HMS Unicorn (1824)

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Career (UK)

Name:	HMS Unicorn
Operator:	Royal Navy
Builder:	Royal Dockyard, Chatham, UK
Laid down:	1822
Launched:	1824
Status:	Museum ship, Dundee, UK
General characteristics
Class and type:	Leda-class frigate
Tons burthen:	1053 bm
Length:	150 ft 0 in (45.7 m) (lower deck)
Beam:	40 ft 0 in (12.2 m)
Depth of hold:	12 ft 6 in (3.8 m)
Propulsion:	Sail
Complement:	284–
Armament:	Twenty-eight 18-pounder guns Ten 9-pounder guns Eight carronades

Close-up view of the unicorn sculpture at the head of the ship.

HMS Unicorn and her sister ship, HMS Trincomalee, are surviving sailing frigates of the successful Leda class. Unicorn is now a museum ship in Dundee, United Kingdom.

HMS Unicorn was built in peacetime at Chatham Dockyard and launched in 1824. A superstructure was built over her main deck and she was laid up "in ordinary", serving as a hulk and a depot ship for most of the next 140 years. Her lack of active duty left her timbers well preserved, and in the 1960s steps were initiated to convert her to a museum ship. Though steps were taken, including the addition of the totally new bowsprit visible in the picture, to restore Unicorn to a similar condition as her sister, HMS Trincomalee, this plan has been changed. It was discovered that the ship was the only example of a wooden frigate of her type existing 'in ordinary,' and as a result the intention is now to preserve her in her current condition.