Career
Culland's Grove enters the shipping registers in 1802, with the entry in the Register of Shipping being earlier than that in Lloyd's Register .
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Notes | Source |
|---|
| 1802 | Charter
Anderson | J. Atty
Williamson | Weymouth—London
London—India | | Register of Shipping [5] |
| 1802 | Anderson | Boradale | London—India | "Cutland's Grove" | Lloyd's Register [6] |
|
Captain Archibald Anderson sailed Culland's Grove from Portsmouth on 20 May 1802. He left during peacetime, but while he was away war with France resumed in early 1803. The EIC arranged for the issuance of a letter of marque that authorized him to engage in offensive action against the French should the opportunity arise. The letter was issued on 20 June 1803. [4]
On 22 July 1803, as Culland's Grove was in the Atlantic on her way home, she had the misfortune to encounter the French 32-gun privateer Blonde, which was under the command of François Aregnaudeau, at 50°21′N17°0′W / 50.350°N 17.000°W / 50.350; -17.000 . [2] Aregnaudeau had had a successful cruise already, but Culland's Grove, as an Indiaman returning with a valuable cargo, proved to be a particularly attractive prize. Culland's Grove was not in a position to resist and struck. Aregnaudeau took her and another of his prizes, Flirt, a former Royal Navy brig converted to a whaling ship that was returning to London from the South Seas Fisheries, into Pasajes on 3 August. [7] Culland's Grove then sailed from Pasajes to Bordeaux where she was condemned as a prize.
According to French records, Culland's Grove proved to be worth 2.5 million francs in insurance money. The EIC put the value of the cargo lost when the French captured her at £24,640. [8]
Controversy
The Committee of Directors of the EIC prepared a report that they sent to Sir Evan Nepean, Secretary of the Navy, who transmitted it to Admiral sir William Cornwallis, commander-in-chief of the Channel Fleet. The Directors protested that the capture of Culland's Grove was the fault of Captain Charles Paget, captain of HMS Endymion. [9]
Shortly before Culland's Grove was captured, she had encountered Endymion. The officer Paget sent aboard the Indiaman proceeded to press 12 seamen. Culland's Grove's captain and second officer protested vehemently that they were already weakly manned and that this would leave them even more short-handed, but Paget was acting within the law. The Royal Navy was short of men and was in the habit of stopping homecoming merchant vessels and taking some of their best sailors. Paget's position was that the men he took were "surplus company, and that he was authorized to press men out of homeward-bound ships." [9]
All that came of this was that Paget was reminded of his obligations "to protect and assist the trade of His Majesty's subjects." [9] As the privateer Blonde had an armament and complement more than double that of Culland's Grove, even without the impressment, it is not clear that Paget's depredations mattered. One would have to argue that a better-manned Culland's Grove might have outsailed Blonde.
Experiment was launched in 1798 at Stockton-on-Tees, England. Between late 1800 and 1802 she made a voyage to India for the British East India Company (EIC). In 1803 she transported convicts to Port Jackson. In 1805, on her way home the French captured her, but the British recaptured her. In 1808 she became a West Indiaman. Still, in 1818 or so she sailed out to India. Experiment was condemned at Batavia in 1818 and sold there in 1819 for breaking up.
Indefatigable was a square-rigged, three-decked, three-masted merchant ship launched in 1799 at Whitby for James Atty & Co. for the West Indies trade. In 1804 she served as an armed defense ship and recaptured a merchantman that a privateer had captured. She was a transport in the 1805–1806 British invasion of the Dutch Cape colony. She twice transported convicts to Australia; on the first trip she was chartered to the British East India Company (EIC). She burned to the waterline in 1815.
Asia was a merchant barque built at Whitby in 1813. She made one voyage to India for the British East India Company (EIC) in 1820-21, and one voyage to Van Diemen's Land in 1827-28. Asia then traded to the Mediterranean, but mostly to Quebec. She was last listed in 1850.
Pursuit was launched at Whitby in 1795. She made two voyages for the British East India Company and then traded with the West Indies. She repelled one attack by a French privateer that caused severe casualties, but eventually an American privateer captured her in August 1812.
Kingsmill was a French vessel launched in 1793 under a different name, captured in 1798, and sold to British owners who renamed her. She then became a slave ship, making three voyages from Africa to the West Indies. A French privateer captured her in 1804, but she returned to her owners in 1804. In 1807 she became a West Indiaman. In 1814 she became the first ship to trade with India under a license from the British East India Company (EIC) after the EIC lost its monopoly on British trade with India. She was badly damaged in 1821 and subsequently disappears from the registers.
Crescent was launched at Rotherhithe in 1790. She initially traded with the Levant, particularly Smyrna. After the outbreak of war with France she may have tried her hand as a privateer. In 1796–1798 she made a voyage to the East Indies, almost surely on behalf of the British East India Company (EIC). A French privateer captured her but the British Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. In 1802-1804 she made one voyage as a slave ship carrying slaves from West Africa to Jamaica. In 1805 she became a whaler. She was lost in 1807 off Patagonia while homeward bound from her first whaling voyage.
Grant was launched at Whitby in 1798, or possibly 1799. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC) between 1800 and 1802. Thereafter she sailed as a West Indiaman or a London-based transport. She was last heard from in 1820; Spanish authorities may have seized her off Peru.
Princess of Wales was launched at Stockton in 1795. She made three voyages as an "Extra ship", i.e., under charter, for the British East India Company (EIC). On her return she became a West Indiaman. A privateer captured her in 1803 as she was coming back to England from Jamaica, but British privateers immediately recaptured her. She continued sailing to Jamaica though later, under a new owner, she traded more widely. She probably foundered in 1828, and is last listed in 1830.
Brunswick was launched at Newcastle in 1795. She made one voyage as an "extra ship", i.e., under charter, to the British East India Company (EIC). She then traded generally until she foundered in 1809.
Suffolk was launched in 1795 at Newcastle. In 1800 she made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). She traded widely as different owners deployed her on one route or another.
Loyalist was launched in 1793. Between 1796 and 1803 she made four voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). She then sailed as a West Indiaman until she was condemned in 1809 as unseaworthy.
Paragon was launched at Whitby in 1800. Between 1803 and 1805 she served as an armed defense ship protecting Britain's coasts and convoys. She then served as a transport on the 1805 naval expedition to capture the Cape of Good Hope. Next, she returned to mercantile service and in 1814 a French privateer captured her, but the British Royal Navy recaptured her the next day. She sailed to India in 1818 under a license from the British East India Company (EIC}, and was wrecked in March 1819 while inbound to Calcutta.
HMS Vulture was launched in 1801 at South Shields as Warrior. The Royal Navy purchased her in 1803 as a sloop and renamed her. From 1808 through 1813 she was a floating battery at Jersey,. The Navy sold her in 1814 and she returned to mercantile service as Warrior. She was last listed in 1820, but does not seem to have sailed again after returning from east of the Cape in 1817.
Blenheim was launched in 1790 as West Indiaman, and spent almost all of her career as a West Indiaman. In 1818 she made one voyage to Bengal under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). On her return from Bengal she reverted to the West Indies trade. Later she traded between London and Quebec, and was last listed in 1837.
Ganges was launched in 1799 at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC) bringing rice from Bengal for the British government. She then became a West Indiaman until the French navy captured her in 1805.
Woodford was launched in 1815 at Whitby as a West Indiaman. Between 1816 and 1817 she made two voyages to the Indian Ocean or the East Indies, sailing under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She was wrecked at Laeso in November 1837.
Fame was launched in India in 1786. She was sold to Portuguese owners. A French privateer captured but the Royal Navy recaptured her in 1794. She then became a West Indiaman, sailing from Liverpool. Between 1796 and 1804 she made three voyages as a slave ship. She then returned to the West Indies trade. From 1818 on she was a whaler in the Greenland whale fishery, sailing from Whitby and then Hull. She burnt in 1823 while outward bound on a whaling voyage.
Westmoreland was launched at Whitby in 1800. She first sailed as a West Indiaman. From 1816 to 1821 and then again from 1823 to 1825 she sailed to India under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). Here crew abandoned her at sea on 22 October 1825. She eventually floated ashore on the coast of France and was salvaged.
Argo was launched at Whitby in 1807 as a West Indiaman. She made one voyage to India under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). Thereafter she traded between Liverpool and Miramichi, New Brunswick. She was last listed in 1824 and may have foundered in June 1824.
Intrepid was launched in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1809. She then became a transport. In 1820 she made a voyage to Bengal, sailing under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She then reverted to being a transport. She was wrecked on 5 January 1826.
United Kingdom
