HCS Pluto (1822)

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Flag of the British East India Company (1801).svg United Kingdom
NamePluto
OwnerBritish East India Company
Ordered1822
BuilderKyd & Co., Kidderpore, Calcutta
Launched1822
FateDestroyed May 1830
General characteristics
Tons burthen(bm)
Installed power8 ihp (6.0 kW)
Propulsion2 paddle wheels
Speed4 kn (4.6 mph; 7.4 km/h)
Armament4 × 24-pounder brass carronades + 2 × 6-pounder guns (not in action) [1]

The H[onourable] C[ompany's] S[hip] Pluto was built in 1822 for the British East India Company (EIC) as a steam dredge for Calcutta. The EIC converted her into a floating battery and she served during the first Anglo-Burmese war (1824 to 1826). At the end of the war, the EIC sold her and, her engine having been removed, she became a coal depot. A gale destroyed her in May 1830.

Contents

Origins

William Brunton, of the Eagle Foundry at Birmingham, had built a steam engine and boiler designed for a river boat. J&W. Gledstone purchased the engine and Major Davidson of the Bengal Engineers brought the engine to Calcutta around 1817 or 1818. The engine then sat in a warehouse until 1822.

In 1822 the Bengal Government had Kyd & Co., of Kidderpore, built a dredge named Pluto. She was flat-bottomed and had a square front and stern, with steam-driven bucket-chain dredges on each side. When war with Burma broke out in 1824, the EIC had the dredges removed and paddles installed for propulsion. It also had a false bow installed and armed Pluto with six cannon. [2]

Under the command of Lieutenant T.C.Minchall (RN), Pluto served in the EIC squadron under the command of Commodore John Hayes. From early 1825 she towed boats, provided some fire support with her carronades, and on occasion her European crew joined landing parties. [3]

After the war the British East India Company sold Pluto and she became a coal hulk (minus her engines) for Alexander & Co. [2] She sank in a gale in May 1830. [4]

Alternate account of Pluto's origin

Some accounts state that Pluto was the Van der Capellen, built at Batavia in 1810 or 1811 soon after the British invasion of Java, by British merchants. In this account, the government chartered her for two years at a rate of 10,000 dollars a month for general service and the transport of troops. Later, she came into the hands of Major Schlach. [4] Other accounts state that the first steam vessel in Java was the paddle-steamer Van der Capellen, named for Godert van der Capellen, one of the triumvirate commissioners-general of the Dutch East Indies (1816–1819), and then the commissioner–general (1819–1826). She was launched at Kerr's Yard, Surabaya on 23 November 1825 for British merchants. This vessel became the first steam vessel to visit Singapore when she anchored there on 17 April 1827. [5]

Citations

  1. ↑ Low (1877), p. 437 fn.
  2. 1 2 Phipps (1840), pp. 201–202.
  3. ↑ Low (1877), pp. 434–439.
  4. 1 2 Preble (1883), pp. 76–77.
  5. ↑ Marshall (2015), p. 67.

Related Research Articles

HMS<i> Pluto</i> List of ships with the same or similar names

Six ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Pluto, after Pluto, a God of Roman mythology:

HMS <i>Hindostan</i> (1804) Ship of the line of the Royal Navy

HMS Hindostan was a 50-gun two-decker fourth rate of the Royal Navy. She was originally a teak-built East Indiaman named Admiral Rainier launched at Calcutta in 1799 that the Royal Navy brought into service in May 1804. Before the Royal Navy purchased her, Admiral Rainier made two trips to England for the British East India Company (EIC), as an "extra ship", i.e., under charter. Perhaps her best known voyage was her trip to Australia in 1809 when she and Dromedary brought Governor Lachlan Macquarie to replace Governor William Bligh after the Rum Rebellion. In later years she became a store ship, and in 1819 was renamed Dolphin. She was hulked in 1824 to serve as a prison ship, and renamed Justitia in 1831. She was finally sold in 1855.

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.

Ann and Amelia was launched in 1816 at Chittagong. She was sold at Calcutta in August 1823 for a "Free Trader". She transported convicts from Britain to Port Jackson, New South Wales, in 1825. She then made three voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) and was lost in gale on the coast of France in 1835 as she was finishing her third voyage.

Matilda was launched at Calcutta in 1803. She spent most of her career in private trade in India or in trading between England and India. She participated in the British invasion of Java (1811) and made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). She grounded and was wrecked in March 1822.

Indian Trader was launched in July 1819.

Several ships have borne the name Caledonia for Caledonia:

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.

Orient was launched in 1814 at Calcutta. She sailed to England and from then on was based there. She traded with India into the 1830s. She participated in a naval punitive expedition in 1819, and performed four voyages for the British East India Company. From the 1840s she continued to sail widely until she was condemned in 1865 and sold for breaking up.

Aurora was launched in 1790 at Calcutta. The first 10 years of her career are currently obscure. In 1801 she made a voyage to England for the British East India Company (EIC), and then was briefly registered in England. She returned to India to continue to sail as a "country ship" until she was sold to Portuguese or Spanish owners in 1811. She returned to British ownership circa 1816 and made a second voyage for the EIC, this time from China to England. She returned to English registry and made one voyage to India under a license from the EIC. She then switched to sailing between Liverpool and Quebec and was lost in the Atlantic around 1822.

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.

<i>Java</i> (1811 ship)

Java was a merchant ship launched at Calcutta, British East India, in 1811. She made one voyage under charter to the British East India Company (EIC). She served in the migrant trade between Great Britain and Australia and in Far East trade. She became a coal hulk at Gibraltar circa 1859. She survived until World War II.

Rockingham was launched at Sunderland in 1818 and immediately became an East Indiaman, sailing under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She made one voyage for the EIC. She was wrecked in 1830 while delivering immigrants to Western Australia.

East Indian was launched at Calcutta in 1815. She remained a country ship, that is, a British vessel trading east of the Cape of Good Hope, until 1819. In 1819 she apparently sailed to England and may briefly have assumed British registry. By 1824 she had returned to Calcutta registry. She was wrecked in 1826 near Saugor.

Liverpool was launched at Calcutta in 1815. She traded between Britain and India under a license from the EIC, and was lost in May 1823.

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.

Mercury was launched at Calcutta in 1806.

<i>Castle Huntly</i> (1812 EIC ship) Sailing ship of the East India Company launched in 1812

Castle Huntly was launched at Calcutta in 1812. She then made 11 voyages for the British East India Company as an East Indiaman. After the EIC ceased its shipping business in 1833, new owners continued to sail her between the United Kingdom and China until October 1845 when she was wrecked in the South China Sea.

Mediterranean was launched in 1810 in Lowestoft or Great Yarmouth. Initially she sailed to the Mediterranean. Between 1819 and 1823 she made two voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She then traded with India, sailing under a licence from the British East India Company (EIC). She may have shifted to India, before returning to British registry in 1835–1837 while performing a third whaling voyage. She then disappeared from online records.

References

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