a Juno-class wooden screw corvette launched in 1869. She was converted to a 10-gun troop ship in 1886, a powder hulk in 1891 and a base ship in 1915. She was sold in 1920. (from wikipedia)

 

I'm interested jn finding out where she was berthed in her duties as Base Ship.  Thank you

 

[seaJane]

Cromarty, according to the January 1915 issue of the Navy List digitised by the National Library of Scotland and available/searchable on archive.org.

 

No search results for that name in the April, July or October 1915 issues.

 

sJ

[Mike in Tiny]

Thank you sea-jane, my apologies for not replying earlier as I'm rather  preoccupied with writing my wife's family genealogy in the form of a story line.

[HughG]

Only just seen Mike in Tiny query (new forum member), but I once did some research regarding the Thalia in the course of compiling a family history, which may be of interest. There's rather a lot of it, so I'll try to attach it as a file...  Ahh - no dice, apparently I can't attach a 'Word' file. That's a pity. In a nutshell, after she was hulked, Thalia spent about twenty years as a powder magazine moored in the Thames off Woolwich Arsenal. She was then towed to Scotland at the start of WW1 to become a base ship for a patrol unit made up I believe of trawlers. After that, sold and scrapped just up the river there. I unearthed loads more details and would be happy to share if we could find a way to do so. My grandfather was a policeman in the Met and served in Woolwich Dockyard division from 1890 until 1920 - one of his duties was to row out to Thalia to check that all was well and make sure she didn't go bang.

[horatio2]

Welcome to the GWF.

HMS THALIA was commissioned as a parent ship for boats of the Auxiliary Patrol (Cromarty and Peterhead) on 9 March 1916, de-commissioned in May 1919 and sold 18 months later. On 9 march 1916 she took over the traewler/drifter parenting role from HMS STEPHEN FURNESS. 

I would be interested in your research into her earlier career. Where was she scrapped?

Edited 2 October , 2020 by horatio2

[BillyH]

1 hour ago, HughG said:

Only just seen Mike in Tiny query (new forum member), but I once did some research regarding the Thalia in the course of compiling a family history, which may be of interest. There's rather a lot of it, so I'll try to attach it as a file...  Ahh - no dice, apparently I can't attach a 'Word' file . . . . .

 

You could convert it to a pdf, or scan it as a jpeg, and you can then attach it.

 

BillyH.

[HughG]

Information regarding Thalia.pdfRight - converting it to a pdf seems to have worked, thank you! Providing you can open it and wade through it all, you'll see that she was probably scrapped in Inverness. But I didn't know all the details of her service as a base ship, so that was interesting. Very surprised by speed of responses - I assumed I would wait months for a reply, if indeed I ever got one!

[horatio2]

A couple of observations on the above extract. The Auxiliary Patrol was in business (but still rapidy expanding) from mid-August 1914. A succession of parent ships for the Cromarty/Peterhead boats were brought into service from the earliest days - HMS EVENING STAR - HMS EILEEN (Nov 1914) - HMS STEPHEN FURNESS (Jan 1915) - HMS THALIA (Mar 1916) - HMS LAVATERA (at Inverness by Jun 1917  - HMS NAIRN (at Peterhead by Mar 1918). THALIA parented boats of the AP for Patrol Areas IV and V. EVENING STAR and EILEEN do not feature greatly because the Cromarty parenting task was initially held at Rosyth by HMS COLUMBINE. 

 

An interesting piece of research. Thank you for sharing.

 

Edited 2 October , 2020 by horatio2

[HughG]

Thanks for the additional information! It seems suitable candidates for base-ships were pretty plentiful  in the Cromarty Firth - which makes it even more puzzling that they chose to tow Thalia all the way up from the Thames in the middle of a war! Seems extraordinary to me, at least.

[Guest]

Not sure if this is relevant to this thread, but there is a seaman buried in Nigg Parish Church, just across from Cromarty, from HMS Thalia. Invergordon and the Cromarty Firth was home to the Fleet during this time. 
I’m not versed in the Thalia, but thought this might be interesting.

[Guest]

Hi. Thought this might interest you in your research of HMS Thalia

812923679_WilliamEdwardBurbidgeRoyalNavalReserveRecords.pdf

 

[JohnABDN]

This grave stone is in Nellfeild Cemetery, Aberdeen.

 

Edited 22 June , 2023 by JohnABDN
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