HMS
Sans Pareil. Pre Dreadnaught Battleship of
the Royal Navy, HMS Sans Pareil was launched on 9th May 1887 and served in
the Mediterranean in 1895 returning in 1896 to serve as a port guardship
at Sheerness. She was later put into reserve and then broken up in April
1907. Sans Pareil's sister ship was HMS Victoria which was lost in
collision with HMS Camperdown. The Sans Pareil was a steel first-class battleship completed for sea
in 1889. She was built by the Thames Ironworks Co at Blackwall and engined
by Humphreys & Tennant.
Displacement: 10,740 tons. Horse power: 7500. Length:
340 ft. Beam: 70ft. Draught: 29' 3". Armament:
Two 16.25in guns, one 10 in gun, twelve 6 in guns, eight torpedo tubes (2
submerged). Speed 14.5 knots. Complement:
630. |
HMS Sans Pareil at Malta c.1900.
A
reproduction of this original photo / photo-postcard size 10" x
7" approx available. Order photograph here © Walker
Archive. Order Code PL0032 |
HMS Sans Pareil - Portguard Ship at Sheerness. Photograph shows Sans Pareil in
1895/6
commanded by Captain J L Hammet.
A
large image size 10" x 7" approx, is available. Reproduced
from the original negative / photo under license from MPL, the copyright
holder. A signed numbered certificate is supplied. Price
£25. Order photograph here Order Code
XMP152
Original
republished © MPL Photograph (Postcard Size). Price £5 Click here
to order. Order Code MP152 |
The Sans Pareil photographed at the Royal Review
of 1902. She was the flagship of Rear-Admiral Pelham Aldrich, the Admiral
Superintendent at Portsmorth Dockyard at this time. |
HMS Sans Pareil, June, 1896 |
HMS Sans Pareil.
A
reproduction of this original photo / photo-postcard size 10" x
7" approx available. Order photograph here © Walker
Archive. Order Code PH623 |
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Working Quick Firers on the Upper Deck of the Sans
Pareil
The scene is on the upper deck of the battleship Sans
Pareil, where the men are shown at quarters, working some of the quick
firing guns of the ship. After returning from the Mediterranean in 1895
the Sans Pareil had all her original armament (except the big 110 ton guns
in her turrets) removed, and quick firers, both heavy and light,
substituted throughout the ship. |
Preparing a Ships Light Gun for Shore Service
The handiness and capacity of the sailor for adapting
himself to his surroundings is proverbial. It is a characteristic that the
authorities turn to account by fitting his weapons, wherever possible, for
either land or sea service. In the picture a party of bluejackets are seen
preparing a ships light gun for shore work - taking it off its ships
carriage to mount it as a field piece. Each man of the gun team in landing
carries with him some portion of the gun's gear or mechanism, ready on
reaching shore to assemble these and to rapidly prepare the piece for
action.
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Some of the Company on the Sans Pareil
These are some of the men who form the ship's company
of the big first-class battleship Sans Pareil, the port-guardship at
Sheerness in 1896: - seamen, in blue ordinary rig and canvas working rig;
marines, in blue sea service uniform; and marine artillerymen. There are
upwards of 700 men in all allotted to a ship such as the Sans Pareil,
under ordinary circumstances, though she was not more than half to
two-thirds manned, her complement as a port guardship remaining to be
fully filled up on mobilisation from the coast guardsmen of the reserve.
These were held ready to board the ship at short notice, and were all
stationed within easy reach. |
On the Forecastle of the Sans Pareil Looking Aft
The Sans Pareil's sister ship the Victoria sank in
the Levant with the loss of many lives. One can realise as one looks aft
on the Sans Pareil, how, as the bows of the Victoria sank lower and the
ship healed more and more, tons of water poured down into the chain
lockers and through the turret gun ports until the sudden catastrophe
came, Admiral Tyron watching it all from the platform high up above the
conning tower. Since that disaster the Sans Pareil was practically
reconstructed below, and every care was taken to safeguard her stability. Original
magazine photo page published 1895 - 1902. Price £25.
Or
reproduction of photograph ready mounted. Price £25. Click here to
order. ORDER CODE 1V101 |
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Serving a 6-Pounder on the Sans Pareil |
HMS Sans Pareil 1902 as she tests the new floating dock
(Bermuda Dock) in the Medway. The lifting capacity of the floating dock is
17,500 tons.
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