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.
Experiment entered Lloyd's Register in 1799 with Aldis, master, R. Wigram, owner, and trade London—Jamaica.[5] In 1800 her master was Aldis, changing to N. White.[6]
Captain John Nelson Whyte acquired a letter of marque on 28 November 1800.[1] The Register of Shipping for 1801 showed Experiment's master as J. White, and her trade as London—Bengal.[7]
On 30 December 1800 Captain John Nelson Whyte sailed from the Downs, bound for Madras and Bengal. Mr. Robert Wigram had tendered her to the EIC to bring back rice from Bengal. She was one of 28 vessels that sailed on that mission between December 1800 and February 1801.[3] She arrived at Calcutta on 30 April 1801.[8]
Experiment reached Madras on 23 May 1801, and arrived at Calcutta on 9 June. Homeward bound, she was at Kedgeree on 11 September and the Cape of Good Hope on 22 December. She reached St Helena on 2 February 1802, and arrived at the Downs on 31 March.[8]
Convict voyage and capture (1803-1805)
Under the command of Francis J. Withers, Experiment sailed from Cowes, England on 4 December 1803. She sailed under a letter of marque issued to "Francis McWither" on 4 October 1803.[1]
She left in company with Coromandel, which was also carrying convicts to Port Jackson. While sailing in the Bay of Biscay (or 16 leagues from the Isles of Scilly, Experiment sprang her bowsprit and had her main top gallant mast carried away, during a gale. She limped back to Cowes to repair the damage and after repairs were affected, she sailed again on 2 January 1804, in company with the whalerPolicy, bound for the Moluccas. Experiment arrived at Rio de Janeiro on 8 March and left on 8 April. She arrived at Port Jackson on 12 June 1804.[9]
Experiment embarked two male and 136 female convicts. Six female convicts died on the voyage.[10]
Experiment left Port Jackson on 7 October bound for China.[11]
While Experiment was on her homeward passage from China to London, carrying a cargo of tea for the EIC, the French privateer Napoleon, of Saint-Malo, captured her. Napoleon encountered Experiment on 27 May 1805 at 37°0′S22°30′E / 37.000°S 22.500°E / -37.000; 22.500 and captured her after a 30-hour chase. Napoleon, which was under the command of Captain Malo le Nourville, was heavily armed. She had sixteen 32-pounder and four 18-pounder guns on the main deck, and two 36-pounder on 6-pounder guns on the upper deck. She also had a crew of 200 men. After an engagement of half-an-hour, Experiment had three men badly wounded, her tiller shot away, some 32 shot between wind and water, and two feet of water in her hold. Withers therefore struck her flag. Napoleon was four months out of False Bay and Experiment was her first prize.
An item in the Times dated 11 September 1805 simply reported that Experiment had parted from Ocean off the Cape of Good Hope and had not been seen since.[12] On 13 September 1805 Lloyd's List reported that a large French privateer from Saint-Malo had captured Experiment as the privateer was on her way to Île de France and had taken her into the Cape of Good Hope. The crew had arrived at St Helena.[13]
The French sent Withers, the surgeon, and the Fourth Officer to Île de France in Experiment. Napoleon then took the remaining officers and the purser to the Cape of Good Hope. There they were able to arrange for a cartel to take them to St Helena.[14]
The EIC valued at £45,604 its cargo lost when the French captured her.[2]
On 3 August 1805, HMSCalcutta, under the command of Captain Woodriff, left St Helena as escort of a motley convoy to England. The convoy consisted of the East India company's "extra-ship" Indus, from Madras, the southern whaler African from Desolation, the whaler Fox from the Mozambique channel, the whaler Grand Sachem from the Peruvian coast and bound to Milford, the Prussian ship Wilhelmina, which Calcutta had detained on her way out to St Helena, and the large Swedish ship Carolina, which was sailing from China and asked to join.[15] The men from Experiment sailed on African.[14]
On 26 September the convoy encountered Allemand's squadron. Woodriff succeeded in drawing the French away from the convoy, but at the cost of his ship, which the French captured.
Apparently the French eventually sent Experiment into Cape Town. There, the British retook her, as her captors did not know that the British had occupied the Cape.[4]
Later career
In 1808 Barkworth & Co., Hull, purchased Experiment for use as a West Indiaman.[4] She first reappeared in Lloyd's Register for 1809 with T. Forest, master, and trade London-Cuba.[16]
Year
Master
Owner
Trade
1810
T. Forest
Barkworth
London—Cuba London—Jamaica
1815
T. Hardy
Barkworth
Hull—London
1819
G. Dacres
Barkworth
London—India
Fate
Lloyd's List reported on 7 September 1819 that Experiment, Dacre, master, of Hull, had been condemned at Batavia in December 1818. She was sold on 10 March 1819 for 5000 Java rupees to be broken up.[17]
Grocott, Terence (1997). Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary & Napoleonic Eras. London: Chatham. ISBN1861760302.
Hackman, Rowan (2001). Ships of the East India Company. Gravesend, Kent: World Ship Society. ISBN0-905617-96-7.
Hardy, Charles (1800). A Register of Ships, Employed in the Service of the Hon. the United East India Company, from the Union of the Two Companies, in 1707, to the Year 1760: Specifying the Number of Voyages, Tonnage, Commanders, and Stations. To which is Added, from the Latter Period to the Present Time, the Managing Owners, Principal Officers, Surgeons, and Pursers; with the Dates of Their Sailing and Arrival: Also, an Appendix, Containing Many Particulars, Interesting to Those Concerned in the East India Commerce. Charles Hardy.
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.
Royal Admiral was an East Indiaman, launched in 1777 on the River Thames. She made eight trips for the East India Company (EIC) before she was sold. She then continued to trade. She made two trips carrying convicts from England to Australia, one as an East Indiaman in 1791, and a second in 1800. On this second voyage as a convict transport she was present at a notable naval action.
Bellona was a three-decker merchantman launched in 1782 at Limehouse by Woolcombe for Boyd & Co. She then traded for a decade before, in 1792, commencing a series of four voyages for the British East India Company as an "extra ship", that is, on a charter contract. During the first of these voyages she transported convicts from Britain to New South Wales. French privateers captured her and the British Royal Navy recaptured her, the Royal Navy seized her once, and then finally a French privateer captured her in February 1810 and scuttled her.
Barwell was a merchantman launched in 1782. She made six voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). She then left the EIC's service but continued to sail. She made one voyage transporting convicts in 1797 from England to Australia. She was last listed in 1807.
Minerva was a merchantman launched in 1773 in the East Indies. She traded there for more than 20 years before she made three voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). The first EIC voyage was from 1796 to 1798. In 1799 she transported convicts from Ireland to Australia while under charter to the EIC. From Australia she sailed to Bengal, and then back to Britain. She underwent repairs in 1802 and then traveled to St Helena and Bengal for the EIC. She was lost in 1805 or 1806 under circumstances that are currently unclear.
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.
Rolla was a sailing ship built in 1800 at South Shields, England. She made one voyage transporting convicts to New South Wales. She then made a voyage for the British East India Company from China back to Britain. She leaves Lloyd's Register in 1858.
Atlas was built in Souths Shields by Temple and launched in 1801 for Temple. She made two voyages transporting convicts from Ireland or England to Port Jackson. On the first voyage she carried cargo for the British East India Company (EIC). On the second she sailed to Bengal after delivering her convicts to New South Wales and was wrecked off India in 1820 while on her way back to Britain.
Hercules was a sailing ship built in 1801 at South Shields, England. She made one trip transporting convicts to Port Jackson. She made two trips for the British East India Company (EIC), and was homeward bound from the second of these when the French privateer Napoleon captured her off the Cape of Good Hope.
Boyd was a brigantine built in 1783 at Limehouse on the river Thames, England. She originally traded as a West Indiaman, sailing between London and Saint Kitts. Then between 1795 and 1797 she performed a voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). The French captured her as she was homeward bound, but her owners repurchased her in 1803. In 1804 the French captured her again, but the Royal Navy recaptured her and returned her to her owners. In 1809 she transported convicts to New South Wales for the British government. After delivering the convicts she sailed to New Zealand where Maori warriors attacked her, killing, and eating, almost her entire crew and passengers. They then burnt her.
Anne, also known as Ann, was an 18th-century Spanish sailing ship that the British had captured in 1799. The British Navy Board engaged her to transport convicts from Cork in Ireland to the penal colony of New South Wales in Australia for one voyage from 1800 to 1801. During this voyage she was possibly present, although she did not participate, in a notable action against a squadron of three French frigates. She then made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC).
Northampton, was a three-decker merchant ship launched in 1801 upon the River Thames, England. She made eight voyages to India as an extra (chartered) ship for the British East India Company (EIC) between 1801 and 1819. During the same period she made one separate trip transporting convicts from Britain to New South Wales, followed by a voyage for the EIC from China back to England. In 1820 she carried settlers to South Africa. She is last listed in Lloyd's Register in 1822.
Sir William Bensley was launched in 1802 as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). Between 1802 and 1813 she made six voyages for the EIC. Her owners sold her and she became a transport. During this time she repelled an American privateer in a single-ship action. She made one voyage transporting convicts to New South Wales (1816–1817). She continued to trade until 1841 when she wrecked at Nova Scotia.
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.
Georgiana was launched in 1791. She served as a merchantman, packet ship for the British East India Company (EIC), a whaler, a warship of the navy of the United States of America, and a merchant vessel again. She was sold after being condemned in 1818 as leaky.
Peggy was built at Calcutta in 1793 and initially sailed in the Indian coastal and Far East trade. In 1801 she assumed British registry and her name was changed to Juliana. Her owners sold her to the Transport Board but in 1804 the government resold her and she was sailing as a West Indiaman between London and Antigua. She then made two voyages for the British East India Company (EIC), and one voyage to Hobart, Van Dieman's Land, transporting convicts. On her return from this voyage she wrecked in 1821 on the English coast.
Monarch was built at Quebec in 1800. She sailed to England, being captured and recaptured shortly before arriving. In England, under new ownership, she proceeded to make five voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) as an "extra ship", that is, under voyage charter. In 1813 she became a transport, and then in 1818 or so a regular merchantman. She was broken up in 1820.
Susan was launched at Calcutta in 1813. She initially traded in the East Indies as a country ship, and with Britain under license from the British East India Company (EIC). Between 1829 and 1831 she made two voyages for the EIC. Then between 1834 and 1836 she made four voyages transporting convicts, two to New South Wales, and two to Tasmania. She foundered in 1846 as she was sailing between London and the Cape of Good Hope.
General Stuart was launched in 1801 as an East Indiaman. She made seven voyages as an "extra ship" for the British East India Company (EIC) between 1801 and 1814. She then sailed between England and India under a license from the EIC. In 1819 she transported convicts from England to New South Wales. She continued to trade with Australia and was last listed in 1825.
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.
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