| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Olive |
| Builder | J. Gilmour & Co., Calcutta [1] |
| Launched | 5 May 1802 |
| Fate | Captured June 1806 |
 France | |
| Name | Olive |
| Acquired | 1806 by capture |
| Decommissioned | March 1807 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | 600 tons (unladen) or 900 (laden) [lower-alpha 1] |
| Tons burthen | 400, [3] or 420 [1] (bm) |
Olive was launched at Calcutta in 1802. The French captured her in 1806 and the French Navy took her into service under her existing name. She was decommissioned in March 1807.
J. Gilmour & Co. launched Olive at Calcutta on 5 May 1802. [1] [4] In 1803 her master was H. Matthew. [3]
The French frigate Sémillante captured Olive on 19 June 1806. [1] Olive was only one of several ships that Sémillante captured on her cruise. [5]
Olive was commissioned on 6 December 1806 at Île de France as a flute. Later, Olive was reported to have been there on 10 January 1807, and to have been captured in the Red Sea. [6] She was decommissioned in March 1807. [7]
Olive apparently returned to British hands and reappeared as a transport at the British invasion of Java (1811).
She then disappeared again from readily available sources.
The Sémillante was a 32-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She was involved in a number of multi-vessel actions against the Royal Navy, particularly in the Indian Ocean. She captured a number of East Indiamen before she became so damaged that the French disarmed her and turned her into a merchant vessel. The British captured her and broke her up in 1809.
HMS Admiral Rainier was a Dutch 16-gun brig that the British captured on 23 August 1800 at Kuyper's Island, Java. They took her into service and named her after Admiral Peter Rainier, the leader of the British expedition. After the British sold her in 1803 apparently the French captured her in 1804 and sold her to the Dutch colonial government in Batavia for anti-piracy patrol. Her Javanese crew mutinied in 1806 and eventually sailed to Penang where vessels of the British East India Company (EIC) seized the vessel. She returned to British service, only to be captured and recaptured by vessels of the EIC. Her ultimate fate is unknown.
Atlas was built in Souths Shields by Temple and launched in 1801 for Temple. She made two voyages transporting convicts from Ireland or England to Port Jackson. On the first voyage she carried cargo for the British East India Company (EIC). On the second she sailed to Bengal after delivering her convicts to New South Wales and was wrecked off India in 1820 while on her way back to Britain.
Swallow was a teak-built packet ship that the British East India Company (EIC) launched at Bombay in 1779. She made nine trips between India and Britain for the EIC between 1782 and 1803. Her most notable exploit occurred on her seventh voyage, when she helped capture seven Dutch East Indiamen on 15 June 1795. The Royal Navy purchased her in 1804 and named her Lilly. She served in the navy until she was sold in 1811. During this time she participated in the capture of La Désirade island, and participated in a quixotic and unsuccessful attempt of General Francisco de Miranda to liberate the Province of Venezuela from Spain in 1806. Her whereabouts between 1811 and 1815 are obscure, but in 1815 J. Lyney, of London, purchased her and she sailed to the West Indies and to India as an EIC-licensed vessel until she wrecked on her way to Calcutta in 1823.
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 first of these her non-European crew suffered a high mortality rate on the voyage back to India. On the third French privateers twice captured her and Royal Navy vessels twice recaptured her. She was a transport for the British invasion of Java in 1811. A fire destroyed her in 1815.
HMS Swallow was an 18-gun Albatross-class brig-sloop of the British Royal Navy, launched in 1795 and sold in 1802. During her naval career she captured a number of French privateers while on the Jamaica station. After her sale she became an armed whaler sailing under a letter of marque. As a privateer she captured two French whaling vessels but then is no longer listed after 1810.
Althea was launched at Calcutta in 1801. She made one voyage to Britain for the British East India Company. The French captured her in the Indian Ocean in 1804 and then kept her at Île de France where she served as a prison ship. When the British captured Île de France in 1810 they recovered Althea. She then resumed her mercantile career until she wrecked in 1812.
Several vessels have been named Highland Chief:
Plover was launched at Liverpool in 1788. Her whereabouts between 1798 and 1802 are currently obscure. She became a Liverpool-based slaver in 1802 and made three voyages delivering slaves from West Africa to the West indies before the French Navy captured her in 1806 as she was starting her fourth slaving voyage. The French Navy may have commissioned her as a corvette, but if so her service was brief.
Eliza Ann was launched at Calcutta in 1795. She sailed to England where she was admitted to the Registry. In all, she made five voyages for the British East India Company (EIC), during one of which she participated in a notable action and during the last of which she captured a French privateer. She herself was lost in 1807.
Clyde was launched at Calcutta in 1802 and cost sicca rupees 76,000 to build. In 1803 Clyde was listed as belonging to the port of Calcutta with George McCall, master, and Gilmore & Wilson, owners.
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.
Sir Andrew Snape Hammond was a merchant vessel launched at Calcutta in 1802. By 1807 her name had changed to Udny. In 1807 the French captured her, but she eventually returned to non-French ownership and Calcutta registry. She was wrecked in 1824.
Sir William Burroughs was a merchant vessel launched in 1803 at Calcutta. A French privateer captured her in 1807 and the British recaptured her in 1810. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC) in 1812. She is last listed in 1820.
Elizabeth was launched at Bermuda in 1786 or 1790. She first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1802. She then made four voyages as a slave ship, during the second of which a French privateer captured her. Next, after the end of British participation in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, she spent a little over a year as a hired armed tender under contract to the British Royal Navy. She returned to mercantile service trading with Madeira or Africa, until another French privateer captured her in early 1810.
Margaret was launched at Calcutta in 1804 and cost 59,000 sicca rupees to build. Shortly after her launch she sailed to England for the British East India Company (EIC). Captain Benjamin Fergusson sailed from Calcutta on 3 December 1805. She was at Saugor on 14 February 1806. She reached Saint Helena on 29 April and arrived at The Downs on 24 June.
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.
Several vessels have been named Recovery:
Gilwell was launched in 1801 at Howrah, Calcutta as a "country ship", that is, she traded east of the Cape of Good Hope. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). In 1804 she was present but not engaged at the Battle of Pulo Aura. The French captured her in 1805 and 1807. She was renamed Fyzal Curreem and eventually Cashmere Merchant. As Cashmere Merchant she reappeared in 1827 in records of vessels registered at Calcutta. She was reported in 1842 as having been damaged in a typhoon at Calcutta. Last mentioned as dismasted at Mauritius prior to 13 April 1843.
Laurel was launched in 1790. She first appeared in online British sources in 1802. She made one voyage from Liverpool as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. On her return to Liverpool she became a privateer, but was captured in June 1803 after having herself captured a French merchant vessel.