To date the Trincomalee had cost £23,642 to build, £6,681 for victualling and stores for the sea crossing to Portsmouth and now £2,405 to place her "in ordinary", the Napoleonic wars being over she was no longer required by the Admiralty and it was to be another ten years before any more work was to be done on her, when on 3rd July 1829, she was dry docked and re-coppered before being returned to her moorings.

Frigates

Frigates were the Naval equivalent of light cavalry, they patrolled the seas in a reconnaissance role, attacking enemy merchant vessels and engaging enemy frigates. Their role included showing the British flag around the globe and outside hostilities policing British interests. If a despatch was to be carried urgently to a fleet, then like as not it would be a frigate entrusted with the task. They sought out enemy fleets and reported their positions, darting away from the heavier enemy ships of the line who out gunned them.

French designs proved better than their English equivalents, often being larger, faster and with superior armament. Another problem faced by the admiralty was the lack of timber, as it required 2,000 oaks to build a ship of the line. It was for this reason that the Trincomalee and her sister ship were to be built in India from teak.

Frigates of the Hebe class had three decks, the upper, the lower, and the orlop deck, with a quarter deck and forecastle. Crew quarters and messes were in the lower deck along with the wardroom, officers cabins and store rooms. Stores were kept down in the hold or orlop deck (the lowest in the ship), initially water was stored in wooden barrels and soon became stagnant, all washing being done in sea water. A later addition to the ship were iron water tanks which could hold 10 tons of drinking water.

Powder and cartridges were stored in the forward magazine and continually guarded by an armed marine. Charges for the guns being relayed to the gun decks from the magazine by young boys known as powder monkeys.

Re-Fitting was to be on the 16th April 1845, before she was again dry docked and re-coppered before being re-moored. On the 19th August 1845, Trincomalee was again dry docked and " razeed", a process whereby she was cut down and converted to a "spar decked corvette", re-rated to 26 guns from a previous 46. This cost a further £19,785.

An elliptical stem was also fitted at this time to increase her firing arc for the after guns. In 1847 Trincomalee's masts and rigging were refitted and in the July she was commissioned at Portsmouth for use in the North American and West Indies Station under Captain Richard Laird Warren, she carried a complement of 240 men (the usual corvette complement being 212).

Policing

Late November 1847 found H.M.S. Trincomalee at Bermuda, from where she sailed to police the Caribbean. She helped the British Consul suppress the Negro riots on Haiti then sailed to Havana to guard against an invasion of Cuba.

After this she patrolled the seas keeping a check on any ships she encountered, on the lookout for slavers and carrying provisions around the Caribbean Islands. In 1848 her spars were damaged whilst she was harboured at Antigua when the Island was struck by a hurricane.

Recall to England

In the June of 1850, Trincomalee was ordered back to England, she carried home the sick and injured from the squadron, arriving in Portsmouth on the 9th August 1850. The Trimcomalee was dry docked on 20th November 1851 at Devonport, being left "in ordinary" until she was re-fitted and re-rated to 24 guns in June 1852.

Pacific Station

Captain Wallace Houstoun was given the command of the Trincomalee and she left Plymouth for Valparaiso on the 21st August 1852 to join Rear Admiral Sir Fairfax Moresby's squadron at the Pacific station. After routine policing Houstoun was informed of hostilities against Russia in March 1854.

In December she joined the ships Alceste, Artemis, Eurydice and Pique at Honolulu Road where they were joined by the Amphitrite. This naval concentration was a deterrent against an American invasion of the Hawaiian Islands.

On 10th April 1855, the Trincomalee sailed for Kamchatka along with H.M.S. Alceste, Amphitrite, Dido, Eurydice and Pique. They arrived on the 30th May and rendezvoused twenty miles to the south west of Avatcha Bay with H.M.S. Brisk, Barracouta, Encounter, President and the Obligado under the French Captain, De Rosencourt. They all headed for Petropavlovsk, finding it deserted they landed and destroyed the fortifications.

Trincomalee waited at Petropavlovsk for H.M.S. Monarch (80 guns). Whilst waiting Captain Houstoun exchanged three Russian prisoners for two allied. When H.M.S. Monarch arrived on the 23rd June the two ships sailed for Sitka to rejoin the squadron. Peace with Russia was declared in 1856 so Trincomalee again found herself in a policing role.

In August 1856 the Trincomalee was towed through a narrow channel in British Columbia by the steamer Otter on a mission to capture an Indian called "Tathlasut" on board were almost 450 men including 18 Victoria Voltigeurs and 200 seamen and marines from H.M.S. Monarch.

The landing party were ashore by noon on the 31 st August and headed for the Indian village, after several days of talks a large group of Indians led by Tathlasut turned up and demonstrated noisily outside the British camp. Captain Houstoun captured Tathlasut personally and he was subsequently hung near to the spot where he had injured a British emigrant. The job done, the Trincomalee was towed out of the striates by Otter and returned to Esquimalt on the 6th October.

Training Ship

She was again recalled in October 1856 and returned to Chatham on 5th September 1857 where she was again laid up. In April 1860 the Admiralty decided to use Trincomalee as a training ship for Royal Navy Volunteers (fitting cost £1,492), and on 28th January 1861 she was taken in tow to Sunderland by the sloop Geyser. Trincomalee's training armament was 10 32 pdr 50 cwt cannon and six, eight inch firing muzzle loaders.

Moved to West Hartlepool in December 1862 Trincomalee was to be commanded by Edward Fieid. Field was replaced in March 1863 by Walter Pollard and he remained in this role until the 30th April 1870. She was towed to Southampton by H.M.S. Valorous in 1877.

Trincomalee was superseded by H.M.S. Meda on the 12th October 1896 and was no longer used as a drill ship. She was put up for sale on the 1 8th March 1897, being sold on the 1 9th to Mr J. Read Jnr, for £1,323, to be broken up. However she was then sold on to Mr G Wheatley Cobb to be used as a training ship. Cobb's previous training ship, H.M.S. Foudroyant had been wrecked off Blackpool in a storm and he renamed Trincomalee as Foudroyant. This was to keep alive the name of Nelson's old ship.

Work to restore her began and in 1902 she was towed to Falmouth and put in dry dock for a refit. In 1927 she was transferred to Milford Haven, then, in 1932, she was towed to Portsmouth. Foudroyant ceased to be a training vessel in 1986 and was brought to Hartlepool on a semi submersible barge in 1987. In 1992 Foudroyant again regained her earlier name of Trincomalee, restoration work having started on the ship in 1990 to return her to her original condition.

Currently the Trincomalee is being restored by the "Trincomalee Trust" who hope to have the vessel completed by 1997 (the centenary of Cobb's rescue of the Trincomalee from the breakers yard). The Trincomalee is actually only the second oldest vessel afloat, the oldest ironically enough being the USS Constitution in Boston, which was the vessel that forced H.M.S. Java to strike its colours and explode (after being set alight), along with Trincomalee's original plans.

Hartlepool Historic Quay

The Trincomalee is moored beside a reconstruction of a North Eastern seaport of the 1800's. This depicts a bustling Quayside, complete with period shops including the Admiral's House, a Gunsmith's, Naval Architects, Instrument Makers, Tailors, Swordsmiths, Printers and Chandlers store.

There is even a naval prison full of "Frenchies". The Quayside market has a variety of stalls and displays a wealth of detail. In the naval prison, French prisoners make model ships out of wood and bone, whilst in the printers shop the staff are all working busily.

Fighting Ships

The fighting ships exhibition takes you through a ship in the midst of a Naval Battle, guided by the ghost of the ships ex-surgeon Donald McRae who shows visitors the dank claustrophobic conditions of service aboard one of Nelson's frigates.

Gun crew serve the cannon, loading and firing amidst the smoke and din of a naval battle. All this and two film shows, Seapower and Pressganged, (the tale of two shangheighed brothers), make for excellent entertainment and value for money!

Anyone visiting or living in the North East should go to see these two attractions. As well as the Hartlepool Historic  Quay there are guided tours around the Trincomalee where along with the replaced cannon and ships rats the cramped conditions give an insight to life on board ship in the age of sail.