HMS Psyche (1862)

History
UK
Name:	HMS Psyche
Ordered:	1861
Builder:	Pembroke Dockyard Engines by John Penn and Sons
Laid down:	8 January 1861
Launched:	29 March 1862
Commissioned:	1862
Fate:	Wrecked on 15 December 1870 Wreck blown up in February 1871
General characteristics
Class & type:	Psyche-class paddle despatch vessel
Displacement:	985 long tons (1,001 t)
Tons burthen:	835 bm
Length:	220 ft (67 m)
Beam:	28 ft 2 in (8.59 m)
Depth of hold:	14 ft 6 in (4.42 m)
Installed power:	1,440 ihp (1,070 kW)
Propulsion:	2-cylinder oscillating steam engine
Armament:	2 × 20 pdr (9.1 kg) guns

HMS Psyche was a wooden Psyche-class paddle despatch vessel built to an 1860 design by Isaac Watts. She was ordered from Pembroke Dockyard in and launched on 29 March 1862, having cost c. £43,000 to build.

She was wrecked on 15 December 1870 off Catania, Italy, while carrying a party including George Howard Darwin to observe the solar eclipse from Sicily. Her wreck was blown up in February 1871.

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.
• Winfield, Rif & Lyon, David (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC 52620555.