The H[onourable] C[ompany's] S[hip] Comet was launched in 1798 by the Bombay Dockyard. She was a brig belonging to the British East India Company's naval arm, the Bombay Marine. She foundered without a trace in late 1800 or early 1801.
In October 1800 Earl Talbot struck on the Perates, in the South China Sea some 300 miles to the southeast of Hong Kong, during a gale. She foundered with the loss of all her passengers and crew, who numbered some 150 persons.[3]Houghton was sailing from China to Bombay when she sighted the wreckage. Houghton reported the loss at Bombay.
In December the EIC sent two vessels, HCSIntrepid, Captain George Roper, and Comet, Lieutenant William Henr)y, from Bombay to the Paracel Islands to search for the cause of Earl Talbot's loss and to pick up any possible survivors.[4] In February 1802 reports had reached London that although the two vessels had made many discoveries relating to natural history and geography, and had seen wreckage of other vessels on uninhabited islands, they had found nothing further concerning Lord Eldon.
The two vessels were still listed on the establishment of the Bombay Marine as of 1 January 1802.[5] However, by 1803, there was a recognition that both Intrepid and Comet had disappeared without a trace. They were presumed to have foundered at sea.[6]
Four ships and one shore establishment of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Euphrates, after the Euphrates river. Another three were planned but never completed:
HMS Trincomalee was a sloop of Dutch or French origin that the British Royal Navy took into service in 1799. She was destroyed in action in 1799 with the loss of all but two of her crew.
HCS Coote was a sloop-of-war that served the British East India Company (EIC) during the 19th century. The Bombay Dockyard launched Coote in 1827. Though the EIC built Coote, her size and armament were equivalent to the retired Cruizer-class brig-sloops.
Earl Talbot was launched in 1797 as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She made one complete voyage to Madras and China between 1797 and 1798. She was lost in October 1800 on her second voyage for the EIC.
Houghton was launched in 1782 and made six voyages as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). In 1794 she was part of an EIC squadron that had some success against French privateers and naval vessels in the Sunda Strait, and then in 1796 she participated as a transport in the British capture of St Lucia. She was sold in 1799 and her owner took her out to India to work in the tea trade between India and China. She foundered in 1803.
Exeter was launched at Calcutta in 1793. She made three voyages from Calcutta to England for the British East India Company (EIC). She was lost in August 1806 in a hurricane while returning to London from Jamaica.
Earl St Vincent was launched on the Thames in 1799. Between 1800 and 1813 she made seven voyages for the British East India Company (EIC), primarily to India, though on one voyage she reached Canton. In 1813 she was sold for breaking up.
Herculean was launched in 1799 at Shields. She made two voyages as an "extra ship", under charter to the British East India Company (EIC). She then became a West Indiaman and foundered in 1806.
For the British expedition to the Red Sea (1801) the British government hired a number of transport vessels. The transports supported Major-General Sir David Baird's expedition in 1801 to the Red Sea. Baird was in command of the Indian army that was going to Egypt to help General Ralph Abercromby expel the French there. Baird landed at Kosseir, on the Egyptian side of the Red Sea. He then led his troops army across the desert to Kena on the Nile, and then to Cairo. He arrived in time for the battle of Alexandria. Captain Hardie of Shah Kaikusroo was appointed Commodore of the fleet of country ships.
Shah Ardaseer was built at Bombay, probably in 1786. English transliterations of her name show her as Shah or Shaw + Adaseer, or Ardaseer, or Ardasier, or Adasier, or Ardasheer, or Ardeseer, or Ardesir. A fire on 13 September 1809 at Bombay burnt her. She then may have been recovered, repaired, and enlarged to become the hulk HMS Arrogant, which was moved to Trincomalee in 1822 and sold there in 1842.
INS Ariadne was a flat-bottomed iron paddle steamer built in England in 1839 for the Indian Navy of the Bombay Government of the British East India Company. She was shipped to India in pieces and assembled at the Bombay Dockyard in 1840. She sailed from India to join the British fleet off Shanghai, China, during the First Opium War but was damaged and later foundered on 23 June 1842.
HCS Strombolo was a ketch launched in 1793 Bombay Dockyard for the Bombay Marine. Later she became a floating battery at Salsette Harbour, having been condemned as unseaworthy.
Several ships have been named Euphrates for the Euphrates River:
The H[onourable] C[ompany's] S[hip] Hugh Lindsay was a paddle steamer built in Bombay in 1829 for the naval arm of the British East India Company (EIC) and the first steamship to be built in Bombay. She pioneered the mail route between Suez and Bombay. Hugh Lindsay was lost in the Persian Gulf on 18 August 1865.
HCS Vestal was built in 1809 at the Bombay Dockyard for the Bombay Marine, the naval arm of the British East India Company (EIC). She spent much of her career suppressing commerce raiding in the Persian Gulf. Lastly, she figured in a notable action during the First Anglo-Burmese War. She was subsequently condemned as unserviceable and sold for breaking up.
HCS Palinurus was a sloop or brig that the Bombay Dockyard launched in 1823 for the Bombay Marine, the naval arm of the British East India Company. She served as a pilot ship, survey vessel mapping the Red Sea and the coast of Yemen and Oman, and generally as a naval ship. She was still listed in 1862.
The H[onourable] C[ompany's] S[hip] Intrepid was launched in 1780 by the Bombay Dockyard. She was a snow belonging to the British East India Company's naval arm, the Bombay Marine. She participated in the seizure of Malacca on 17 August 1795 and in an inconclusive single-ship action with a French privateer off Muscat on 22 November 1800. She foundered without a trace in late 1800 or early 1801.
The H[onourable] C[ompany's] S[hip] Sylph was a schooner launched in 1806 at the Bombay Dockyard for the Bombay Marine, the naval arm of the British East India Company (EIC). The EIC sold her circa 1826 and she became a merchant brig. There is no mention of her in accessible online sources after 1828.
William was launched at the Bombay Dockyard in 1800 as a country ship, i.e., a vessel trading east of the Cape of Good Hope. In 1801 she served as a transport in a naval campaign. In 1809 she made a voyage to London for the British East India Company (EIC). She survived several maritime incidents while sailing as a West Indiaman. She was last listed in 1826.
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