HMS Unicorn
Earlier this week I had to go to Dundee for a work event so I took some time out to visit HMS Unicorn. Unicorn is a Leda class frigate built at Chatham dockyard and launched in 1824. Along with HMS Trincomalee she is one of only two frigates surviving in the UK from this era. Unicorn is particularly unusual as she has spent her entire existence in ordinary; she has never been rigged and the roof covering her upper gun deck is thought to be original. During her lifetime she has been using as a powder hulk, a drill ship and an administrative vessel and she has been berthed in Dundee since 1873.
There's no denying that with her low roof and glazed gun ports Unicorn is a distinctly odd looking beastie indeed and there is something rather sad about her enclosed upper deck. If anything, it reminded me of a rather neglected scout hall. However as you go below it's impossible not to be reminded that Unicorn was built as a fighting vessel. The headroom gets lower and lower as you descend into the hold and by the time you reach the orlop it's barely three feet. The carpenter's walk above the hold is intact and it's incredible being able to squeeze along the tiny passageway between the hull and the cable tier.
Unlike Dundee's other famous sailing ship, RRS Discovery (of which more later), Unicorn is sadly neglected and clearly in need of serious investment. However there is something about her rather dilapidated state that makes her all the more atmospheric. By the time I got down into the orlop and the hold I was almost dizzy with the experience of being there. Apart from the attendant, I was the only person aboard the day I visited so I was able to sit alone in the wardroom and the empty lieutenants' cabins for as long as I pleased. I stood outside the 4th Lieutenant's cabin for a long time, the door was locked but there was something really moving about being there.
HMS Unicorn
Roofed upper deck
with deeply creepy unicorn figure head
The great guns are reproductions made from fibreglass
Great cabin
Great cabin
Lieutenant's cabin
Lieutenant's cabin
Wardroom
Wardroom
Lower mess deck
Lower mess deck
Carpenter's walk
Orlop and hold
Cable tier
Brass signal gun from Admiral Duncan's
flagship Venerable, used at Camperdown
There's no denying that with her low roof and glazed gun ports Unicorn is a distinctly odd looking beastie indeed and there is something rather sad about her enclosed upper deck. If anything, it reminded me of a rather neglected scout hall. However as you go below it's impossible not to be reminded that Unicorn was built as a fighting vessel. The headroom gets lower and lower as you descend into the hold and by the time you reach the orlop it's barely three feet. The carpenter's walk above the hold is intact and it's incredible being able to squeeze along the tiny passageway between the hull and the cable tier.
Unlike Dundee's other famous sailing ship, RRS Discovery (of which more later), Unicorn is sadly neglected and clearly in need of serious investment. However there is something about her rather dilapidated state that makes her all the more atmospheric. By the time I got down into the orlop and the hold I was almost dizzy with the experience of being there. Apart from the attendant, I was the only person aboard the day I visited so I was able to sit alone in the wardroom and the empty lieutenants' cabins for as long as I pleased. I stood outside the 4th Lieutenant's cabin for a long time, the door was locked but there was something really moving about being there.
HMS Unicorn
Roofed upper deck
with deeply creepy unicorn figure head
The great guns are reproductions made from fibreglass
Great cabin
Great cabin
Lieutenant's cabin
Lieutenant's cabin
Wardroom
Wardroom
Lower mess deck
Lower mess deck
Carpenter's walk
Orlop and hold
Cable tier
Brass signal gun from Admiral Duncan's
flagship Venerable, used at Camperdown