| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Benson |
| Owner |
|
| Builder | Sam Finch, [2] Saint Patrick, Quebec [3] |
| Launched | 1811 [2] |
| Fate | Condemned 1817 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen | 572, [4] or 573 [2] [3] (bm) |
| Length | 126 ft (38 m) [2] |
| Beam | 32 ft (9.8 m) [2] |
| Depth of hold | 6 ft (1.8 m) [2] |
| Armament | 10 × 18-pounder carronades [4] |
Benson was launched at Quebec in 1811. She entered Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1813. She was condemned at Mauritius in 1817 and her loss gave rise to a notable court case.
Lloyd's Register in 1813 listed Benson's master as Thatcher, her owner as Benson, and her trade London transport. [4]
On 5 July 1817 Captain "Botham" wrote from Île de France that Benson, which had been sailing from Madras to London, had had to put into port leaky and with the crew mutinous. He thought that she would be condemned. [5] A later report stated that Benson had been surveyed and the cost of her repairs was estimated at less than 8000 dollars. [6] A week after this report, on 20 January 1818, Lloyd's List reported that Benson had been condemned and sold. [7] She had been surveyed, condemned, and finally sold on 21 July. [1]
The Register General's letter dated 29 June 1819 stated that she had been condemned in the Isle of France in 1818. [3]
Before Captain George Betham left England, bound for Bengal, Thomas Starling Benson, as Benson's managing owner, on 7 June 1816 chartered Benson to Betham. At Bengal, Betham took on board on 11 March 1817 2171 bags of sugar and 191 chests of indigo for delivery to England for Colvin & Co. Betham also took on board a large quantity of wheat that during the voyage fermented, disabling Benson. Benson put into Île de France where she was surveyed and condemned. Much of her cargo of sugar, and part of the cargo of indigo, had been lost. [8]
At Île de France Cadmus and Elizabeth took on the undamaged cargo from Benson: 500 bags of sugar and 179 chests of indigo. [8]
Colvin and Co., the plaintiffs, sued Benson's owners for 1651 bags of sugar and 12 chests of indigo, the amount of their cargo that had been lost. Benson's owners, the defendants, argued that they had discharged themselves of all liability when they had chartered Benson to Betham, the charter being known to the plaintiffs. The Court of King's Bench ruled on 19 January 1827 for the plaintiffs that their suit could proceed and that the charter to Betham had not absolved the owners of their liability. [8]
Elizabeth was launched at Hull in 1813. She made one round-trip to Bengal for the British East India Company (EIC). She was last listed in 1841.
Wolfe's Cove was built by Baldwin & Co and launched in 1812 at Ile d'Orleans near Quebec. She sailed to England and from there first traded with Canada and then from 1816 with Mauritius, India, and Java. An American privateer captured her in 1813, but the Royal Navy recaptured her within weeks. She was damaged and hulked at Mauritius in 1819.
Welton was launched at Hull in 1809. She first traded between Hull and Quebec and then later with South America and the Caribbean. Lastly, she traded with India. She was lost in 1817 at Bengal.
Lady Banks was launched in 1810 at Boston. After some voyages as a transport and West Indiaman she sailed to India under a license from the British East India Company. She was condemned at Mauritius in 1821. However, a local merchant repaired and purchased her and sailed her to China.
True Briton was launched at Pont Neuf, Quebec, in 1811. Her primary trade was sailing between Britain and New Brunswick, but she also sailed to Jamaica, and made two voyages to India. Her crew abandoned her in the Atlantic in 1822.
Earl of Buckinghamshire was built at Montreal in 1814. She sailed to Britain and made two voyages to India. She then started trading between Liverpool and North America. In 1821 she carried some 600 settlers from Greenock to Quebec. Her crew abandoned her in the North Atlantic in October 1822 and she was wrecked in November when she drifted ashore at Galway Bay, Ireland.
Sir James Henry Craig was launched at Quebec in 1811. She sailed to England and made three voyages as a West Indiaman. The British East India Company (EIC), in 1813 lost its monopoly on the trade between Britain and India. In 1817 she sailed for India but was condemned at Calcutta after she sustained extensive storm-damage at the start of her homeward-bound voyage.
Starling was built at Harwich in 1802. She traded with Smyrna for some years and then became a West Indiaman. In 1810 a French privateer captured her, but the Royal Navy recaptured her within days. After the British East India Company lost its monopoly on the trade between Britain and India, Starling started trading to the Cape of Good Hope. She wrecked in 1815 off the English coast as she returned from a voyage to Batavia.
Stirling was built in 1812 at Montreal, Quebec. She apparently traded out of Liverpool as a West Indiaman. There is little evidence that she traded as an East Indiaman. She was last listed in 1821 and a vessel named Sterling, sailing out of Quebec, was wrecked in November 1821.
Ceres was launched at Kolkata in August 1793 as Lutchmy and renamed in 1794. She sailed to England in 1798 and became a West Indiaman. She was condemned at Barbados in 1806. New owners returned her to service, first as a West Indiaman and then as an East Indiaman. She was damaged at Mauritius in 1818 and although she was listed until 1824, it is not clear that she sailed again after the damage she sustained in Mauritius.
Thames was launched in 1818 as an East Indiaman, trading with India and Ceylon under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She made one voyage transporting convicts to Van Diemen's Land. She became leaky and was condemned at Swan River in 1830 as she was sailing to Île de France from having delivered her convicts at Hobart.
Aberdeen was launched at Quebec in 1811. She sailed to England and then traded between Quebec and Britain. She made two voyages to India under license from the British East India Company (EIC). After her return from the second, in 1820, she was no longer listed.
Oracabessa was launched in 1810 at Hull. She was initially a West Indiaman but then from 1818 she started trading with India. She foundered in a hurricane in the Bay of Bengal in 1823.
Lord Wellington was launched in 1811 in Montreal. She became a London-based transport that made one voyage to India in 1819 under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). Afterwards she continued to sail to the Baltic and North America. She was last listed in 1829.
Partridge was built at Antwerp in 1813, under another name, and was taken in prize. From 1814 she was under British ownership. Between 1814 and 1822 she traded with India, sailing under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She then became a whaler, making three voyages to the British southern whale fishery before she was broken up in 1834.
Oromocto was launched at Oromocto, New Brunswick in 1813. She then traded between England and the Caribbean. She started trading between England and India but in 1820 she became leaky on her way back to England from India, put into Maranham, and was condemned there in 1821.
Nimble was built at Plymouth in 1813. Initially she engaged in a triangular trade between Africa, Brazil, and Britain. She then sailed between Britain and the eastern Mediterranean. She was twice plundered by pirates, once while on her way to Brazil and the some years later as she was on her way to Smyrna. In 1824 her owners had her lengthened. In 1828–1830 Nimble sailed to Mauritius under a licence from the British East India Company (EIC). She was last listed in 1833.
Cossack was launched in Quebec in 1813 and then moved her registry to the United Kingdom. She made one voyage to the East Indies under a license from the British East India Company. She was damaged December 1823 and probably condemned.
James Sibbald was launched at Bombay in 1803. She was a "country ship", a British vessel that traded only east of the Cape of Good Hope. A French privateer captured her in late 1804, but she quickly returned to British ownership in Bombay in a process that is currently obscure. She made several for the British East India Company (EIC).
Commerce was launched at Quebec in 1813 and quickly shifted her registry to the United Kingdom. She made one voyage to the East Indies, sailing under a licence from the British East India Company (EIC). She also made one voyage carrying migrants from Greenock to Quebec. She was last listed in 1833.
| Shipwrecks |
|
|---|---|
| Other incidents |
|
