HCS Intrepid (1780)

Last updated

History
Flag of the British East India Company (1707).svg Great Britain
NameHCS Intrepid
OwnerBritish East India Company
BuilderBombay Dockyard [1]
Launched1780 [1]
FateFoundered without a trace circa 1802
General characteristics
Tons burthen(bm)
Complement40 Europeans and about 40 sepoys and lascars (1800)
Armament
  • 1780: 16 guns [1]
  • 1800:10 × 6-pounder guns

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.

Contents

Career

The Dutch government at Malacca arranged with the British government to turn Malacca over to the British rather than the having the Batavian Government, allies of the French, take possession. The British sent an expedition from Bengal that arrived off Malacca on 15 August 1795. HMS Resistance arrived on the 17th, and the operation began that morning. Intrepid was one of the British vessels that participated. [2]

On 10 June 1797 Intrepid captured the Dutch settlement of Kupang, Timor, in cooperation with Resistance. Lieutenant Frost of Intrepid was sent ashore to become acting-governor of the settlement, but the native population rose up against him and he narrowly escaped, with sixteen sepoys and seamen being killed. Resistance then bombarded Kupang into submission and sent a strong landing party ashore, destroying much of the town before abandoning it. [3]

On 22 November 1800 Intrepid, under the command of Captain George Hall, was returning to India from Bussorah and was off Muscat when she encountered a French privateer of twelve 6 and 9-pounder carronades. An engagement started at 9:30 am. The privateer, which had a larger complement than Intrepid, twice tried to board Intrepid, but Hall so maneuvered her as to frustrate the attempts. At about 10:45a.m. Hall sustained a mortal wound and was taken below decks. The First Lieutenant, Thomas Smee, continued the engagement until at about 11:45am the privateer sailed away. The British repaired Intrepid's sails and rigging, and then gave chase, but were unable to catch the privateer. Hall died on the 30th. In all the British lost six men killed, including Hall, and 22 men wounded, including her two lieutenants, Smee and Best. Intrepid arrived back at Bombay on 10 December. [4] [5]

Fate

Later 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. [6] Houghton was sailing from China to Bombay when she sighted the wreckage. Houghton reported the loss at Bombay.

The EIC sent two vessels, Intrepid, Captain George Roper, and HCS Comet, Lieutenant William Henry, from Bombay to the Paracel Islands to search for the cause of Earl Talbot's loss and to pick up any possible survivors. [7] 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. [8] 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. [9]

See also

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 Wadia (1986), p. 333.
  2. ↑ "No. 15754". The London Gazette . 13 November 1804. p. 1399.
  3. ↑ Macleod (1872), pp. 77–78.
  4. ↑ Low (1877), pp. 209–210.
  5. ↑ Naval Chronicle, Vol.6, p=77.
  6. ↑ Grocott (1997), p. 101.
  7. ↑ Hackman (2001), pp. 102–3.
  8. ↑ Low (1877), p. 216.
  9. ↑ Low (1877), p. 210.

Related Research Articles

HMS <i>Cornwallis</i> (1805) Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Cornwallis was a Royal Navy 54-gun fourth rate. Jemsatjee Bomanjee built the Marquis Cornwallis of teak for the Honourable East India Company (EIC) between 1800 and 1801. In March 1805 Admiral Sir Edward Pellew purchased her from the Company shortly after she returned from a voyage to Britain. She served in the Far East, sailing to Australia and the Pacific Coast of South America before returning to India. In February 1811 the Admiralty renamed her HMS Akbar. She captured forts and vessels in the Celebes and Amboyna, and participated in the invasion of Isle de France, and the 1811 invasion of Java. She also served in the West Indies before being laid up at Portsmouth in December 1816. She then stayed in Britain in a number of stationary medical and training capacities until the Admiralty sold her in the 1860s.

HCS <i>Aurora</i> (1809)

HCS Aurora, the Honourable East India Company's Ship Aurora, was a sloop-of-war launched at Bombay for the Bombay Marine, the naval arm of the British East India Company (EIC), to protect the trade in the Indian Ocean from pirates. The French captured her in late September 1810, only to have the British recapture her in early December. She returned to the service of the Bombay Marine, assisting the British Government and the Royal Navy in various campaigns in the East Indies and the Persian Gulf. She was still listed on the rolls of the Bombay Marine on 1 January 1828.

Hastings was a brig that the Bombay Dockyard launched in 1785 or 1787 for the Bengal Pilot Service. In 1818, the EIC sold her to local buyers. Alternatively, in May 1818 she was converted to a buoy vessel; in 1819 she appeared as a buoy vessel on a list of pilot vessels at Calcutta with J.F. Twisden, master. She was sold on 11 October 1820. A fire destroyed her on the night of 17 April 1823, while she was at Pulau Pasang, off Padang.

<i>HCS Coote</i> (1827)

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.

Royal Charlotte was launched by Bombay Dockyard in 1774 as a country ship. She made one voyage for the British East India Company in 1796 when she sailed from Calcutta to Britain. There she took on British registry. She sailed back to Calcutta where a lightning bolt ignited her magazine, destroying her in 1797.

<i>Earl Talbot</i> (1797 EIC ship)

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.

<i>Houghton</i> (1782 EIC ship)

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.

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.

Britannia was launched by the Bombay Dockyard in 1772, and was rebuilt in 1778. The British East India Company (EIC) apparently acquired her in 1775. Between 1779 she made eleven complete voyages as an East Indiaman for the EIC. She also participated in three naval campaigns, during the first of which she was deployed as a cruiser off Sumatra. There she engaged and captured a French ship. In the other two she served as a transport. She set out for her twelfth EIC voyage but was lost in 1805 during the third naval campaign.

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.

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] 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.

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.

<i>Asia</i> (1797 ship)

Asia was built at Bombay Dockyard in 1797. She made at least two voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) before the British Royal Navy purchased her in 1805 in the East Indies. The Royal Navy renamed her HMS Sir Francis Drake and used her as a frigate. She served in the Java campaign of 1811. When she returned to England in 1813 she was refitted as a storeship. Later, she became the flagship, at Newfoundland, for the governors of Newfoundland. The Admiralty sold her in 1825. New owners renamed her Asia and she sailed between Britain and London until 1831 when Portuguese interests purchased her. She then became the frigate Dona Maria II for the Liberal forces that were attempting to install the rightful queen, Dona Maria II, to the throne of Portugal, and overthrow Dom Miguel, who had usurped the throne. In early 1849 conflict developed between the Portuguese government in Macau and the Chinese government over who could collect taxes and tariffs at Macao. Dona Maria II sailed to Macao as part of a small squadron. An internal explosion destroyed her in the harbour on 29 October.

HMS <i>Resistance</i> (1782) Fifth-rate of the Royal Navy

HMS Resistance was a 44-gun fifth-rate Roebuck-class ship of the Royal Navy launched in 1782. Based on the design of HMS Roebuck, the class was built for use off the coast of North America during the American Revolutionary War. Commissioned by Captain James King, Resistance served on the West Indies Station for the rest of the war. She captured the 24-gun corvette La Coquette on 2 March 1783 and then went on in the same day to participate in the unsuccessful Battle of Grand Turk alongside Horatio Nelson. Resistance then went for a refit in Jamaica, during which time King fell ill and was replaced by Captain Edward O'Bryen. O'Bryen commanded Resistance until March 1784 when she was paid off. In 1791 she was recommissioned as a troop ship, but was converted back into a warship in 1793 at the start of the French Revolutionary War, under Captain Edward Pakenham.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.