Java (1811 ship)

Last updated

Astern of the EIC ship Java in Genoa 1839.jpg
The stern of Java in Genoa, 1939
History
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameJava
Namesake Java
BuilderBlackmore & Co., Calcutta [1] [2]
Launched17 December 1811 [2]
FateDestroyed 1940
General characteristics
Tons burthen1118, [1] or 1175, [3] [4] or 117519⁄94 [2] (bm)
Length159 ft 2 in (48.5 m) [2]
Beam40 ft 6 in (12.3 m) [2]
PropulsionSail
Sail plan Brig
Complement150 [3]
Armament26 × 12&18-pounder guns [3]

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.

Contents

Origins

Supposedly Java was a gift to an officer of the EIC. A group of passengers on an EIC ship traveling to China went ashore at Java for a picnic. Locals attacked the picnickers and carried away a young girl. One of the ship's officers led an armed party that succeeded in rescuing the young girl. In gratitude, the girl's father had Java built, and donated to her rescuer. [5] Java bore a figurehead depicting a young girl with her hands crossed over her breast. [6]

Career

Java first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1813 with Dennison, master, Paxton & Co. owner, and trade London–India. [7] she was admitted to the registry of Great Britain on 7 October 1813. [8] Captain Henry Templer acquired a letter of marque on 30 November 1813. [3]

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource & notes
1815DennisonPaxton & Co.London–IndiaLR
1820HodgePaxton & Co.London–IndiaLR; damages repaired 1816
1825HodgePaxton & Co.London–IndiaLR; damages repaired 1816

Between 1824 and 1827 Java made one voyage under charter to the EIC. Her owner, Joseph Hare, who had purchased her in 1825, [2] offered her to the EIC, which chartered her to bring teas from China back from Bengal. It paid £10 18s per ton burthen for 1175 tons. [9] Captain Thomas Driver sailed from the Downs on 26 July 1825. Java was at Saugor on 3 January 1826. She returned to her moorings in England on 13 March 1827. [4] [ full citation needed ]

In 1828 Hare sold her to Fairlie & Co., Calcutta and London. In 1836 Scott & Co., London, purchased her. [2]

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource & notes
1830DriverHare & Co.London–IndiaLR; damages repaired 1816
1835T. Driver
1840T. DriverScott & Co.LondonLR

The South Australian Government chartered Java to transport migrants. Java, Captain Alexander Duthie, then sailed to South Australia. Java sailed from London and Plymouth, England, in October 1839 and arrived in Gulf St Vincent off Adelaide, South Australia, on 6 February 1840. From various reports, between 30 and 50 passengers, including 24-28 children, died of disease, malnutrition, and starvation during the journey. [10] [11] The journey was the subject of a Medical Board review on behalf of the South Australian Commissioners that found that Duffie and the medical officer had treated the passengers badly, and ordered that Scott & Co. not be paid. [12]

In 1841 Java was sold to Joseph Somes, London. He chartered her to the British government as a troop carrier visiting North America, the West Indies, South Africa and New Zealand. [5]

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource
1845J.Locke
W.Parker		J.Somes
J&F Somes		London transport
London–S____
London–West Indies		LR; small repairs 1841 & damages repaired 1845
1850GilbertJ&F SomesLondon–East IndiesLR; damages repaired 1848, damages and small repairs 1850
1855RobertsonSomes, B[rother]sLR
1860J.SmithJ.Hall, Jr.LR

In 1857 she was sold to J. Hall, Jr., London and sent to Gibraltar from Liverpool, with a cargo of coal. She arrived at Gibraltar on 20 February 1857 in a leaky condition, having struck the nearby Pearl Rock, off Punta Carnero, Spain, in the Strait of Gibraltar. [13]

Circa 1859 she was sold to Gibraltar shipping agent W. H. Smith of Smith, Immosi, & Company to serve there as coal hulk No. 16. [5] [6] [14]

Fate

In 1939, Smith sold her for £500 to the Genoese ship breaker, Giuseppe Riccardi of Sampierdarena, Italy. He had her towed to Genoa on 26 July 1939 for breaking up. [6] On 20 September 1940, Italian frogmen destroyed her with limpet mines in a training exercise. She was the only vessel ever employed by the EIC to have survived until World War II. [2]

Citations

  1. 1 2 Phipps (1840), p. 103.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Hackman (2001), p. 134.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Letter of Marque, p.70 - accessed 25 July 2017" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  4. 1 2 British Library:Java.
  5. 1 2 3 Peters (2013).
  6. 1 2 3 "The Last Indiaman: Java of Gibraltar to be Broken Up". Times. No. 48367. London. 26 July 1939. p. 13. Retrieved 31 May 2024– via Gale.
  7. ↑ LR (1813), Supple. pages "J", Seq.№J118.
  8. ↑ House of Commons (1814), p. 87.
  9. ↑ Hardy (1835), p. 92.
  10. ↑ "King George's Sound". South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA: 1839–1900). 22 February 1840. p. 4. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  11. ↑ "The Java". South Australian Record and Australasian and South African Chronicle ((SA: 1840–1841)). 3 October 1840. p. 10. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  12. ↑ "Bound for South Australia - Java 1840 by Diane Cummings". www.slsa.sa.gov.au. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  13. ↑ "Last of the Indiamen". Evening Telegraph. No. 19552. Dundee. 26 July 1939. p. 3. Retrieved 31 May 2024– via British Newspaper Archive.
  14. ↑ Chipulina, Neville. "1811 - The Java - A Triumph of Skill". The People of Gibraltar. Archived from the original on 31 May 2024. Retrieved 31 May 2024.

Related Research Articles

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.

Zenobia was a merchant ship launched in 1815 at Calcutta, India. She traded with India under license from the British East India Company (EIC), and made one voyage for the EIC. She then became a Free Trader. In 1852 the P&O company purchased Zenobia to use her as a coal hulk. She was broken up in 1871.

A number of vessels have been named Alexander:

Asia was a merchant ship launched at Calcutta in 1815 for Charles Hackett. She made four voyages transporting convicts from Great Britain to Australia, and between 1826 and 1830, two voyages under charter to the British East India Company (EIC). She was hulked or broken up c.1860.

Tyne was launched in 1807 in Rotherhithe. She spent the first part of her career as a West Indiaman. However, in 1810–1811 she made a voyage to India for the British East India Company (EIC) as an "extra" ship, i.e., under charter. Thereafter, with a change of owners, she traded with the Far East under a license issued by the EIC. Then in 1818 she made a voyage to Port Jackson, New South Wales transporting convicts. A fire destroyed her in 1828 in Bombay Harbour.

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.

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.

HMS Camel was launched in 1812 at Calcutta as Severn. She sailed to England where the navy purchased her for use as a troopship and transport. She had an uneventful naval career and the navy sold her in 1831. Her new owner returned her to her name of Severn. She made one voyage to Bengal and back for the British East India Company (EIC). She continued to trade with India but disappeared circa 1841.

Lady Flora was launched at Calcutta in 1813. She spent her entire career as an East Indiaman but made only one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). She was last listed in 1855.

Earl of Lonsdale was launched at Whitehaven in 1810. She sailed as West Indiaman. She next made one voyage to the East Indies in 1814, and then returned to the West Indies trade. A gale at Jamaica in October 1815 destroyed her.

Ajax was launched in 1811 at South Shields. She was initially a London-based transport, but from 1816 became an East Indiaman, sailing between Britain and India. She was condemned at Calcutta in 1822.

Ceres was launched at Kolkata in August 1793 as Lutchmy and renamed in 1794. She sailed to England in 1798 and became a West Indiaman. She was condemned at Barbados in 1806. New owners returned her to service, first as a West Indiaman and then as an East Indiaman. She was damaged at Mauritius in 1818 and although she was listed until 1824, it is not clear that she sailed again after the damage she sustained in Mauritius.

During the Age of Sail many merchant ships were named Ganges, after the Ganges river in India.

Boyne was built in 1822 in Newcastle upon Tyne as a West Indiaman. In 1824–1825 she made one voyage to Bengal for the British East India Company (EIC)). She next made one voyage to Bombay under a license from the EIC. She then returned to the West Indies trade. Her crew abandoned her on 18 August 1830 in a sinking state as she was sailing from Jamaica to London.

<i>Mellish</i> (1819 ship)

Mellish was launched in 1819 at Kidderpore, Calcutta as Chicheley Plowden but renamed within the year and sold for a "free trader", i.e, a ship trading between England and India sailing under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She then made two voyages transporting convicts, the first to New South Wales, and the second to Van Diemen's Land (VDL). She next made two voyages as a South Seas whaler between 1831 and 1838. She was wrecked on 5 October 1844.

Swallow was launched at Calcutta in 1813. She sailed to England and then traded between England and India under a license from the British East India Company (EIC) through 1824. She returned to Calcutta registry and at some point after 1824 was sold in Java.

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.

Several sailing vessels have been named Indus, after the Indus River, or the constellation Indus:

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

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.