| History | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Name: | Fortitude |
| Builder: | Calcutta |
| Launched: | 1804 |
| Fate: | Lost circa 1812. |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen: | 477, [1] or 47740⁄94 [2] or 480, [3] or 500 (bm) |
| Armament: | 1810:4 × 12-pounder guns + 2 × 9-pounder carronades |
| Notes: | Teak-built |
Fortitude was launched at Calcutta in 1804. In 1806 she carried Chinese labourers to Trinidad for the British East India Company; she was seized in Trinidad, sold, and sailed to England. From 1808 on she was a West Indiaman. She was lost circa 1812.
The EIC chartered Fortitude, of 500 tons, Hughes, master, to bring 450 Chinese settlers and a cargo of piece goods to Trinidad. [4] She was at Saint Helena on 28 August and arrived in Trinidad on 12 October 1806 with 192–194 men, out of some 200 who had embarked. The EIC recruited these Chinese at Macau, Penang, and Calcutta. [5]
This was the first organised settlement of Chinese people in the Caribbean. It preceded the importation of Chinese indentured labour by over 40 years. The experiment was not a success and the last mention of the community was in 1834.
When Fortitude arrived in Trinidad, Lieutenant Briarly, of the British Royal Navy seized her for violation of the Navigation Acts. She was condemned in the Vice admiralty court and sold. Vessel and cargo sold for $63,000 (about £14–15,000), with half going to the seizer and half to the government. The EIC's agent in Trinidad, Joseph Marryat, objected to the importation of the goods, reporting that it undercut the local merchants who had purchased their goods from the EIC. [6]
Fortitude left Trinidad in July 1807 for England. The legal proceedings subsequent to her seizure had delayed her departure. When she left, Fortitude repatriated 61 of the Chinese, who had exercised their right to repatriation.
Fortitude was admitted to registry in Great Britain on 20 April 1808. [2]
Fortitude first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1808. [1]
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1808 | T.Brown | J.Dawson | London–Jamaica | LR |
| 1812 | T.Brown | J.&T.Dawson | London–Jamaica | LR |
Although LR last carried Fortitude in its 1814, the Register of Shipping (RS) for 1812 carried the annotation "lost" beneath her name. [7]
Citations
References
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Four ships with the name Henry Addington, named for Henry Addington, Speaker of the House of Commons and Prime Minister of Britain (1801–1804), sailed in the Indian Ocean during the late 18th and early-19th centuries. Two served the British East India Company (EIC) as East Indiamen between 1796 and 1815, and two were country ships. At least two other, smaller vessels named Henry Addington sailed out of Britain. in the early 19th century.
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.
Baring was launched at Calcutta in 1805 as Alexander Brodie. Her owners sold her to Portuguese interests that named her Asia Felix. They in turn sold her to British owners in 1809. The British owners renamed her Baring. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC) between 1811 and 1812.
Suffolk was launched in 1803 at Calcutta and at some point prior to 1810 was renamed General Wellesley. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC) but an American privateer captured her in December 1814 on the outbound leg of her second EIC voyage. In January 1815 she stranded on the Charleston Bar and became a total loss.
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.
Hope was launched in 1804 at Calcutta. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). She continued to trade around India until a French frigate captured her in 1808. She apparently returned to English hands and was renamed Madras Merchant. She was then sold in 1816 at Manila.
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.
Medway was launched at Fort William, Calcutta in 1801. She immediately sailed to Britain under charter to the British East India Company (EIC). There her owners sold her. She traded with Madeira and the Americas before she foundered in 1812.
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.
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.
Hercules was built at Calcutta in 1814. She acquired British registry and traded between Britain and India under a license from the British East India Company (EIC), before returning to Calcutta registry. She then traded opium between India and China, and became an opium receiving ship for Jardine Matheson. In 1839 she was one of the vessels that surrendered her store of opium to be burned at the behest of Chinese officials at Canton. This incident was one of the proximate causes of the First Opium War (1839–1842). Her owners apparently sold her to American owners in 1839.
Sir James Henry Craig was launched at Quebec in 1811. She sailed to England and made three voyages as a West Indiaman. The British East India Company (EIC), in 1813 lost its monopoly on the trade between Britain and India. In 1817 she sailed for India but was condemned at Calcutta after she sustained extensive storm-damage at the start of her homeward-bound voyage.
Ceres was launched at Kolkata in August 1793 as Lutchmy and renamed in 1794. She sailed to England in 1798 and became a West Indiaman. She was condemned at Barbados in 1806. New owners returned her to service, first as a West Indiaman and then as an East Indiaman. She was damaged at Mauritius in 1818 and although she was listed until 1824, it is not clear that she sailed again after the damage she sustained in Mauritius.
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.
Ganges was launched at Calcutta in 1806. In 1807 or 1809 a French privateer captured her. The British Royal Navy recaptured her the next year. She assumed British Registry in 1812, but had traded out of London since late 1810 or early 1811. By 1820 she was trading between London and Bengal. She was last listed in 1846.
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.
HMS Comet was launched in 1807 as a Thais-class fireship of the Royal Navy. In 1808 the class were re-rated as sloops, and in 1811 they were re-rated as 20-gun sixth rates. Comet participated in one action that resulted in her crew being awarded the Naval General Service Medal, and some other actions and captures. The Navy sold her in 1815. In 1816 she became an East Indiaman, sailing under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She sailed between the United Kingdom and Ceylon. It was on one of these journeys that she was wrecked on Cole House Point on the River Thames on 9 August 1828.
Star was built in Calcutta in 1800. Between 1803 and 1811 she made three seal hunting voyages. From 1812 she sailed as a merchantman until she was wrecked on 18 December 1829 on a voyage to Jamaica.