Pembroke Dockyard is introduced through its plans, building slips, models, figureheads, and ship list. On 10 February 1816, the sister frigates Ariadne and Valorous launched from the same slip before a large crowd, one bow-first and one stern-first. The reading gives their ordering, construction costs, armament changes, and later stations. Ariadne's career included the court-martial of a captain who brought an enslaved woman aboard, followed by service under Adolphus FitzClarence and the novelist Frederick Marryat.
Chapter · 1:49:29-1:57:12
Pembroke Dockyard's first frigate launches
A dockyard book reading follows Pembroke's plans and facilities into the unusual 1816 double launch of HMS Ariadne and HMS Valorous and their later service histories.