«The HMS Blonde», by Robert Dampier. 1825. Washington Place.

Country: United Kingdom.
Class, [Type]: Apollo, [Fr].

Builder: Deptford Dockyard, Woolwich, U.K.
Laid down date: March 1816.
Launch date: 12 January 1819.
Commission date: 1824.
Decommission date: 28 February 1895.

Displacement ( tons ): 1103.
Dimensions ( metres ): 47,2 x 12,1 x 4,1.
Main machinery: sail.
Sail plan: Full rigged ship.
Complement: 315.

Guns: 46:
- Upper deck: 28 x 12pdrs;
- Quarter deck: 14 x 32pdrs carronades;
- Forecastle: 2 x 9pdrs, 2 x 32pdrs carronades.

Comment: Blonde became a receiving ship at Portsmouth in November 1850 and was renamed HMS Calypso on 9 March 1870. Granted permission by the Sultan to pass through the Bosphorous, to enter the Black Sea (claims later made that she was the first British warship to do so).

Year of visit the Black Sea:  1829