Admiral Gardner (1797 EIC ship)

Last updated

History
Flag of the British East India Company (1707).svg Great Britain
NameAdmiral Gardner
OwnerJohn Woolmore
OperatorBritish East India Company
BuilderMelhuish, Limehouse (sub-contracted from Perry, Blackwall) [1]
Launched12 April 1797 [1]
FateWrecked 25 January 1809
General characteristics
Tons burthen813, [2] or 816 [3] or 852 [4] (bm)
Length145 ft 8 in (44.4 m) (overall); 118 ft 3+1⁄2 in (36.1 m) (keel) [3]
Beam36 ft 2+1⁄2 in (11.0 m) [3]
Depth of hold14 ft 10 in (4.5 m) [3]
PropulsionSail
Complement
Armament
  • 1797:28 × 12&6-pounder guns [4]
  • 1803:28 × 12&6-pounder guns [4]
  • 1805:28 × 12&6-pounder guns [4]
  • 1806:28 × 12&6-pounder guns [4]
NotesThree decks

Admiral Gardner was launched in 1797 as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She made five voyages for the EIC, during the fourth of which she participated in an inconclusive single-ship action with a French privateer. Admiral Gardner was wrecked in January 1809. The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England. She was named after Admiral Alan Gardner.

Contents

Career

EIC voyage #1 (1797-1799): Captain Edward Chapman Bradford acquired a letter of marque on 10 June 1797. [4] He sailed from Torbay on 22 September 1797, bound for Bengal and Bencoolen. Admiral Gardner reached Kedgeree on 16 February 1798. On 27 June she reached Bencoolen, and by 11 August was back at Kedgeree. She was at Saugor on 24 September, and Bencoolen again on 5 November. Homeward bound, Admiral Gardner reached St Helena on 27 March 1799. Admiral Gardner returned to St Helena on 24 April. She arrived back at Blackwall on 4 August. [3]

EIC voyage #2 (1801-1802): Captain Bradford sailed from Portsmouth on 31 March 1801, bound for Madras and China. Admiral Gardner reached Madras on 26 July. She was at Penang on 28 August and arrived at Whampoa Anchorage on 6 October. Homeward bound, she reached St Helena on 12 April 1802 and arrived at Blackwall on 12 July. [3]

EIC voyage #3 (1803-1804): Captain Bradford sailed from the Downs on 1 February 1803, bound for Madras and Bengal. On 12 February Admiral Gardner was at Madeira. She reached the Cape of Good Hope on 23 April and Madras 13 June; she arrived at Diamond Harbour on 22 July. The next day Bradford acquired a letter of marque. [4] Homeward bound, Admiral Gardner was at Saugor on 7 November, reached St Helena on 12 March 1804, and arrived at Blackwall on 11 June. [3]

EIC voyage #4 (1805-1806): Captain George Saltwell acquired a letter of marque on 21 January 1805. [4] He sailed from Portsmouth on 25 April 1805, bound for St Helena and Madras. [3] On 28 November, at 6°4′N93°25′E / 6.067°N 93.417°E / 6.067; 93.417 , [5] Admiral Gardner encountered a French privateer of 32 guns. A single-ship action ensued in which the French vessel was able to damage Admiral Gardner's rigging. The privateer did not press the attack and by the next day she had disappeared. Admiral Gardner had 10 men wounded, three severely. [lower-alpha 1]

On 4 December Admiral Gardner reached Madras. Homeward bound, she was at Colombo on 21 February 1806, reached St Helena on 14 May, and arrived at Blackwall on 1 August. [3]

On 4 August the East India Docks opened. In the celebration of the opening, the lead vessel to enter was the Trinity yacht, the yacht belonging to Trinity House. The next vessel was Admiral Gardner, chosen in recognition of her defense against the privateer. She was to have been third, after Earl Camden, Commodore Nathaniel Dance's flagship at the Battle of Pulo Aura, but adverse winds prevented Earl Camden's arrival. [7]

EIC voyage #5 (1807-1808): Captain William John Eastfield acquired a letter of marque on 30 December 1806. [4] He sailed from Portsmouth on 26 February 1807, bound for Madras and Bengal. Admiral Gardner reached Madras on 3 July and Kedgeree on 21 July, and arrived at Diamond Harbour on 26 July. Homeward bound, she was at Saugor on 16 September, Madras on 22 October, and the cape on 30 December. She reached St Helena on 25 January 1808, and arrived at Blackwall on 28 April. [3]

Fate

The wrecks of Britannia and Admiral Gardner on the Goodwin Sands, 24 January 1809 Wrecks of the Britannia, and Admiral Gardner, East Indiamen, on the Goodwin Sands, 24 Jan 1809 RMG PU6386.tiff
The wrecks of Britannia and Admiral Gardner on the Goodwin Sands, 24 January 1809

On 24 January 1809, Captain Eastfield sailed from the Downs, bound for Madras and Bengal, at the start of Admiral Gardner's sixth voyage for the EIC. The next day Admiral Gardner was lost on the Goodwin Sands off South Foreland when a gale tore her from her moorings. Three (or five) crew drowned. [9] [10]

Lost with Admiral Gardner was her cargo, a large number of EIC X and XX copper cash coins, belonging to Matthew Boulton. [11] The EIC put the value of its cargo at £21,579. [2]

The same gale also wrecked Britannia, and the brig Apollo. [lower-alpha 2] Boatmen from Deal were able to rescue almost the entire crew from Admiral Gardner. Boatmen from Ramsgate and Broadstairs saved most of the crew of Britannia, but only one man from the brig. [10]

A few days later Lloyd's List reported that all three wrecked vessels had gone to pieces. [12]

Rediscovery

The wreck of Admiral Gardner was found in 1984 and some coins were salvaged in 1985 during a licensed dive. The wreck was designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act on 2 May 1985 and redesignated to extend the area covered on 5 October 2004.

Notes

  1. ↑ There is some ambiguity concerning the privateer's identity. A letter from Saltwell states that he later found out that the privateer was Jeune Adèle. [6] However the only record of a Jeune Adèle in 1804 has her as a schooner operating out of Guadeloupe. Other accounts report that the privateer was Bellone. [7] By one account, Saltwell dressed some of his seamen as soldiers, and rigged anti-boarding nets. Bellone's captain later told another EIC captain that given Admiral Gardner's preparations and resistance, he had veered off because he did not wish to risk his own vessel being crippled. Bellone had 36 guns and 200 men to Admiral Gardner's 26 guns and 120 men. [8] The description of Bellone and the locus of the engagement are more consistent with the privateer being Bellone.
  2. ↑ Apollo, Ridall, master, was on a voyage from London to Curacoa. Only one man of her crew of 20 survived. [9]

Citations

  1. 1 2 Hackman (2001), p. 56.
  2. 1 2 House of Commons (1830), p. 977.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 British Library: Admiral Gardner.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "Letter of Marque, p.47 - accessed 25 July 2017" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  5. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4052. 13 May 1806. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735022.
  6. ↑ Naval Chronicle, Vol. 15, pp.457-8.
  7. 1 2 Monthly Magazine, (1 September 1806), Vol. 22, p.204.
  8. ↑ Biden (1830), p. 214.
  9. 1 2 Lloyd's List №4322.
  10. 1 2 Grocott (1997), pp. 273–4.
  11. ↑ "The loss of the Admiral Gardner". Shoho mint. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  12. ↑ Lloyd's List №4324.

Related Research Articles

Albion was an East Indiaman of the British East India Company (EIC). She made eight voyages for the EIC before she was sold to the British government in 1810 for service as a troopship. She was lost at sea in 1816.

Northumberland was launched in 1805. She made six voyages as an extra ship of the British East India Company (EIC), between 1805 and 1818. In 1810 and 1811 she served as a transport in the British invasions of Mauritius and Java. She was sold for breaking up in 1819.

Retreat was launched in 1801 and briefly sailed as a West Indiaman between London and Jamaica. She then made five voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) as an "extra ship", that is, under charter. She was broken up in 1814.

Ann was launched at Rotherhithe in the River Thames in 1801. She made eight voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) as an "extra ship", i.e., under charter, between 1801 and 1817. After 1817 she traded with India for some time and she was last listed in 1826.

Lord Keith was launched in 1804 by and for Peter Everitt Mestaer. He chartered her to the East India Company (EIC) for six voyages, and she then went on to make another two voyages for the EIC. On her second voyage, and unusually for an East Indiaman, she participated in the proceeds for the recapture of a former British Royal Navy brig and possibly in a skirmish with a French ship. On her third voyage she participated in a notable action. She was broken up c.1820.

Asia was launched at Liverpool in 1798. She competed four voyages for the British East India Company (EIC), and wrecked on her fifth. During the second she transported EIC troops to Macao to augment the Portuguese forces there, but the authorities there refused them permission to land. She was wrecked in 1809 on the outbound leg of a voyage to Madras and Bengal.

Huddart was launched in 1803 as an East Indiaman. She made eight voyages for the British East India Company (EIC), between 1803 and 1818. In 1810-1811 she participated as a transport in two British military campaigns. In 1818 new owners deployed her in sailing to Canada. She was wrecked there in 1821.

William Pitt was launched in 1805 as an East Indiaman. She made seven voyages for the British East India Company (EIC), between 1805 and 1819. In 1810 and 1811 she participated as a transport in two British military campaigns. She was sold for breaking up in 1820.

Britannia was launched by the Bombay Dockyard in 1772, and was rebuilt in 1778. The British East India Company (EIC) apparently acquired her in 1775. Between 1779 she made eleven complete voyages as an East Indiaman for the EIC. She also participated in three naval campaigns, during the first of which she was deployed as a cruiser off Sumatra. There she engaged and captured a French ship. In the other two she served as a transport. She set out for her twelfth EIC voyage but was lost in 1805 during the third naval campaign.

Lord Castlereagh was launched on the Thames in 1802 as an East Indiaman She made seven voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) before she was sold in 1820. She then may have sailed one or twice to Bombay under license from the EIC. Her subsequent disposition is currently obscure.

Sir Stephen Lushington was launched in 1796 as an East Indiaman. She made seven voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). During this period she took part as a transport in two military campaigns, the cancelled attack on Manila in 1797, and the capture of Mauritius in 1810. In 1812 she became a West Indiaman, thought around 1816 she made another voyage to India. Thereafter her ownership and trade becomes ambiguous: she either traded with Spain until 1822, or with South America until 1825.

<i>Lord Hawkesbury</i> (1787 EIC ship) Ship of the British East India Company

Lord Hawkesbury was launched in 1787 as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She made eight voyages for the EIC before she was sold in 1808 for breaking up.

Earl of Wycombe was launched in 1786 as an East Indiaman. She made six voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). In 1800 she became a general trader, trading across the Atlantic to the West Indies and Canada. She was lost without a trace c.1803.

Deptford was launched in 1781 as an East Indiaman. She made six apparently uneventful voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) before she was sold in 1807 for breaking up.

Castle Eden was launched in 1800 as an East Indiaman. She made six voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) before she became a transport in 1812.

Calcutta was launched in 1798 as an East Indiaman. She made four voyages for the British East India Company (EIC), and disappeared while homeward bound from Bengal on her fifth voyage.

Lady Burges was launched in 1799 as an East Indiaman. She made three voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) between 1800 and 1805. She was wrecked in 1806 early in her fourth voyage.

Worcester was launched in 1785 as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She made eight voyages to India and China for the EIC and participated as a transport in two naval expeditions before she was sold in 1809 for breaking up.

Walthamstow was launched in December 1799 in Rotherhithe. She made six voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). She was sold in 1814 for breaking up.

Lord Duncan was launched on the River Thames in 1798 as an East Indiaman. She made seven voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) before she was sold in 1813 for breaking up.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.