This is the story of the first ship to bear the name HMS Cossack, a name later carried by five more ships and commemorated by the Royal Navy in the Cossack Building at HMS Raleigh. This facility trains navies from around the world in boarding and searching vessels—a tradition inspired by the actions of the fifth ship of the name during the Altmark Incident.

Originally launched as Pandor, she was renamed Cossack in 1806. An interesting note: one of her captains was George Digby, whose descendant now serves as President of the HMS Cossack Association.

The first of it's name - HMS COSSACK

Ex PANDOR (Renamed COSSACK 1806) was built by Simon Temple from South Shields. It was built as a 6th rate 22 gun Banterer-class post ship of Sir William Rule design which was approved 28 March 1805.

The vessel was designed to house 155 crew with 2 x 9 pounders with 20 carronades on the upper deck, 2 x 6 pounders plus 4 x 18 pounder carronades on the quarterdeck and 2 x 6-pounder (Chase) plus 2 x 24 pounder carronades on the for’castle

The ship was ordered on 30 January 1805 with it’s keel laid in July 1805. There were 117feet 11 ½ inches – length on the Gun deck, 98 feet 4 ½ inches length x 32 feet 3 ½ inches breadth x 10 feet 6 inches depth in hold.

Draught 9 feet 1inch forward 12 feet 11 inches aft at launch.

54560/94bm (Builders measurement) Vessels tonnage – carrying capacity of the hull (k x b x ½ b ÷94) where the keel is k and b the breadth of the ship outside the planking but inside the wales. Fractions of a ton are expressed as ninety –fourths. Wales are the thick strakes of timber running along the outside of the hull for structural strength – usually as unbroken exterior ribs running from end to end on either side.

Armament (Not as design)

The ship was launched on 24 December 1806.

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Hidden Gems

The first HMS Cossack in 1814 had 3 Captains from March to August of 1814. Sibly, Weymss and Rodney.

1806-1816

This is the account of the first vessel named HMS Cossack, a title that would be passed on to five later ships and commemorated by the Royal Navy in the Cossack Building at HMS Raleigh.

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1854-1875

The second Cossack was originally ordered by Russia for the Black Sea Fleet in December 1852 at a cost of 290,000 silver roubles. However, when relations between Britain and Russia deteriorated, Russia sold the vessels to the Hamburg trading firm Henry Mersk & Co.

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1886-1905

This account covers the third vessel named HMS Cossack. Launched on 3 June 1886 and in service until 1905, she spent the majority of her career in the Far East, calling at India, Aden, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and other ports.

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1907-1919

The fourth HMS Cossack received the first Battle Honour for participating in operations along the Belgian coast from 17 October to 8 November 1914. This section contains copies of the original construction contract and detailed plans showing her launch, deck arrangements, and machinery.

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1938-1941

Credited with battle honours including Baltic 1855, Witu 1890, Dover Patrol 1914–1919, Narvik 1940, Norway 1940, Atlantic 1940–1941, the Bismarck Action 1941, and the Malta Convoys 1941, the HMS Cossack in service from 1938 to 1941 was a formidable presence.

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1944-1960

During Warship Week in February 1942, the town of Esher raised £1,192,211, contributing to the construction of the warship HMS Cossack. The funds were collected by the public depositing money into a rubber-type float in a pool. Remarkably, the surplus was enough to fund a submarine as well. The story continues.

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