Fairlie was launched at Calcutta in 1810 and sailed to England. There she became a regular ship for the British East India Company (EIC). Including her voyage to England, she made four voyages for the EIC. From around 1821 on she became a Free Trader, continuing to trade with India under a license from the EIC. She also made two voyages transportingconvicts to New South Wales (1834), and Tasmania (1852). She made several voyages carrying immigrants to South Australia, New South Wales, and British Guiana. She foundered in November 1865.
EIC voyage #1 (1810): Captain William Parker D'Esterre sailed from Saugor on 19 July 1810, bound for England.[a] She reached Madras on 30 August and St Helena on 3 December, and arrived at The Downs on 26 February 1811.[3]
Fairlie, Fairlie, Fergusson, & Co., owners, appeared in a list of vessels registered in Calcutta in January 1811.
EIC voyage #2 (1812–1814): Captain D'Esteree acquired a letter of marque on 30 November 1811. He sailed from Portsmouth on 3 June 1812, bound for Batavia, Madras, and Bengal. Fairlie reached Madeira on 18 June and arrived at Saugor on 5 December. She then sailed on to Penang (28 March 1813) and Malacca (7 April).[3]
On 21 April, Fairlie grounded on a coral shoal at 3°27′S107°1′E / 3.450°S 107.017°E / -3.450; 107.017, which is about 100 miles north of Jakarta and the channel to the west of Bangka Island. This shoal became known as "Fairlie Rock", or more currently "Fairlie Klip" or "Fairlie Rif". Apparently Fairlie got off the shoal without material damage.
On 1 May, Fairlie reached Batavia. She sailed to Samarang, which she reached on 26 May, before returning to Batavia on 18 June.[3]
By 18 July, Fairlie was again at Madras, and by 17 August Kidderpore. Homeward bound, she was at Saugor on 2 November, the Cape of Good Hope on 1 March 1814, and St Helena on 18 March.[3]
On 31 May, Fairlie arrived at Deal with several Indiamen (including Charles Mills and Baring) and two whalers (including Indispensable), all under escort by HMSCornwallis.[8]Fairlie arrived at Blackwall on 3 June.[3]
EIC voyage #3 (1815–1816): Captain Thomas E. Ward sailed from The Downs on 22 May 1815, bound for Bengal and Batavia. On 10 June Fairlie reached Madeira.[3]
Mount Tambora exploded in April 1815. Between 1 and 3 October Fairlie sailed for two days through extensive pumice rafts about 3,600km (2,237mi) west of Tambora.[9][10]Fairlie arrived at the New Anchorage (near Diamond Harbour and Kedgeree) on 31 October.[3] Homeward bound, Fairlie was at Batavia on 20 April, reached St Helena on 21 August, and arrived at Blackwall on 8 November.[3]
EIC voyage #4 (1818–1819): Captain Ward sailed from The Downs on 1 April 1818, bound for Bengal and Bombay. Fairlie reached Diamond Harbour on 7 August. Homeward bound, she was at the New Anchorage on 3 October, and Bombay on 8 December. She was at Tellichery on 2 January 1819, reached St Helena on 26 March, and arrived at Blackwall on 8 June.[3]
Free trader
In 1813, the EIC lost its monopoly on the trade between Britain and India; it retained its monopoly on the trade between Britain and China. Many vessels then entered the trade with India, becoming Free Traders sailing under licenses from the EIC. Fairlie's owners gave up their status as an EIC regular ship and converted to Free Trader status.[2]
Fairlie continue to trade between Britain and India, and later South America, but also began transporting convicts and carrying migrants.
On 3 December 1825, Fairlie rescued Captain Carss, one passenger, and eleven crew from Nassau. Nassau had wrecked on the island of Tristan da Cunha on 31 August.
First convict voyage (1833–1834): Captain Henry Ager sailed from England on 27 October 1833 and arrived at Sydney on 15 February 1834.[5]Fairlie had embarked 374 male convicts and she landed 372, having suffered four convict deaths en route.[11]
Immigrants to New South Wales (1838):Fairlie, again commanded by Captain Henry Ager sailed from Plymouth on 31 July, continued on from the Cape of Good Hope on 21 October, and arrived at Port Jackson on 6 December 1838. Aboard were nearly 20 cabin-class passengers, amongst whom was Major-GeneralSir Maurice O'Connell, the former Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales, coming to take up his command of the colony's military forces. There were also 277 Steerage passengers aboard.[12][13]
Immigrants to South Australia (1840): Captain Edward Garrett sailed Fairlie from London on 3 April 1840 with cargo and 266 passengers. She arrived at Port Adelaide on 6 July.[14]
Immigrants to New South Wales (1841):Fairlie arrived on 5 November 1841 at Sydney. She had left Cork, with 308 bounty immigrants, and a number of cabin and intermediate passengers. She had suffered six deaths on board, four of them children under the age of five.[15]
In 1843, Fairlie was sold to Joseph Somes, London.[1]
Second convict voyage (1852): Captain Edward Pavey sailed from Plymouth on 11 March 1852 and arrived at Hobart on 3 July.[16] She had embarked 294 male convicts and she landed 292, having suffered two convict deaths en route.[17]
Immigrants to British Guiana (1860–1861):Fairlie sailed from India on 12 December 1860 with 367 immigrants for British Guiana.[18]
Fate
In 1865, the Merchant Shipping Co., Ltd., London, became Fairlie's owner. Lloyd's Register for 1866 shows Fairlie with Stephens, master, Merchant, owner, and trade London–Australia. The entry for her is market "LOST".[19]
The Times reported that on 6 January 1866 Innisfallen had delivered the crew of Fairlie to Mauritius. Apparently Fairlie had encountered a heavy cyclone on 23 November 1865 that dismasted her and her crew abandoned her on the 27th at 10°N83°E / 10°N 83°E / 10; 83, either very leaky or having foundered. Innisfallen had been on her way from Calcutta to London when she rescued the survivors.[20]
Notes
↑ Captain D'Estere had been captain of United Kingdom when the French captured her late in 1809.
↑ "Ship News". "The Sydney Herald" (Sydney, NSW), page 3. 7 December 1838. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
↑ State Archives and Records Authority of New South Wales; Kingswood, NSW, Australia; Reports of vessels arrived (6 December 1838); Series: 1291; Roll: 1266. Facsimile of original 6 December 1838 Shipping Report is available at Ancestry.com.au (subscriber login required).
Albion was a sailing ship of two decks and three masts, built at Bristol, England, and launched in 1813. She made three voyages transporting convicts to Van Diemen's Land and New South Wales. She also traded with Jamaica, India, and Quebec. For two of the voyages to India she was an "extra" ship to the British East India Company (EIC).
Recovery was a merchant ship built at Batavia in 1799 and taken in prize circa 1811. She made two voyages transporting convicts from England to Australia and one from Ireland to Australia. She also made two voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). She was last listed in 1847.
Clyde was a merchant ship built at Greenock, Scotland in 1820. She made two voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). She then made three voyages transporting convicts from England and Ireland to Australia. She was last listed in 1845.
Ann was built in Batavia in 1797. How she came into British hands is currently unclear. She first appeared in a register in 1802, and thereafter made a voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). In 1809 she made a voyage transporting convicts to New South Wales for the British government. On her return voyage she carried cargo for the EIC from Calcutta to London. She then became a West Indiaman, trading between London and Jamaica. Later she traded with Australia and India, and is last listed c.1865.
Batavia was built at Topsham, England in 1802. At first she traded independently with the East Indies, but then she made three voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). Lastly, she made one voyage in 1818 transporting convicts to Australia. She was broken up in 1819.
Ocean was launched in 1802 at Quebec. She made five voyages under charter to the British East India Company (EIC) between 1804 and 1814. Her owners then sold her and she continued to sail between Britain and India under a license issued by the EIC. In 1815–1816 she made one voyage transporting convicts to Australia. She was last listed in 1825.
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.
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.
Maitland was launched at Calcutta in 1811. She made four voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) between 1812 and 1830. She also made three voyages transporting convicts to Australia between 1840 and 1846. Thereafter she traded widely before she was wrecked c.1869.
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.
Boyne was launched at Calcutta in 1807. In 1809 she sailed to England. She was sold to the Danes, but by 1811 was under English ownership under the name Moffat. She then made seven voyages as a "regular ship" for the British East India Company (EIC). After the EIC exited its maritime activities in 1833–34, Moffat made four voyages transporting convicts to Australia: one voyage to Port Jackson and three to Van Diemen's Land. She also made at least one voyage carrying immigrants to South Australia, and later regularly traded between Liverpool and Bombay. She was last listed in 1856.
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.
Barrosa was launched in 1811 at Cossipore. She sailed to England and then made six voyages for the British East India Company (EIC); during this period she also made one voyage carrying immigrants to South Africa. After the EIC gave up its maritime activities in 1833-1834, Barossa became a transport. She made three voyages transporting convicts to Australia. She was lost in 1847, without loss of life, while transporting contract labourers from Madras to Jamaica.
Lady Castlereagh was launched in 1803. She made six apparently uneventful voyages to India and one to China for the British East India Company (EIC). She left the EIC's service and made one voyage transporting convicts to Australia. She was returning from having delivered her convicts to Port Jackson and Van Diemen's Land when she was damaged in October 1818 a gale at Madras. She was surveyed there, condemned, and sold for breaking up.
Stakesby was launched at Whitby in 1814. She carried immigrants to Quebec, traded with Batavia and Bombay, transported convicts to Van Diemen's Land, and made a voyage to Calcutta for the British East India Company (EIC). She disappeared in 1846 on a voyage from London to Quebec.
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.
Lord Lyndoch was launched in 1814 at Calcutta. After she sailed to England she made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). Between 1831 and 1841 she made five voyages transporting convicts to Australia, three to Hobart and two to Sydney. She became a transport and suffered a maritime incident in 1844. She was last listed in 1847.
Mangles was built in Calcutta in 1803 and immediately sailed for England. Including that voyage, she made a total of six voyages as an "extra ship" for the British East India Company (EIC). Between her first as second voyages for the EIC a French privateer captured her. Mangles also made nine voyages transporting convicts to Australia: eight voyages to Port Jackson, one to Hobart Town, and one in which she delivered some convicts to Port Jackson but carried most of her charges to Norfolk Island. She was last listed in 1844.
Layton was launched in 1814 at Lancaster, possibly as a West Indiaman. She twice sailed to India under a licence from the British East India Company (EIC), once as a troopship. The EIC later chartered Layton three times for single voyages to India and Java. She made four voyages transporting convicts to Australia. She also made two voyages carrying emigrants from the United Kingdom to New South Wales. She was lost in 1847.
Asia was launched in 1811 on the River Thames as an East Indiaman. She made 10 voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). She then continued to sail to India and China after the EIC gave up its trading activities in 1834. She was condemned and hulked in 1840.
References
Bateson, Charles (1959). The Convict Ships, 1787-1868. Brown, Son & Ferguson. OCLC3778075.
Hackman, Rowan (2001). Ships of the East India Company. Gravesend, Kent: World Ship Society. ISBN0-905617-96-7.
Harrington, Charles Richard (1992). The Year Without a Summer?: World Climate in 1816. Canadian Museum of Nature/Musee Canadien de la Nature. ISBN978-0660130637.
Hollett, Dave (1999). Passage from India to El Dorado: Guyana and the Great Migration. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. ISBN9780838638194.
Phipps, John (1840). A Collection of Papers Relative to Ship Building in India ...: Also a Register Comprehending All the Ships ... Built in India to the Present Time ... Scott.
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