Career
Eurydice was launched at Chester in 1797. She enters Lloyd's Register in 1797 with Muirhead, master, St Barbe, owner, and trade Liverpool–Bengal. [1]
Captain Alexander Muirhead acquired a letter of marque on 7 April 1797. He sailed from Portsmouth on 1 July, bound for Bengal. Eurydice reached the Cape of Good Hope on 17 December and arrived at Calcutta on 16 April 1798. Homeward bound, she was at Kedgeree on 23 January 1799. She reached St Helena on 13 February and Crookhaven on 8 April. She arrived at Deptford on 19 April. [4]
Even before Eurydice had returned from Bengal, St Barbe had sold her. Lloyd's Register for 1799 has the following entry:
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade |
|---|
| 1799 | Muirhead
T.Roach | St Barbe
Butler | Liverpool–India
London–Jamaica |
|
Captain Thomas Roach received a letter of marque on 24 August 1799. When Captain Charles Spencer Compton replaced Roach, Compton acquired three letters of marque: 17 September 1800, 1 July 1807, and 5 May 1809.
On 22 July 1806, Lloyd's List reported that Arethusa, Chivers, master, had been condemned at Surinam and that Eurydice, Compton, master, would carry her cargo back to England. [5]
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade |
|---|
| 1800 | J. Roach | D. Butler | London–Barbados |
| 1805 | C. Compton | D. Butler | London–Barbados |
|
On 24 February 1809, Lloyd's List reported that Eurydice, Compton, master, had arrived at London from Surinam, having sailed from there on 13 January. She had parted on the 17th from the other vessels with whom she had left Surinam. She then ran into bad weather and had to throw her guns and 90 bags of coffee overboard to lighten her. [6]
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade |
|---|
| 1810 | C. Compton | Baring & Co. | London–Surinam |
| 1815 | J.Corser
L.Dicion | Butler | London–Malta
London–Bermuda |
| 1816 | A. Main | D. Butler | Liverpool–New York |
| 1818 | C. Young | Osborne | London–Bengal |
| 1820 | C. Young | Osborne | London–Bengal |
|
Atlantic was launched in 1783. She made one voyage from England to Australia in 1791 carrying convicts. Later, she made one voyage for the East India Company (EIC). Subsequently she sailed to Smyrna, Surinam, and Gibraltar, before she disappeared from records in 1810.
Friendship was a three-decker merchantman, launched in 1793. She made three voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). During her first voyage, in 1796, a French privateer captured her, but the Royal Navy recaptured her. On the second, in 1799, she transported convicts from Ireland to Australia. She made a second voyage transporting convicts in 1817-18. On her way back she was broken up in 1819 at Mauritius after having been found unseaworthy.
Phoenix was a merchant ship launched on the Thames in 1790. She made one voyage as an extra ship, for the British East India Company (EIC). Before that she had several masters and sailed under letters of marque. These authorized the vessel's master to engage in offensive action against the French, should the occasion arise, not just defend herself. After the voyage for the EIC Phoenix apparently traded as a West Indiaman until she was condemned in 1812.
Castor was a merchantman launched in 1782. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). Her owners sold her in 1799. She was last listed in 1808.
Alexander, was built in France in 1791, possibly under a different name. She was taken as a prize and her new owners renamed her Alexander. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC), and then became a slave ship, making four voyages between 1798 and 1807. After 1807 she sailed between Liverpool and Demerara. She is last listed in 1811.
Comet was launched in 1800 on the Thames. In 1801 she made a voyage under charter to the British East India Company (EIC). On her second voyage, in 1803, the French captured her. Still, in 1804 her previous owners were able to reacquire her. She then made another voyage for the EIC. On her return she first served as a troopship and then in the West Indies trade. She apparently was lost in 1815 or 1816.
Albion was an East Indiaman launched at Newcastle upon Tyne in 1792.
Mildred was launched in 1797 at Hull. She made one voyage to Bengal for the British East India Company (EIC). On her return she left for the West Indies. After she left Jamaica she was never heard from again.
Orpheus was launched at Chester in 1794. She made two voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). She also served briefly as a transport in two military campaigns, and traded with the West and East Indies. She was last listed in 1838 but may well have been sold for breaking up in 1828.
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.
Queen was launched at Quebec in 1795. She made three voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) and then became a West Indiaman, trading between London and West Indies. She was last listed in 1813.
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.
Duckenfield Hall was launched on the Thames in 1783. She spent most of her career trading with the West Indies. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC) between 1797 and 1798. In 1819 she became a Greenland whaler. She was wrecked in the Orkney Islands in 1820 while returning from a whaling voyage.
Crown was launched at Newcastle upon Tyne in 1793. She essentially sailed as a West Indiaman, but between 1797 and 1799 she made one voyage as an "extra ship", i.e., under charter, for the British East India Company (EIC). She foundered in 1810 on a voyage to Canada.
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.
Auspicious was built in 1797. The British East India Company (EIC), chartered her for a voyage to Bengal and back. At Calcutta a fire almost destroyed her. She was rebuilt there some years later. She served as a transport vessel in the British government's expedition to the Red Sea in 1801. She then sailed to England, again under charter to the EIC. In 1811 she sailed to Bengal to remain. She was sold in 1821 either to Malabars or Arabs.
Mercury apparently was launched in 1786 at Topsham, but her career prior to 1790 is obscure. She initially traded with Virginia and then with the "Straits". In 1794-1795 she made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). On her return she became a West Indiaman. She was lost in 1802.
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.
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.
Diana was launched in 1799 as a West Indiaman. From 1805 she made four voyages as an East Indiaman under charter to the British East India Company. She made a fifth voyage to India in 1817 under a license from the EIC. She ran into difficulties in the Hooghly River while homeward bound and was condemned in Bengal in June 1818.
Great Britain