Career
EIC voyage #1 (1796)
Ganges, under the command of Thomas Patrickson, left Bengal on 1 February 1796. She was carrying rice on behalf of the British government, which was importing grain to address high prices for wheat in Britain following a poor harvest. [5]
Ganges reached St Helena on 7 April, and arrived at Long Reach on 10 June. [6] [Note 1]
On 17 September 1796 Thomas Patrickson received a letter of marque for Ganges. [2]
Convict transport (1797)
Ganges appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) of 1797 with Patrickson as master and owner, and trade London–Botany Bay. [3]
Patrickson sailed Ganges from Portsmouth, England, in early 1797, and she arrived at Port Jackson on 2 June 1797. She transported 203 male convicts, 13 of whom died on the voyage. This was despite Sir James Fitzpatrick, the Home Department's surgeon-general, having ordered the installation of ventilators and water purifiers, and the stocking of fumigants and medicines. Patrickson had asked for 300 convicts, but the request was refused. The guards were a detachment from the New South Wales Corps.
Ganges left Port Jackson in December 1797 bound for China. [10]
Lloyd's Register for 1799 shows Ganges, Patrickson, master, Captain and company as owners, and with trade London-Botany Bay. This entry continued unchanged through 1802, even though there were changes in reality.
Tellicherry was a two-decker ship built on the Thames in 1796 in England for John St Barbe, a wealthy merchant and ship owner. She made four voyages as an "extra ship" for the East India Company. Later, she made one trip to Australia transporting convicts. She was wrecked in 1806 in the Philippines.
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.
Sugar Cane, was a three-decker merchantman and convict ship. In 1792 she transported convicts from Ireland to Australia. On her return trip she sailed from Bengal to Britain under contract to the British East India Company. During the French Revolutionary Wars she sailed under a letter of marque as a slave ship. She made two voyages taking slaves from West Africa to the Americas. In 1796 or 1797, on her second slave trading voyage she captured a French ship, but shortly thereafter was herself captured. The British Royal Navy recaptured her and she apparently was returned to service. She is last listed in 1798.
Britannia was launched in 1774 at Bombay. She was the focus of a protest against the Tea Act in Charleston, South Carolina in 1774. In 1796 she transported convicts from Ireland to Australia. This voyage was noteworthy for her captain's cruelty, for which he was tried but not sanctioned. She then sailed to China to pick up a cargo for the East India Company. On the way she visited or saw four islands in the present-day Marshall Islands. She remained employed in the services of the East India Company (EIC) until 1799. She then traded with India for a number of years, twice taking cargoes back to England for the EIC. Between 1808 and 1809 she was a whaler in the South Seas Fishery.
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.
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.
Marquis Cornwallis was a merchantman built in Calcutta in 1789 or 1791. She made one voyage transporting convicts in 1796 from Ireland to Australia. The voyage was marred by mutiny that resulted in the death of 11 convicts. Marquis Cornwallis then made a voyage for the British East India Company (EIC) as an "extra ship", sailing from India back to Britain.
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.
Coromandel was the French prize Modeste, captured in 1793 and refitted at Chittagong, British India. She made two voyages transporting convicts to Port Jackson, the first for the British East India Company (EIC). A French privateer captured her in 1805 but she had returned to British hands before 1809. An American privateer captured her in 1814 but this time the British Royal Navy recaptured her within days. She foundered in Indian waters on 6 February 1821.
Minorca was a merchant ship launched in 1799 at Newcastle upon Tyne, England. She made one voyage in 1801 transporting convicts to New South Wales. For her return voyage to Britain she was under contract to the British East India Company (EIC).
Warren Hastings was built in 1789 at Calcutta, India. Her registry was transferred to Great Britain in 1796. In 1805 she was sold and her new owners renamed her Speke. She made three voyages transporting convicts from Britain to New South Wales. After her first convict voyage she engaged in whaling.
Nile was a sailing ship built in 1799 at Howden, England. She made one voyage transporting convicts to New South Wales. For her return trip to Britain she was under contract to the British East India Company (EIC). Thereafter she traded between London and the West Indies, Canada, and the Mediterranean until she stranded on 22 November 1833 on the island of Oesel, Russia.
Princess Royal was launched at Great Yarmouth in September 1794 and for the next three years traded with the West Indies. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC) in 1797-8. On her return she resumed general trading. In 1822 and again in 1829 she transported convicts to New South Wales. She was last listed in Lloyd's Register in 1834.
John Bull was a sailing ship built in 1799 at Liverpool for the slave trade. She made one voyage carrying slaves from West Africa to Jamaica. Thereafter she became a West Indiaman, trading with Jamaica. Early in this period she was a letter of marque, and captured a French merchant vessel. A little later John Bull detained an American vessel. Much later she carried military prisoners to Australia from Ceylon on one voyage, and then on another transported female convicts to Australia from Cork. She was last listed in 1833.
Hindostan was launched at Whitby in 1819. She made one voyage, in 1821, transporting convicts to New South Wales. Later, she made two voyages transporting convicts to Van Diemen's Land, one with female convicts (1839), and one with male convicts (1840–1841). When not transporting convicts Hindostan was a general trader, sailing across the Atlantic, to India, and perhaps elsewhere as well. She was lost in 1841.
Ceres was launched at Whitby in 1794. She made two voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). Thereafter she remained a London-based transport. She was last listed in 1816.
Sovereign was launched at Shields in 1793 as a West Indiaman. She made one voyage between 1795 and 1797 for the British East India Company (EIC), to New South Wales and then Bengal. She then resumed trading with the West Indies and was last listed in 1822.
