Patna was a sloop built at Java in 1778 that served the British East India Company (EIC) as a pilot boat of the Bengal Pilot Service.[1]
In 1782 she served as a tender to Nonsuch on Nonsuch's voyage carrying opium to China. Lieutenant Colonel Henry Watson, who owned Nonsuch, prevailed upon the EIC, which was sponsoring the venture, to provide guns for Patna.[2]
Watson's orders to Captain Richardson of Nonsuch were that Patna was to accompany Richardson to Canton. Richardson was to sail directly to China, avoiding the Malacca and Sunda Straits, passing east of Java, and then proceeding past the Philippines to China. Instead, Richardson sailed via the Malacca Straits, spent a month around Java, where he sold numerous chests of opium on private account. He then put the proceeds on Patna and sent her back to Bengal.[3]
In 1793 the EIC converted Patna to a buoy vessel. On 27 July 1796 Patna was condemned and sold.[1]
Hastings, Warren (1787) India Courier Extraordinary: Proceedings of Parliament Relating to W. Hastings, Volume 9.
House of Commons, Parliament of Great Britain (1806) Reports from Committees of the House of Commons: Which Have Been Printed by Order of the House, and are Not Inserted in the Journals, Volume 6 - East Indies 1783.
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.
Related Research Articles
Four vessels with the name Hastings have served the East India Company (EIC), one on contract as an East Indiaman, one brig of the Bombay Pilot Service, one ship of the line, and one frigate of the Company's Bombay Marine.
Hastings was a brig that the Bombay Dockyard launched in 1785 or 1787 for the Bengal Pilot Service. In 1818, the EIC sold her to local buyers. Alternatively, in May 1818 she was converted to a buoy vessel; in 1819 she appeared as a buoy vessel on a list of pilot vessels at Calcutta with J.F. Twisden, master. She was sold on 11 October 1820. A fire destroyed her on the night of 17 April 1823, while she was at Pulau Pasang, off Padang.
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.
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.
Caroline was launched at Calcutta in 1805. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). Thereafter, she became a London-based transport, sailing between England and India under a licence from the EIC. She was wrecked in 1816.
Matilda was launched at Calcutta in 1803. She spent most of her career in private trade in India or in trading between England and India. She participated in the British invasion of Java (1811) and made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). She grounded and was wrecked in March 1822.
Cornwallis was built probably at Surat around 1789, or possibly Demaun in 1790. Her name was originally Britannia, but it was changed to Cornwallis shortly before her completion. She served for some years in India as a country ship, before transferring her registry to Britain in 1797. She then served in private trade between Britain and India until 1809 or so when she transferred her registry back to Bombay. Thereafter she served as a country ship, though in both 1810 and again in 1817 she performed a voyage to Britain for the British East India Company. Thereafter she apparently continued to serve as a country ship with homeport of Bombay. She burnt there in June 1841 as she was about to take a cargo of cotton to China.
Hope was launched in 1804 at Calcutta. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). She continued to trade around India until a French frigate captured her in 1808. She apparently returned to English hands and was renamed Madras Merchant. She was then sold in 1816 at Manila.
Scaleby Castle was launched in 1798 at Bombay. She made three voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) under charter. At the end of the first she changed to British Registry. Her owners sold her in 1806 to William Moffat, who then entered into a four-voyage contract with the EIC as a regular ship. The EIC purchased Scaleby Castle outright in 1816. She proceeded to make 10 more voyages for the EIC. In all, she made 17 voyages for the EIC, a record. In 1833-35 the EIC ended its commercial activities and sold its vessels. New owners continued to sail Scaleby Castle to China and India. She was last listed in 1841. In 1847 her owners sold her as a hulk.
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.
Dover Castle was launched in 1798 as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She made six voyages for the EIC. During the second she transported EIC troops to Macao to augment the Portuguese forces there, but the authorities there refused them permission to land. In 1814 Dover Castle was sold and she served for a half-dozen years as a London-based transport. She was hulked c.1820 and finally broken up in 1826.
Asia was launched at Liverpool in 1798. She competed four voyages for the British East India Company (EIC), and wrecked on her fifth. During the second she transported EIC troops to Macao to augment the Portuguese forces there, but the authorities there refused them permission to land. She was wrecked in 1809 on the outbound leg of a voyage to Madras and Bengal.
For the invasion of Java (1811), under the auspices of Lord Minto, the British government hired a number of transport vessels. Most of the transports were "country ships". Country ships were vessels that were registered in ports of British India such as Bombay and Calcutta, and that traded around India, with Southeast Asia, and China, but that did not sail to England without special authorization from the EIC. In addition, some of the transports for the invasion were "regular ships" of the British East India Company (EIC), and some were "extra ships". Regular ships were on a long term contract with the EIC, and extra ships were vessels the EIC had chartered for one or more voyages.
Britannia was launched by the Bombay Dockyard in 1772, and was rebuilt in 1778. The British East India Company (EIC) apparently acquired her in 1775. Between 1779 she made eleven complete voyages as an East Indiaman for the EIC. She also participated in three naval campaigns, during the first of which she was deployed as a cruiser off Sumatra. There she engaged and captured a French ship. In the other two she served as a transport. She set out for her twelfth EIC voyage but was lost in 1805 during the third naval campaign.
Boyne was launched at Calcutta in 1807. In 1809 she sailed to England. She was sold to the Danes, but by 1811 was under English ownership under the name Moffat. She then made seven voyages as a "regular ship" for the British East India Company (EIC). After the EIC exited its maritime activities in 1833–34, Moffat made four voyages transporting convicts to Australia: one voyage to Port Jackson and three to Van Diemen's Land. She also made at least one voyage carrying immigrants to South Australia, and later regularly traded between Liverpool and Bombay. She was last listed in 1856.
Lord 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.
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.
Marchioness Wellesley was launched at Calcutta in 1805. She initially sailed as a country ship, i.e., trading east of the Cape of Good Hope. She participated in the 1811 British military expedition to Java. In 1815 she sailed to England and then sailed between England and India under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She was broken up in 1821 or 1824.
Mercury was launched at Calcutta in 1806.
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