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History | |
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Name | Marquis Cornwallis [lower-alpha 1] |
Namesake | Marquess Cornwallis |
Operator | British East India Company |
Builder | M/Shipwright Jemsetjee Bomanjee, Bombay |
Launched | 1800 |
Fate | Sold 1805 |
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Name | HMS Cornwallis |
Acquired |
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Renamed | HMS Akbar in February 1811 |
Reclassified |
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Honours and awards | Naval General Service Medal (NGSM) with clasp "Java" [3] |
Fate | Sold 1869 for breaking up |
General characteristics [4] [5] [lower-alpha 2] | |
Class and type | Fourth rate |
Tons burthen | 138717⁄95, or 1360, or 1363 [6] (bm) |
Length |
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Beam | 43 ft 1+1⁄4 in (13.1 m), or 42 ft 9+1⁄2 in (13.0 m) |
Depth of hold | 15 ft 3 in (4.6 m), or 14 ft 10+1⁄2 in (4.5 m) |
Complement | 430 |
Armament |
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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.
The EIC had Marquis Cornwallis built for long-range convoy escort duties. As such, she was a spar-decked frigate. [4] As of 1 January 1802 she was under the command of Captain Thomas Hardie. [lower-alpha 3]
In December 1801, she sailed, together with Upton Castle (a country ship), Betsey (an armed HEIC brig), some other vessels, and 1000 troops to Daman and Diu to persuade the Portuguese governor to resist any French incursion. The expedition was under the command of Captain John Mackellar, of the Royal Navy, whose own vessel, Terpsichore, was not ready for sea. [8] The governor accepted the British reinforcements, which, as it turned out, were not needed.
Marquis Cornwallis, under the command of Captain Isaac Godsalve Richardson, [lower-alpha 4] left Bombay on 7 Feb 1803, reaching St Helena on 12 May, and arriving at the Downs on 1 August. [5] On 8 May 1804, Marquis Cornwallis sailed from Portsmouth, still under Richardson's command. She sailed via St Helena to Bombay, where the company intended for her to remain. [9] She was convoying Marquis of Ely, Marchioness of Exeter, Lord Nelson, Brunswick, Princess Charlotte, Marquis Wellesley, and Ann. [lower-alpha 5]
In 1805 Admiral Pellew purchased her for £68,630, and commissioned her "immediately". [4] Commander Charles James Johnston took command in February 1806. [4] She then served off Bombay and engaged in the long-distance blockade of Isle de France (now Mauritius).
On 11 November 1806, Sceptre and Cornwallis sailed into Saint Paul's Bay, on Île Bonaparte, in an attempt to cut out vessels there, which consisted of the French frigate Sémillante , three other armed ships and twelve captured British ships. (The eight ships that were prizes to Sémillante had a collective value of £1.5 million.) Sceptre and Cornwallis fired on the French and took fire in return. However, when the slight breeze failed, Sceptre and Cornwallis found themselves unable to maneuver. They therefore left without having accomplished anything, but apparently also without having suffered damage or losses. [11]
In February 1807, Cornwallis, under the command of Johnston, was ordered on a cruise against Spanish shipping and ports on the west coast of South America. Johnston used Port Jackson as a base for refreshment and re-supply before proceeding on his cruise between May and October 1807. Cornwallis sailed first to Juan Fernandez, then cruised northward along the coasts of Chile, Peru, Panama, and Mexico, capturing 17 vessels, most of them small, two of which were sent as prizes to Port Jackson. [12] [13] One of them, the re-captured South Sea whaler Atlantic, was found to be too unseaworthy for a Pacific crossing; her captors scuttled her off Punta Mala (Panama) on 7 September. The brig Rosalía, of 375 tons, was captured at the Peruvian port of Ilo on 13 July. Cornwallis took her to Pisco with other prizes, and then dispatched her to Port Jackson on 17 July with seven men on board under the command of Lieutenant John Garland, Cornwallis's master. Rosalía was wrecked on the Minerva Reefs, 1,300 kilometres from Norfolk Island. The survivors then sailed to Norfolk Island without chart or quadrant. This was a feat of navigation that ranked with that of William Bligh from Tofua to Kupang in Bounty's launch in 1789, or that of William and Mary Bryant and their companions from Port Jackson to Kupang in a cutter in 1792. [14] The Calcutta Gazette of 25 February 1808 reported the presence of the Cornwallis at Malacca the previous month, and said that:
Captain Johnson [sic] was returned from a cruize of upwards of nine months, during which time he had proceeded along the coast of South America; had been at New Holland, Owyhee and other islands in the South Sea. He had destroyed near 30 vessels, and had captured three, which he left at Port Jackson.
The cruise is commemorated in the name Johnston Atoll, which atoll Captain Johnston sighted on 15 December 1807 while proceeding on his course from Hawaii to Canton. Also, Port Pegasus on Stewart Island and Pegasus Bay on the Banks Peninsula are named for the captured ship Pegaso, re-named Pegasus after being sent to Port Jackson and sold as a prize. [lower-alpha 6]
In 1808, command of Cornwallis passed to Captain Fleetwood Pellew. Cornwallis, in company with Sceptre, engaged and damaged Sémillante, together with the shore batteries whose protection she had sought.
In 1809 Captain Christopher Cole took command. [4] When he moved to Caroline, William Augustus Montagu replaced him. Montagu then engaged in a number of operations in the Dutch East Indies, attacking forts on islands in the Celebes and Amboyna.
On 17 January, Montagu and Cornwallis attacked a Dutch fort at Boolo Combo in Bouthian Bay in the Celebes. Montagu, under a flag of truce, had requested permission to water his ship. When the Dutch commander refused, the British landed a small force of 100 men from the European Madras regiment. The 30 or so Dutch troops and 200 local troops quickly gave up the fort, but continued to snipe from the woods. The British burnt 11 small vessels (20-50 tons each), and the public buildings, took the ammunition, and spiked the eight 9-pounder guns and two brass field pieces there. The action cost the British one man killed, and nine wounded, including the captain commanding the landing force, who was lightly wounded. [15]
On 1 February Montagu spied a brig taking shelter under the guns of Manippa. He sent in three boats which brought the brig out. The British suffered no casualties despite coming under heavy small arms fire from the fort. Montagu took the cargo of foodstuffs off the brig to feed his crew, and then burnt the vessel. There were no British casualties [15]
In February 1810, the British attacked Amboyna. In the campaign, Cornwallis captured the ship Mandarine, of 16 guns and 66 men, Captain Besman, on 3 February after a chase of four hours. Madarine had been out for four weeks but had captured nothing. Cornwallis suffered only one man wounded in the action. [15] Mandarine then served as a tender to Cornwallis. [lower-alpha 7]
On 1 March Cornwallis chased a Dutch man-of-war brig all day until she took refuge in a small bay on the north side of the island of Amblaw. The wind being light and variable, and night approaching, Montagu sent in Cornwallis's boats, under the command of Lieutenant Henry John Peachey. After rowing all night, they captured the Dutch brig Margaritta Louisa, under Captain De Ruyter on 2 March. Margaritta Louisa was pierced for 14 guns but carried only eight, and a crew of 40 men. [15] Margaritta Louisa had left Surabaya nine days earlier with 20 to 30,000 dollars for Ambonya, and supplies for Ternate. In the boarding, the British had one man seriously wounded and four men lightly wounded; the Dutch lost one man killed and 20 wounded. [15]
Cornwallis, Dover, and Samarang in January 1816 shared in the prize money awarded for sundry property captured on and off Ambonya between 19 February 1810 and 21 March. [lower-alpha 8] Cornwallis and Dover also shared in Samarang's capture on 28 March of the Dutch brig Recruiter. [lower-alpha 9]
In late 1810, Cornwallis was deployed with Albemarle Bertie's squadron that forced the surrender of Isle de France. William Fisher took command in December 1810 after Montagu was selected from among the captains assembled for the invasion and reassigned to lead a naval brigade in support of the British Army forces' ground offensive. [lower-alpha 10]
In February 1811, Cornwallis was renamed HMS Akbar, freeing the name for the 3rd-rate ship of the line HMS Cornwallis that was launched in Bombay in 1813.
On 29 June 1811 Salsette captured the slaver Expedition off Mauritius. The prize crew took the ship and the slaves on her to the Portuguese colony of Goa because selling slaves was illegal in British India, but not Goa. Salsette shared the prize money with the crews of Drake and Cornwallis. [20]
Between 4 August and 19 September 1811, Akbar participated in the capture of Java. [21] In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Java" to all surviving claimants from the campaign.
Akbar was paid-off in July 1812. Then in February 1813 she was at Woolwich Dockyard for conversion to a store ship. [4] In the spring of 1813, Captain Archibald Dickson was appointed to command Akbar. [22] Between March and December she was converted to a frigate. [4] However, in late August she escorted Windham, General Hewett, and Wanstead out of the Channel as they left Britain with convicts for New South Wales. [23]
On 15 May 1814, Akbar recaptured Indian Lass. [lower-alpha 11]
Captain Charles Bullen took command in November 1814. Rear-Admiral Griffiths made her his flagship on the Bermuda station in 1815. [4]
The court martial of captain, officers and men of Cyane for the loss of their vessel took place on board Akbar at Halifax on 28 June 1815. Then on 11 August Akbar and Arab captured Hannah. [25] [lower-alpha 12]
Akbar was laid up at Portsmouth in December 1816, but the next year was fitted as a troopship. Then between June and December 1824 she was fitted to serve as a quarantine ship for Pembroke. In September 1827 she was moved to Liverpool to serve as a lazaretto. She became a training ship in 1852 and a quarantine ship again around 1858. She was sold in 1862 for breaking up. [6]
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)HMS Glatton was a 56-gun fourth rate of the Royal Navy. Wells & Co. of Blackwell launched her on 29 November 1792 for the British East India Company (EIC) as the East Indiaman Glatton. The Royal Navy bought her in 1795 and converted her into a warship. Glatton was unusual in that for a time she was the only ship-of-the-line that the Royal Navy had armed exclusively with carronades. She served in the North Sea and the Baltic, and as a transport for convicts to Australia. She then returned to naval service in the Mediterranean. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars the Admiralty converted her to a water depot at Sheerness. In 1830 the Admiralty converted Glatton to a breakwater and sank her at Harwich.
HMS Boadicea was a frigate of the Royal Navy. She served in the Channel and in the East Indies during which service she captured many prizes. She participated in one action for which the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal. She was broken up in 1858.
HMS Apollo, the fifth ship of the Royal Navy to be named for the Greek god Apollo, was a fifth-rate frigate of the Lively class, carrying 38 guns, launched in 1805 and broken up in 1856.
HCS Bombay, later HMS Bombay and HMS Ceylon, was a teak-built fifth rate, 38-gun wooden warship built in the Bombay Dockyard for the Honourable East India Company (HEIC) and launched in 1793. The Royal Navy purchased her in 1805 and renamed her HMS Bombay. She served with the Royal Navy under that name until 1 July 1808, when she became HMS Ceylon. She was sold at Malta in 1857 and broken up in 1861.
HMS Havannah was a Royal Navy 36-gun fifth-rate frigate. She was launched in 1811 and was one of twenty-seven Apollo-class frigates. She was cut down to a 24-gun sixth rate in 1845, converted to a training ship in 1860, and sold for breaking up in 1905.
HMS Weazel was a Royal Navy 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop, launched in 1805 at Topsham, Devon. She saw active service in and around the Mediterranean during the Napoleonic Wars resulting in her crews earning three clasps to the Naval General Service Medal, was decommissioned in 1815, and was sold for breaking in 1825.
HMS Staunch was a Royal Navy 12-gun Archer-class gun-brig, built by Benjamin Tanner and launched in 1804 at Dartmouth, Devon. She served in the Indian Ocean and participated in the action of 18 September 1810 before she foundered with the loss of all hands in 1811.
HMS Circe was a Royal Navy 32-gun fifth-rate frigate, built by Master Shipwright Joseph Tucker at Plymouth Dockyard, and launched in 1804. She served in the Caribbean during the Napoleonic Wars, and participated in an action and a campaign for which in 1847 in the Admiralty authorised the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal with clasps. The action, off the Pearl Rock, near Saint-Pierre, Martinique, was a debacle that cost Circe dearly. However, she also had some success in capturing privateers and a French brig. She was sold in 1814.
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HMS Sappho was a Cruizer class brig-sloop built by Jabez Bailey at Ipswich and launched in 1806. She defeated the Danish brig Admiral Yawl in a single-ship action during the Gunboat War, and then had a notably successful two months of prize-taking in the first year of the War of 1812. She was wrecked in 1825 off the Canadian coast and then broken up in 1830.
HMS Belette was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop, built by King at Dover and launched on 21 March 1806. During the Napoleonic Wars she served with some success in the Baltic and the Caribbean. Belette was lost in the Kattegat in 1812 when she hit a rock off Læsø.
HMS Comus was a 22-gun Laurel-class sixth-rate post ship of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1806. In 1807 she took part in one notable single-ship action and was at the capture of Copenhagen. In 1815 she spent six months with the West Africa Squadron suppressing the slave trade during which time she captured ten slavers and freed 500-1,000 slaves. She was wrecked in 1816 with no loss of life.
HMS Colibri was the French naval Curieux-class brig Colibri, launched in 1808, that the British captured in 1809 and took into the Royal Navy under her existing name. She spent her time in British service on the North American station based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. During the War of 1812, Colibri served mostly in blockading the American coast and capturing privateers and merchant ships. She foundered in 1813 in Port Royal Sound, South Carolina, but without loss of life.
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HMS Cambrian was a Royal Navy 40-gun fifth-rate frigate. She was built and launched at Bursledon in 1797 and served in the English Channel, off North America, and in the Mediterranean. She was briefly flagship of both Admiral Mark Milbanke and Vice-Admiral Sir Andrew Mitchell during her career, and was present at the Battle of Navarino. Cambrian was wrecked off the coast of Grabusa in 1828.
The Dutch corvette Scipio was launched in 1784. She convoyed Dutch East Indiamen between the Cape of Good Hope and Europe until HMS Psyche captured her at Samarang in 1807. The British Royal Navy initially referred to her as HMS Scipio, but then renamed her to HMS Samarang in 1808. She was not commissioned in the Royal Navy. She was instrumental in the capture of Amboyna and especially Pulo Ay, and participated in the invasion of Java (1811). She was sold at Bombay in 1814. She then entered mercantile service, sailing between Liverpool and India until 1827. She became an opium trader sailing between India and Canton, and was broken up near Hong Kong in August 1833.
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Carron was launched at Bombay Dockyard in July 1792. She was a country ship that made several voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) before the Royal Navy purchased her in 1804 to use as a fifth-rate frigate, and renamed Duncan. In 1807 the Navy renamed her Dover. She was wrecked off Madras on 2 May 1811.
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