H.M. Frigate UNICORN
The World's most original Wooden Warship

The History of HMS UNICORN


HMS UNICORN was designed as one of the last of the successful Leda class frigates, 150 feet long in the hull and armed with 46 guns. Their lines were based on a French frigate, the HEBE, captured in 1782, and the whole class was one of the best of the age. It included such fine ships as the famous SHANNON, which captured the American CHESAPEAKE, and the TRINCOMALEE, now under reconstruction at Hartlepool, which is the only ship afloat in Britain older than UNICORN. UNICORN's keel was laid in February 1822 on No. 4 slip in the Royal Dockyard at Chatham, and she was launched on 30th March 1824. As this was during a period of settled peace, she was roofed over immediately and laid up in reserve, or 'Ordinary' as it was then called, and so she remained. From 1857 to 1862 she was lent to the War Department for use as a powder hulk at Woolwich, and on her return was laid up again at Sheerness. By then the sailing warship had been well and truly outclassed by steam power, but UNICORN's protected existence meant that her hull was in excellent condition (it is now almost certainly the best preserved and least altered old wooden hull in the world) and she was selected for conversion to a Drill Ship for the Royal Naval Reserve at Dundee. In November 1873 UNICORN sailed for Dundee in tow of HM Paddle Sloop SALAMANDER, and on her arrival she replaced HMS BRILLIANT, which was taken to Inverness and later renamed HMS BRITON. In 1906 UNICORN was taken over by the newly-formed Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, and when the Reserves were combined after the Second World War she came under the new, unified Royal Naval Reserve. During both World Wars she played an important part as the Area Headquarters of the Senior Naval Officer, Dundee.



However this quiet existence did mean that when the then First Lord of the Admiralty, Earl Stanhope, was asked to select a name for a new aircraft carrier he is reputed to have picked the name UNICORN, not realising that the name was already in use. To avoid embarrassment, the Frigate's name was changed to UNICORN II in 1939, and in 1941 she became HMS CRESSY when it was found that having two ships named UNICORN created great confusion with mail and drafting. In 1959, after the aircraft carrier had been scrapped, the Frigate was renamed HMS UNICORN by Mrs. Keay, widow of Captain W. F. Keay who had commanded UNICORN throughout the war. For almost a century, since her arrival in Dundee, UNICORN had been berthed in the Earl Grey Dock, but in 1961 the Admiralty were informed that this dock was to be filled in to make way for the new Tay Road Bridge, and it was decided that the ship should be scrapped. At the last moment, Captain Anderson, a former Captain of UNICORN, succeeded in having this decision changed and in 1962 UNICORN was moved down river to a new berth. 1967 saw work started on the Tay Division R.N.R. new shore headquarters, now HMS CAMPERDOWN, and again UNICORN's future hung in the balance. Captain Stewart started a move to ensure her permanent preservation, and the outcome was the formation, in 1968, of the Unicorn Preservation Society, chaired by Lord Dalhousie, with the exciting aim of preserving UNICORN for posterity. Finally, on the 26th September, 1968, Prince Philip accepted HMS UNICORN from the Navy on behalf of the newly formed Society. When the Queen Mother carried out the naming ceremony for HMS CAMPERDOWN on Trafalgar Day in 1970, she afterwards visited UNICORN and later graciously consented to become the society's Patron.





This is only a very brief summary of the information available about Unicorn. Comments and questions are welcomed.
W Roderick Stewart
Hon Historian