Carmarthen (1802 ship)

Last updated

History
Flag of the British East India Company (1801).svg United Kingdom
NameCarmarthen
Namesake Carmarthen
OwnerJames Williams
BuilderRandall, Rotherhithe
Launched25 November 1802
FateLast listed 1820
General characteristics
Tons burthen550, or 552, [1] or 55262⁄94, [2] or 580, [3] or 581 (bm)
Length
  • Overall: 125 ft 6+1⁄2 in (38.3 m)
  • Keel: 100 ft 5 in (30.6 m)
Beam35 ft 2 in (10.7 m)
Depth of hold15 ft 11 in (4.9 m)
Complement
Armament
  • 1803: 18 × 12-pounder carronades [3]
  • 1805: 18 × 12-pounder carronades [3]
  • 1806: 18 × 12-pounder carronades [3]
  • 1808: 18 × 12-pounder carronades [3]

Carmarthen was launched in 1802 as an East Indiaman. She made eight round-trip voyages to India as an "extra" ship for the British East India Company (EIC). On her first voyage she participated in an experiment in bringing variolation to India and other British possessions to combat smallpox. After leaving the EIC's employment, she took one more voyage to India, sailing under a licence from the EIC. She was last listed in 1820.

Contents

Career

On 28 August 1801, the EIC hired Carmarthen as an extra ship for eight voyages at a rate of £14 per ton for 550 tons. [4]

1st EIC voyage (1803–1804): Captain John Dobrée sailed from the Downs on 7 February 1803, bound for St Helena, Bengal, and Bencoolen. Carmarthen reached St Helena on 24 April and arrived at Calcutta on 26 August. In March war with France had broken out; Captain Dobrée received a letter of marque on 1 July. [3] Homeward bound, she was at Saugor on 24 November. She stopped at Bencoolen on 1 February 1804 and reached St Helena on 6 June. At St Helena Carmarthen joined the EIC's returning China Fleet, fresh from its success at the battle of Pulo Aura where the Indiamen had bluffed a French naval squadron into retreat. HMS Plantagenet escorted the convoy to England. Carmarthen arrived at Long Reach on 13 August.

The visit to Bencoolen apparently was part of a program of reducing the toll of smallpox in India and other EIC possessions via variolation. Carmarthen left England with 14 orphans who had never been infected with cowpox or smallpox. Two were inoculated before Carmarthen left England, and the rest were to be inoculated on the voyage. The idea was to introduce a mild form of the disease to Fort Marlborough, and thus to extend variolation to Sumatra. [5]

2nd EIC voyage (1805–1806): Captain John Christopher Lochner acquired a letter of marque on 21 January 1805. [3] Captain Lochner sailed from Portsmouth on 25 March, bound for Madras and Bengal. Carmarthen reached Madeira on 25 April, and Madras on 17 July; she arrived at Diamond Harbour on 8 August. Homeward bound, she was at Saugor on 20 November, reached St Helena on 24 February 1806, and arrived back at Long Reach on 16 June.

3rd EIC voyage (1807–1808): Captain James Ross acquired a letter of marque on 20 November 1806. He sailed from Portsmouth on 4 January 1807, bound for Bombay. Carmarthen arrived at Bombay on 27 May. Homeward bound, she reached the Cape on 1 October, St Helena on 24 October, and Crookhaven on 17 December. She arrived at the Downs on 5 January 1808.

4th EIC voyage (1808–1809): Captain Ross acquired a new letter of marque on 18 June 1808. He sailed from Portsmouth on 10 June, bound for Bombay. Carmarthen reached Madeira on 24 June, and arrived at Bombay on 29 October. She left Bombay on 19 April 1809, reached St Helena on 12 July, and arrived at Lower Hope on 13 September.

5th EIC voyage (1810–1812): Captain Ross sailed from Portsmouth on 11 May 1810, bound for Bombay. Carmarthen reached Madeira on 27 May and arrived at Bombay on 5 October. The British had just captured Île de France and Carmarthen sailed there, arriving at Mauritius on 16 June 1811. She arrived back at Bombay on 22 May. Homeward bound she was at the Cape on 18 October, reached St Helena on 5 November, and arrived back at Gravesend on 27 January 1812.

6th EIC voyage (1812–1814): Captain Ross sailed from Portsmouth on 4 June 1812, bound for Madeira and Bengal. Carmarthen reached Madeira on 18 June and arrived at Calcutta on 26 December. Homeward bound, she was at Saugor on 17 March 1813, and reached Bombay on 4 June. She then reached the Cape on 3 January 1814 and St Helena on 25 February, and arrived at the Downs on 21 May 1814.

7th EIC voyage (1815–1816): Captain Ross sailed from the Downs on 22 May 1815, bound for Bombay. Carmarthen reached Madeira on 10 June and Mauritius on 28 September, before arriving at Bombay on 8 November. Homeward bound, she was at Tellicherry on 22 February 1816 and the Cape on 13 May. She reached St Helena on 11 June and arrive at Gravesend on 16 August.

8th EIC voyage (1817–1818): Captain Ross sailed from the Downs on 16 May 1817, bound for Bombay. Carmarthen reached Bombay on 28 September. Homeward bound, she was at Malwa on 11 December, Mangalore on 15 December, and Tellicherry on 17 December. She reached St Helena on 17 March 1818, and arrived at Gravesend on 16 June.

By one report Carmarthen was sold in 1818 for use as a hulk. [2] However, she made one more voyage. Carmarthen, Ross, master, sailed for Bombay on 19 May 1819 under a licence from the EIC. [6] She arrived back at Gravesend on 21 August 1820. She was returning from Bombay, Bencoolen, and the Cape.

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource
1818J.RossJ.WilliamsLondon–IndiaLR
1819J.RossJ.WilliamsPlymouth–London
London–India		LR
1820J.RossWilliams & Co.London–BombayLR

Fate

Carmarthen was last listed in Lloyd's Register in 1820. [7] Carmarthen was not listed in 1821 and did not appear in Lloyd's List ship arrival and departure data in 1821 either.

Citations

  1. ↑ British Library: Carmarthen.
  2. 1 2 Hackman (2001), p. 77.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Letter of Marque, p.56 - accessed 25 July 2017" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  4. ↑ Hardy (1811), p. 26, App.
  5. ↑ Shoolbred (1805), pp. 16–17.
  6. ↑ LR (1820), "Licensed India Ships – Season 1819.
  7. ↑ LR (1820), Seq.No.C127.

Related Research Articles

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.

<i>Larkins</i> (1808 ship)

Larkins made ten voyages for the British East India Company (EIC), all as an "extra ship", i.e. under contract. On two of these voyages she first transported convicts to Australia. She also made one convict voyage independently of the EIC. She traded extensively between England and India or China, and in this twice suffered serious but not fatal maritime mishaps. In 1853 she became a coal hulk at Albany, Western Australia, and remained there until she was broken up in 1876.

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.

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.

Union was an East Indiaman that made eight voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) between her launching in 1803 and her sale for breaking up in 1819.

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.

Europa was launched in 1781 as an East Indiaman. She made six voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). She was probably broken up in 1798.

Lady Carrington was launched at Bristol in 1809. In an apparently short and uneventful career, she made five voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) before she was broken up in 1823.

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.

Lady Lushington was launched in 1808. Then in 1809 the British East India Company (EIC) chartered her. She made four voyages to India for the EIC and several others while under a license from the EIC. She was on a voyage to India under a license from the EIC when she was wrecked on 10 August 1821.

Sovereign was launched at Rotherhithe in 1800 as a West Indiaman. The British East India Company (EIC) then took her up as an "extra" ship on several contracts; in all she made seven voyages as an East Indiaman for the EIC. After she left the EIC's service in 1817 she continued to trade with India, but under a license from the EIC. She was broken up in 1822.

<i>Thomas Grenville</i> (1808 EIC ship) India-built UK merchant ship 1808–1843

Thomas Grenville was an East Indiaman launched at the Bombay Dockyard for the British East India Company (EIC), and one of only a handful of East Indiamen that it actually owned. She made 14 voyages for the EIC. It sold her in 1834 when it gave up its maritime activities. She was sold for a free trader and burnt in Bombay in June 1843 in a suspicious fire.

Devaynes was launched in 1802 and made six voyages as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She then made one more round-trip to India, sailing under a license from the EIC. She was condemned at Bengal in 1817 on a second licensed voyage to Bengal.

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.