Indian Chief, of 402 tons (bm), was built at Calcutta in 1798. [1] She was captured and sold to the Americans. [2] She made one voyage to Bengal for the British East India Company (EIC). She was last listed in the Register of Shipping in 1810.
Indian Chief left New York on 21 April 1800 and was at Hamburg on 13 June. By 22 August she was at Yarmouth. [3] The sloop HMS Inspector had detained Indian Chief, Service, master, as she was sailing from Hamburg to Bengal. [4] The government seized seven bales of linen. Inspector shared the prize money with the hired armed cutter Diligent. [lower-alpha 1]
EIC voyage:Indian Chief left Portsmouth on 2 December, was at Madeira on 15 December, and arrived at Calcutta on 2 April 1801. Bound for Britain, she was at Culpee on 16 May and reached St Helena on 12 August. [6] Indian Chief, Service, master, sailed for London on 14 August. [3] She sailed under escort by the sloop Falcon. Indian Chief arrived at the Downs on 22 September 1801. [3]
On 25 or 26 September, Indian Chief was approached by a frigate flying French colours. As the frigate came close enough to board, Service threw overboard all the EIC confidential mails and packets that he was carrying. The frigate only hauled up British colours after the mails had been jettisoned. A boarding party checked Indian Chief's papers and then left. [7]
Indian Chief was carrying a cargo of rice from Bengal. She is not listed among the vessels participating in the British Government program in 1801–1802, to import rice from Bengal, but may have been responding to the need. She reported that when she had left Bengal most of the rice ships were preparing to sail for London and that there was plenty of grain available there.
Indian Chief arrived at Gravesend, Kent on 30 September. Her cargo consisted of 4150 bags of rice, 1800 bags of pepper, 98 bales of piece goods, 46 tons of indigo, and six pipes of wine. [7]
Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source |
---|---|---|---|---|
1801 | R.Service | Thompson | London–Jamaica | Register of Shipping (RS) |
1802 | R.Service W.Harrington | Thompson | London–Jamaica London–Lisbon | RS |
On 5 April 1802 Indian Chief, Harrington, master, arrived at Oporto from London.
Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source |
---|---|---|---|---|
1804 | Harrington | Norman | London–Lisbon | RS |
1810 | Harrington | Norman | London–Lisbon | RS |
Notes
Citations
References
Mornington was a British merchant vessel built of teak and launched in 1799 at Calcutta. She made three voyages under charter to the British East India Company (EIC). On the third French privateers twice captured her and Royal Navy vessels twice recaptured her. A fire destroyed her in 1815.
Porcher was launched in 1799 at Calcutta. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC) from Bengal to England. A French privateer captured her in 1802, which gave rise to a case in French courts about the validity of the capture given the impending Treaty of Amiens. The French courts condemned her in prize and new owners in Bordeaux named her Ville de Bordeaux. The British recaptured her in 1804. Thereafter she traded between England and India as a licensed ship. In 1809 she sailed to England where in 1810 new owners renamed her Cambridge. As Cambridge she made three voyages for the EIC as an extra ship. In 1818 she was again sold with her new owners continuing to sail her to the Far East as a licensed ship. She then made two more voyages to India for the EIC. In 1840 she was sold to an American trading house at Canton, and then to the Qing Dynasty, which purchased her for the Imperial Chinese Navy. The British Royal Navy destroyed her on 27 February 1841 during the Battle of First Bar at the onset of the First Opium War.
Malabar was the Nieuwland, launched in 1794 for the Dutch East India Company. The British seized her in 1795 and new owners renamed her Malabar. She made two complete voyages under charter to the British East India Company before she burnt at Madras in 1801 in an accident.
Nonsuch was launched at Calcutta in 1781 as the first large vessel built there. She was designed to serve as either a merchantman or a man-of-war. She spent the first 12 years of her career as a merchant vessel, carrying opium to China amongst other cargoes. After the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793 her owner frequently hired her out as an armed ship to the British East India Company (EIC). She participated in an engagement with a French naval squadron and recaptured an East Indiaman. She also made two voyages for the EIC. After the Peace of Amiens in 1802 the EIC paid her off; as she was being hauled into a dockyard for repairs she was damaged and the decision was taken to break her up.
Peggy was built at Calcutta in 1793 and initially sailed in the Indian coastal and Far East trade. In 1801 she assumed British registry and her name was changed to Juliana. Her owners sold her to the Transport Board but in 1804 the government resold her and she was sailing as a West Indiaman between London and Antigua. She then made two voyages for the British East India Company (EIC), and one voyage to Hobart, Van Dieman's Land, transporting convicts. On her return from this voyage she wrecked in 1821 on the English coast.
Highland Chief was launched at Calcutta in 1798. She made two voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) before a French privateer captured her in 1802 south of the Bay of Bengal.
Hind or Hinde was launched at Hull in 1800. After a voyage to Russia she made one voyage for the British East India Company. She then became a West Indiaman. She was wrecked in April 1815.
Arran was launched at Calcutta in 1799. In 1800 she sailed to Britain for the British East India Company (EIC). She then traded between England and India and around India until she was lost in June 1809 while sailing to Basra from Bengal.
Santa Brigida was a frigate of the Spanish Navy, launched in 1785. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1799. She then became the East Indiaman Automatia, and made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). She was sold for breaking up in 1803.
Anna was launched at Calcutta in 1793. She was often called Bengal Anna to distinguish her from BombayAnna. Bengal Anna made three voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). She was lost on the coast of Chittagong c.1811, after participating in a military expedition.
Lucy Maria or Lucy and Maria was launched at Calcutta in 1801. She made one voyage to England carrying rice from Bengal on behalf of the British East India Company (EIC). She was seized at Amboyna in 1804 and then sailed as the Dutch ship Victoria. The British recaptured her in 1806 and new owners renamed her Troubridge and later renamed her Lucy Maria. As Troubridge she served as a transport for two invasions, that of Mauritius in 1810 and Java in 1811. She was broken up in 1821.
Medway was launched at Fort William, Calcutta in 1801. She immediately sailed to Britain under charter to the British East India Company (EIC). There her owners sold her. She traded with Madeira and the Americas before she foundered in 1812.
Countess of Sutherland was launched in 1801 at Tittaghur on the Hooghly River, about 15 miles upstream from Calcutta. She made one voyage from Calcutta to England for the British East India Company in 1801–1802. The French captured her in 1803 as she was sailing from Bengal to China. They used her as a hulk until she was broken up c.1821.
Union was launched at Calcutta in 1801. She sailed to England and then made five voyages as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC), between 1805 and 1814. She was wrecked in late 1815 or early 1816.
Varuna was launched at Calcutta in 1796. She made four voyages as an "extra ship" for the British East India Company (EIC), and then spent two years as a troopship. She returned to India in 1806. She was lost in 1811, probably in a typhoon.
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.
Weather-induced crop failures in Britain in 1799 and 1800 forced the British Government to import rice from Bengal to counter popular unrest. The wheat harvests of 1799 and 1800 were about one-half and three-quarters of the average, respectively. The price of bread rose sharply, leading to bread riots; some of the rioters invoked the French Revolution.
Indian Oak was launched at Cochin, probably in 1813. She then traded between India and Britain. From circa 1824 she operated as a "country ship" trading primarily in the Indian Ocean. Notable events included arson by the crew, a dispute between her master and the government of Mauritius, transport of 200 labourers from Bengal to Mauritius, and mutiny that resulted in the cutting and maiming of her master. She was wrecked in August 1840 after having delivered troops to Chusan for the First Opium War.
Resource was launched in Calcutta in 1804 as a country ship; that is, she traded out of India but only east of the Cape of Good Hope. In 1807 the French captured her, but she returned to British ownership. She participated as a transport in the British invasion of Java. After 1813 she traded between Britain and India under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). From about the mid-1830s she traded primarily between Britain and Australia, and in 1839 she transported immigrants to South Australia. In 1843 she started sailing between Britain and Quebec until December 1846 when her crew had to abandon her at sea while on a voyage back to Britain from Quebec.
David Scott was launched at Bombay in 1801. She was a "country ship", i.e., she generally traded east of the Cape of Good Hope. Between 1802 and 1816 she made five voyages between India and the United Kingdom as an "extra ship" for the British East India Company (EIC). Thereafter she traded between Britain and India under a license from the EIC. A fire destroyed her at Mauritius on 12 June 1841.