HMS Howe was originally the teak-built Indian mercantile vessel Kaikusroo that Admiral Edward Pellew bought in 1805 to serve as a 40-gun frigate. In 1806 the Admiralty fitted her out as a 24-gun storeship and renamed her HMS Dromedary. She made numerous trips, including one notable one to Australia when she brought out Lachlan Macquarie and his family to replace William Bligh as governor of New South Wales. Later, she became a prison hulk in Bermuda. Her most recent contribution, however, is as the source of a rich archaeological site.
Built in 1799 in Bombay, Kaikusroo was a so-called Bombay "country ship". As such she engaged in trading voyages on the Malabar Coast and to the Malacca Straits.[3][4][lower-alpha 1]
Between 1801 and 1802 she served under charter from the East India Company to the British Government as a transport ship in the British military expedition from India to Egypt and the Red Sea. Captain Thomas Hardie was appointed commodore of the fleet of country ships.
During the period of the charter her owner was the Parsi shipbuilder Sorabjee Mucherjee. His guarantor was the Bombay merchant Charles Forbes, who served also as Kaikusroo's agent); her captain was Colin Mackenzie. At the time of her charter, Kaikusroo was valued at Rupees 275,000.
Royal Navy service
Admiral Pellew purchased Kaikusroo from Sorabjee Mucherjee in Bombay in April 1805 for £43,000.[5] His aim was to use her as a 40-gun frigate. Pellew commissioned her as the Howe under Lieutenant Edward Ratsey (acting).[1][6] Captain George Cockburn replaced Ratsey and she sailed from India in May with Marquis Wellesley, the departing Governor-General of India, and his suite embarked. Howe and Wellesley, coincidentally, stopped at Saint Helena and stayed in the same building to which Napoleon I of France would later be exiled.[7]Howe arrived at Portsmouth on 7 January 1806. She then moved to the Downs en route to Woolwich Dockyard. She was paid off in February.[1]
There, on 24 February, the Admiralty ordered her converted into a storeship of 24 guns. By March 1806 Howe was embarking stores and she sailed from Portsmouth 14 May under Captain Edward Killwick for the Cape of Good Hope.[1] While she was away the Admiralty recommissioned her on 6 August 1806 and renamed her Dromedary.[lower-alpha 2] However, the order to rename her Dromedary seems to have taken a long while to take full effect.[lower-alpha 3]
She was ordered to sail from the Cape of Good Hope to Buenos Aires where she met up with Sir Home Popham's forces on 28 September. On 3 February 1807 took part in the Battle of Montevideo where she had four men lightly wounded.[8]
Howe, under Captain Killwick, returned to Great Britain in August 1807. She brought with her the prize Diana. Diana had been built in Boston and sold to a Spanish merchant in Monte Video who had planned to use her as a privateer against the British. Diana was carrying hides, copper, tallow, Peruvian bark, furs, horns, ostrich feathers, Vigonia wool, Spanish wool, ebony, goat skins, deer skins, etc. The newspaper report valued the vessel and cargo at £40,000.[9]
At some point William Scott took command of Dromedary. Dromedary then embarked on a number of cruises, taking naval stores wherever the Admiralty sent her. In April 1808 Commander Henry Bouchier was her captain, in the West Indies. She was recommissioned in November under Lieutenant Hayes O'Grady.[1]
Bringing a Governor to New South Wales
In 1809 Dromedary, under the command of its master, Samuel Pritchard, carried Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie to New South Wales. Macquarie was to take over as governor from William Bligh. To enforce the change should the New South Wales Corps oppose it, Macquarie brought with him the 1st Battalion of the 73rd Regiment of Foot, his own regiment.
When the Macquaries boarded Dromedary, lying off the Isle of Wight on 19 May 1809, they found the vessel critically overcrowded, with insufficient provisions for the voyage, and conditions so cramped that additional wooden berths or cradles had been erected to try to accommodate all the passengers. On board, in addition to the crew of 102 sailors, there were 15 officers, 451 rank and file, 90 women and 87 children. Pritchard took with him his wife, two-year-old son, and their servant "Black Tom".
Macquarie immediately transferred 39 men from Dromedary to Hindostan. Hindostan was a former East Indiaman now in service with the Royal Navy as a transport. She would accompany Dromedary on the trip while also carrying troops. Macquarie sent ashore two officers, 50 privates and 41 women and children who were instructed to follow in the next available convict transport. The Dromedary sailed on 22 May.
On 29 May, while Dromedary was in company with Hindostan, Hindostan recaptured the Swedish ship Gustavus.[10]
Dromedary arrived at Port Jackson on 28 December 1809. Macquarie assumed the governorship on New Year's Day, 1810. At 5 pm on 7 March 1810 a fire was discovered to have broken out on Dromedary's lower tier; it was finally extinguished by midnight.[11] In May Dromedary and Hindostan sailed for Britain. They took with them some 22 officers and 345 men of the New South Wales Corps, renamed to the 102nd Regiment of Foot, as well as 105 women and 98 children. On the voyage, Colonel William Paterson, the former Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales, died off Cape Horn. Dromedary arrived at Spithead on 25 October.
Storeship
Dromedary returned home in 1811. S P Pritchard was still her master from 1811 to 1812. His replacement, in 1814, was Edward Ives. She then sailed to the West Indies. Ives remained her master in 1815.[1]
Convict ship
In 1819 Dromedary and Coromandel were fitted out as convict transports. On 12 September under Captain Richard Skinner Dromedary sailed for Australia with 370 convicts.
After delivering the convicts she was to proceed to New Zealand and Norfolk Island to procure timber for the home Dockyards. She arrived in Van Diemen's Land on 10 January 1820, after a voyage of 121 days. She landed 347 convicts at Hobart, and another 22 at Sydney. She also carried a detachment of the 84th Regiment of Foot, and some passengers. At Sydney both Dromedary and Coromandel were fitted out to carry lumber. They then went their separate ways, Dromedary to Whangaroa and Coromandel to the river Thames (Waihou). Among the passengers aboard was Commissioner John Bigge.[12]
From 20 February to 25 November Dromedary was in New Zealand collecting wood for the Navy to see if it would be useful for spars. It would take almost a year to complete loading. Dromedary unloaded her timber at Chatham in June 1821.[13]
On Dromedary's return to England she was refitted at Woolwich 1822-23 and then in 1825, with Richard Skinner as Master, she sailed for Bermuda with 100 convicts. She arrived in 1826 where the convicts were put to hard labor building the Dockyard.
In 1826 Dromedary became a prison hulk for 400 newly arriving convicts. In May 1830 her master was J. Hayes, on the Africa station. His replacement, in 1834, was R. Skinner, in North America and the West Indies.[1] At some point she returned to Bermuda, for good. She then spent her remaining years at one spot close to the quarries and construction sites where the convicts labored. In 1851, after the convicts had built a bridge to Bows Island and a new barracks there, 600 convicts moved from the hulks Coromandel and Dromedary to the island. For the next 12 years Dromedary served as a kitchen for the working prisoners and those who guarded them. Convicts accommodated on her included John Mitchel.[14]
Fate
Dromedary was sold for breaking up in August 1864.[1]
Postscript
Dromedary sat at the same spot for several decades with the result that where she lay became a midden. In 1982 the Bermudian government gave permission for divers to conduct an underwater archaeological dig at the Dromedary anchorage site.
The dig recovered a large collection of 19th-century material directly associated with convict life on the hulks. The archaeologists recovered thousands of artifacts: whale oil lamps, pewter mugs, engraved spoons, clay pipes, bottles, buttons, seals, coins, trinkets, charms, rings, beads, gaming pieces, religious items, knife handles and gaming boards. Plotting the location of the artifacts enabled archaeologists to link items either to the guards or to the convicts. Clearly, the hulks housed an economy in which convicts carved bone, shell, metal and stone to produce items that they sold to guards, visiting sailors and settlers for tobacco, alcohol, food and money.
↑ Her name is also given as Sha(w) Kai Kusseroo, Shah Kai Kusroo, Shaw Kai Kuperoo, Shah Kaikisroo, or Kaikusroo. Parkinson gives her name as Shah Kaikuseroo. Bulley gives her name variously as Shaw Kai Kusroo, Kaikusroo and Shah Kaikusroo.
↑ In January 1806 the Admiralty had commissioned the construction of a new 100-gun First Rate. This would be HMSHowe. The Admiralty may have ordered the name change on Howe/Dromedary when it assigned the name Howe to the new vessel.
↑ In September 1806 William Marsden (Secretary to the Admiralty) was referring to the stores shipped out in the Dromedary. There is a report to the Admiralty, dated 19 November 1806, from Mr Howitson, the Naval Storekeeper at the Cape of Good Hope, in which he states that "… the Howe Storeship, now called the Dromedary, is ordered to proceed to Buenos Aires." However, Steel’s Navy List of December 1806 still lists her as the Howe storeship. Furthermore, when she returned to England in July 1807, local newspapers report the arrival of Howe at Portsmouth 28 July - "from the Plate", and in the Downs in August - "from Montevideo". Thereafter the name Howe disappears and she finally becomes Dromedary - almost a year after the order to change the name.
↑ Mitchel, John (1854). JAIL JOURNAL; OR, FIVE YEARS IN BRITISH PRISONS. New York: PUBLISHED AT THE OFFICE OF THE "CITIZEN,". p.Title page. COMMENCED ON BOARD THE SHEARWATER STEAMER, IN DUBLIN BAY, CONTINUED AT SPIKE ISLAND—ON BOARD THE SCOURGE WAR STEAMER—ON BOARD THE "DROMEDARY" HULK, BERMUDA-ON BQARD THE NEPTUNE CONVICT SHIP—AT PERNAMBUCO—AT THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE (DURING THE ANTI-CONVICT REBELLION)—AT VAN DIEMAN'S LAND—AT SYDNEY—AT TAHITI—AT SAN FRANCISCO—AT GREYTOWN—AND CONCLUDED AT NO. 8 PIER, NORTH RIVER, NEW YORK
Four ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Coromandel, after the Coromandel Coast of India:
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.
Five ships and a shore establishment of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Malabar, after Malabar, a region of India:
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.
HMS Malabar was a 56-gun fourth rate of the Royal Navy. She had previously been the East Indiaman Cuvera, launched at Calcutta in 1798. She made one voyage to London for the British East India Company and on her return to India served as a transport and troopship to support General Baird's expedition to Egypt to help General Ralph Abercromby expel the French there. The Navy bought her in 1804 and converted her to a storeship in 1806. After being renamed HMS Coromandel she became a convict ship and made a trip carrying convicts to Van Diemen's Land and New South Wales in 1819. She spent the last 25 years of her career as a receiving ship for convicts in Bermuda before being broken up in 1853.
HMS Weymouth was a 44-gun fifth rate of the Royal Navy. She was previously the merchantman Wellesley, built in Calcutta in 1796. She successfully defended herself against a French frigate, and made two voyages to Britain as an East Indiaman for the East India Company. The Admiralty purchased her in May 1804; she then became a storeship in 1806. On her last voyage for the Royal Navy, in 1820, she carried settlers to South Africa. She was then laid up in ordinary. In 1828, she was converted to a prison ship and sailed to Bermuda where she served as a prison hulk until 1865 when she was sold for breaking up.
Seringapatam was built in 1799, of teak, as a warship for Tippu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore. However, the British stormed his citadel at Seringapatam that year and he was killed in the action. The vessel was sailed to England in the hopes that the Admiralty would buy it. The Admiralty did not, and British merchants bought her to use as a whaler. She made six voyages to the Southern Atlantic and the Pacific until 1813, on her sixth voyage, when during the War of 1812, a US frigate captured her. She served briefly as a tender to the frigate before mutineers and British prisoners recaptured her and sailed to Australia. After her return to her owners, she returned to whaling until 1846, making another nine voyages. She then sailed between London and New South Wales until 1850. In the 1850s and 1860s she sailed to Aden and Hamburg, ending her years trading between Shields and Quebec. She is no longer listed in 1870.
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.
Numerous vessels have borne the name Coromandel, named for the Coromandel Coast.
HMS Porpoise was the former mercantile quarter-decked sloop Lord Melville, which the Royal Navy purchased in 1804 to use as a store-ship.
Five ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Dromedary, after the dromedary:
Sir Edward Hughes was launched in 1784 as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She spent four years as a country ship, i.e., sailing in the East Indies but without going to Britain. Then between 1788 and 1803 she made eight voyages to India and China for the EIC. In 1804 the EIC sold Sir Edward Hughes to the British Royal Navy, which commissioned her as a 38-gun frigate. The Navy renamed her Tortoise in 1807 and converted her to a storeship in 1808. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars she became variously a coal depot, a hulk, and then a convict transport. In 1844 she became a receiving ship at Ascension Island. She was lost there in 1859, or broken up there in 1860, or 1863.
Charlotte was built at the Bombay Dockyard in 1803. She spent most of her career as a country ship, trading between India and China, though she did sail between India and the United Kingdom on occasion, and under a licence from the British East India Company (EIC). The French captured her in 1804 but she returned to British hands. She was wrecked in 1851.
Anna was launched at Bombay in 1790. She was often called Bombay Anna to distinguish her from BengalAnna. Bombay Anna made two voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). She was lost at sea in 1816.
Sarah was launched at Bombay in 1792. In 1801 she participated as a transport in the British expedition to the Red Sea. Her captain deliberately ran her ashore in 1805 to prevent the French from capturing her.
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.
Surat Castle was launched at Surat in 1788 as a country ship, that is, a vessel that traded around and from India, staying east of the Cape of Good Hope. She originally was intended for the cotton trade with China. From 1796 to 1817 she made nine voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). She then made one more voyage under a license from the EIC. She made one more voyage to India, this time under a licence from the EIC and then disappeared from easily accessible online sources after her sale in 1819.
Cumbrian was launched in 1803 at Bombay, possibly at the Bombay Dockyard. She was a "country ship", generally trading east of the Cape of Good Hope. She also made three voyages for the British East India Company. She was sold in 1835.
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.
James Sibbald was launched at Bombay in 1803. She was a "country ship", a British vessel that traded only east of the Cape of Good Hope. A French privateer captured her in late 1804, but she quickly returned to British ownership in Bombay in a process that is currently obscure. She made several voyages for the British East India Company (EIC).
Grainger, John D (1996). Royal Navy In The River Plate, 1806-1807. Vol.135. Aldershot, Hants, England: Scolar Press for the Navy Records Society. ISBN978-1-85928-292-2.
Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN978-1-84415-717-4.
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