Lord Castlereagh (or simply Castlereagh) was launched in 1803 at Cochin and spent her entire career as a country ship based in Bombay. She made several voyages to China, during the first of which she was present at the battle of Pulo Aura. She also made a few voyages to England, including one for the British East India Company (EIC). She participated as a transport in the British Invasion of Isle de France. She was lost in 1840 at Bombay coming into harbour.
In July 1803 the EIC appointed John Hayes captain of HCS Bombay. On the receipt of news of the resumption of war with France, the EIC appointed Hayes commodore of a small squadron consisting of Bombay, Mornington (22 guns), Teignmouth (16), and the armed vessel Castlereagh (16), and charged him with protecting the trade routes in the Bay of Bengal and adjacent waters.
At some point, Hayes and Bombay sailed to Muckie, Sumatra, and captured the fort there.[6] It had belonged to the EIC, but had been lost due to the "treachery of the Malays". After three days of bombardment by Bombay and Castlereagh, Hayes landed at the head of a party of seamen and took the fort and adjacent batteries, which the British dismantled. They also took off 67 guns and a quantity of stores.[6]
Castlereagh's first major commercial voyage was to China. In January 1804 she was at Canton and she sailed with the homeward bound China Fleet, which by the time it reached the approaches to the Strait of Malacca had swelled to include 16 East Indiamen, 11 country ships, a Portuguese merchant ship from Macau and a vessel from Botany Bay in New South Wales. On 14 February 1804, with the island of Pulo Aura within sight to the south-west near the eastern entrance to the Straits of Malacca, the China Fleet encountered a powerful French squadron under the command of Contre-Admiral Charles-Alexandre Durand Linois. The Fleet bluffed the French into withdrawing after only a brief exchange of shot.
Lord Castlereagh was present at the engagement but was not among the few vessels that actually exchanged fire with the French. This voyage was only the first of numerous voyages that Lord Castlereagh made to Canton, taking cotton and opium.
In 1804–05, Lord Castlereagh, McFarlane, master, broke the speed record for China voyages. She left Bombay on 15 September 1804, sailed through the Straits of Malacca to Manila, and arrived at Whampoa anchorage on 4 November. She left after four days and arrived at the Sand Heads on 13 February 1805, having made the round voyage in under four months.[7]
Captain E. Cooper sailed from Bombay on 30 July 1809. Lord Castlereagh reached Saint Helena on 8 October and arrived at The Downs on 7 December.[8]Lord Castlereagh was admitted to the Registry of Great Britain on 22 March 1810.[5]
In late 1810 Lord Castlereagh was one of the transport vessels that supported the British invasion of Île de France.
After the surrender of Île de France Lord Castlereagh was one of nine ships the British government chartered as cartels to carry back to France the French troops captured in these campaigns.[9]
On 7 November 1815 Lord Castlereagh sailed from Bombay. She was at the Cape of Good Hope on 12 January 1816, and arrived at The Downs on 13 March. On her way she was not permitted to touch at Saint Helena.[10] After their arrival, the passengers subscribed to a piece of plate that they presented to Captain M.B. Laing as a token of their appreciation of his conduct towards them on the voyage from Bombay to England.[11]Lord Castlereagh returned to Bombay on 7 August. She had left the Portsmouth on 14 May and had she not encountered light winds after reaching Anjouan would have made the voyage in 80 days.[12]
In 1822 Lord Castlereagh, F. Briggs, master, had to return to Bombay to refit. On 27 April she was off Algoa Bay when a gale developed that lasted until 5 May. She had to throw 290 bags of pepper overboard on 30 April to keep the pepper from chocking the pumps. She arrived back in Bombay on 8 June.[13] she was to go into dock on 2 July.[14]
In June 1836, Lord Castlereagh sailed from Bombay for China. She arrived safely in Macao having struggled through the monsoon in the Bay of Bengal and a typhoon in the China Sea.[15]
Fate
Castlereagh was wrecked on 17 June 1840 with heavy loss of life while coming into Bombay during a gale.
As Lord William Bentinck was attempting to enter port during a gale she wrecked on some reefs. Lord Castlereagh mistook Lord William Bentinck's lights for those of a ship safely at anchor, and steered on to the same reef, also wrecking.[16][17]
One hundred lives were lost on Lord William Bentinck. Castlereagh had on board 200 people, 70 of whom were saved.[16][17]
1 2 "Extraordinary Express from India". The Times. No.17428. London. 5 August 1840. col C-F, p.5.
References
Bulley, Anne (2000). The Bombay Country Ships, 1790–1833. Routledge. ISBN978-0700712366.
Coates, W.H. (1911). The Old 'Country Trade' in the Est Indies. Imray, Laurie, Norie and Wilson.
Hackman, Rowan (2001). Ships of the East India Company. Gravesend, Kent: World Ship Society. ISBN0-905617-96-7.
Lee, Ida (1912). Commodore Sir John Hayes: His Voyage and Life (1767-1831) with Some Account of Admiral D'Entrecasteaux's Voyage of 1792-3. Longmans, Green.
Phipps, John (1840). A Collection of Papers Relative to Ship Building in India ...: Also a Register Comprehending All the Ships ... Built in India to the Present Time ... Scott.
Reports and Papers on the Impolicy of Employing Indian Built Ships in the Trade of the East-India Company, and of Admitting Them to British Registry: With Observation on Its Injurious Consequences to the Landed and Shipping Interests, and to the Numerous Branches of Trade Dependent on the Building and Equipment of British-built Ships (1809; Blacks and Parry).
House of Commons, Parliament, Great Britain (1814). Minutes of the Evidence Taken Before the Select Committee on Petitions Relating to East-India-Built Shipping. H.M. Stationery Office.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Exeter was a three-decker East Indiaman built by Perry and launched in 1792. She made eight voyages to the East Indies for the East India Company (EIC). More unusually, on separate voyages she captured a French frigate and participated in the Battle of Pulo Aura. She was sold for breaking up in 1811.
Ocean was an East Indiaman, launched in 1800, that made four trips for the Honourable East India Company. She is most famous for her participation, in 1804, in the battle of Pulo Aura. She foundered in 1811 while on her fifth trip.
Locko was originally the French East Indiaman Modeste, built in France. The Royal Navy captured Modeste in 1778, while she was on the return leg of her maiden voyage, whereupon individuals associated with the British East India Company (EIC) purchased her. She entered the EIC's service in 1780, then performed three voyages for the EIC. On the first voyage she was present at the Battle of Porto Praya, and led an inconclusive attack by five merchant vessels on a French frigate. The second and third voyages were much less eventful. Locko's owners disposed of her on her return in 1788 from her third voyage.
The action of 10 September 1782 was a minor engagement between five merchant vessels — four East Indiamen of the British East India Company and a country-ship — on the one side, and a French frigate on the other. The action resulted in only a few casualties and was inconclusive. What was noteworthy was that the Indiamen sought out the French man-of-war and attacked it; it would have been more usual for the merchantmen to have avoided combat as they had little to gain from a battle.
Charles Grant was built at Bombay 1810. Between 1810 and 1833 she made 12 voyages as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). Her owners sold her in 1834. She then sailed for new owners until 1838 when they had her broken up. Alternatively, she may have been sold to India and burnt there in 1847 at Bombay.
Lord William Bentink was launched in 1828 at Bristol. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC), and one transporting convicts to Tasmania. She was wrecked on 18 June 1840 off the harbour of Bombay.
Charlotte was built at the Bombay Dockyard in 1803. She spent most of her career as a country ship, trading between India and China. The French captured her in 1804 but she returned to British hands. She was wrecked in 1851.
Henry Addington was launched in 1800 as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She made seven voyages for the EIC before she was sold in 1815 for breaking up. She was one of the vessels at the Battle of Pulo Aura in 1804.
Experiment was launched in 1802 and was immediately taken up by the British East India Company (EIC), as an "extra ship" on a multi-voyage charter. She made three voyages for the EIC and disappeared without a trace while homeward bound on her fourth voyage in the same storm that claimed two other East Indiamen.
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Milford was built at Bombay in 1786. She was a country ship that traded around India and between India and China, though she also traded with England. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). She was lost at Calcutta in August 1829.
Earl Camden Was launched in 1802 as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She made three voyages for the EIC until a fire destroyed her at Bombay in 1810 on her fourth voyage. On her first voyage she was under the command of Nathaniel Dance, who was the commodore of the EIC's homeward-bound China Fleet at the battle of Pulo Aura. In the South China Sea he led the whole convoy into an attack that bluffed a squadron of five French warships into withdrawing.
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.
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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.
Castle Huntly was launched at Calcutta in 1812. She then made 11 voyages for the British East India Company (as an 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.
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