Potton (1814 ship)

Last updated

History
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg
NamePotton
Namesake Potton, or possibly Potton Island
Owner
  • 1814:John Barkworth
  • 1825:Thomas Barkworth
BuilderBarkworth & Hawkes, Hessle, Hull [1]
Launched6 December 1814 [1]
FateFoundered 1829
General characteristics
Tons burthen39161⁄94, [1] or 396 [2] (bm)
Length111 ft 0 in (33.8 m) [1]
Beam28 ft 10 in (8.8 m) [1]
PropulsionSail
Armament10 × 6-pounder guns

Potton was launched in 1814 and shortly thereafter made one of two voyages under charter to the British East India Company (EIC). Between voyages for the EIC and after she was a general trader until she foundered in 1829.

Contents

Career

Potton enters the Register of Shipping in 1815 with Fairburn, master, changing to Welbank. Her trade was Hull—London, changing to Hull—Bengal. [3]

EIC voyage #1 (1815-1816): Captain Thomas Wellbank sailed from the Downs on 22 May 1815, bound for Bengal. Potton left Calcutta on 8 May 1816 and on 25 May was at Saugor. She reached the Cape of Good Hope on 11 August and St Helena on 8 September. She arrived at the Downs on 17 November. [2]

In 1817 Welbank sailed Potton to India under a license from the EIC. The information in the tables below is from the Register of Shipping.

YearMasterOwnerTrade
1818Welbank
Scott		BarkworthLondon—India
1819ScottBarkworthLondon—India
1820SughrueBarkworthLondon—Jamaica
1821Sughrue
Richter		BarkworthLondon—Jamaica
1822Richeter
Bacon		BarkworthLondon—Jamaica
London—Quebec
1823BaconBarkworthLondon—Quebec

Wellbank had left Potton to sail Regret for the Barricks. He sailed to the East Indies and made one voyage for the EIC in 1820-21. A fire destroyed Regret in September 1822 at Batavia Roads and Wellbank returned to England and again became master of Potton.

EIC voyage #2 (1823-1824): Captain Wellbank sailed from the Downs on 25 May 1823, [2] bound for Bengal. On 21 September she and Atlas, Clifton, master, ran onshore in Hog River Creek, [4] which is a point on the Hooghli River between Kidderpore and Kedgeree. It was feared both would be lost. [5] However, Potton was got off with little damage, [4] though she was still there on 25 September. [2] She had part of the EIC's mint on board. [4]

Potton arrived at Calcutta on 17 October. Homeward bound, she was at Kedgeree on 14 February and Saugor on 27 February. She reached the Cape on 10 May. [2] On 23 May officers and men from HMS Tamar came to her assistance after a gale the previous night damaged her anchor and almost drove her onshore. Potton, Neptune, and Lady Campbell sailed for England on 28 May. [6] Potton reached St Helena on 13 June, [lower-alpha 1] and arrived at the Downs on 16 August. [1]

YearMasterOwnerTrade
1825WellbankBarkworthLondon—Calcutta
1826Wellbank
Higton		BarkworthLondon—Calcutta
London-Sierra Leone [7]
1827HigtonBarkworthLondon-Sierra Leone
1828HigtonBarkworthLondon-Sierra Leone
1829HigtonBarkworthLondon-Sierra Leone

Fate

Potton foundered on 20 March 1829 off the Isle of Flores, Azores, as she was sailing from Sierra Leone to London. [1] Potton had left Sierra Leone on 2 February but heavy gales around the middle of March left her waterlogged and sinking near the Western Islands (Azores). Passengers and crew took to her boats as she foundered and were able to reach land on the 20th. On the 29th Falcon, Littleworth, master, took the survivors and arrived at Dover on 18 June. [8] [lower-alpha 2]

Notes

  1. ↑ The British Library's summary of her records gives her arrival at St Helena as 13 "Jan 1825", [2] but this is clearly a mis-transcription for June.
  2. ↑ Falcon, of 82 tons (bm), Littleworth, master and owner, was a former prize. [9]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Hackman (2001), p. 172.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 British Library: Potton
  3. ↑ Register of Shipping (1815), Seq.№P746.
  4. 1 2 3 Oriental Herald and Colonial Review, Vol. 1, p.712.
  5. ↑ Lloyd's List №5887.
  6. ↑ Monthly Magazine (1 August 1825, Vol. 60, №413, p.2.
  7. ↑ Register of Shipping (1826), Seq. №P453.
  8. ↑ Missionary Register (1829), Vol. 17, p.285.
  9. ↑ Lloyd's Register (1829), Seq.№F34.

Related Research Articles

Sir William Bensley was launched in 1802 as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). Between 1802 and 1813 she made six voyages for the EIC. Her owners sold her and she became a transport. During this time she repelled an American privateer in a single-ship action. She made one voyage transporting convicts to New South Wales (1816–1817). She continued to trade until 1841 when she wrecked at Nova Scotia.

Ocean was launched in 1802 at Quebec. She made five voyages under charter to the British East India Company (EIC) between 1804 and 1814. Her owners then sold her and she continued to sail between Britain and India under a license issued by the EIC. In 1815–1816 she made one voyage transporting convicts to Australia. She was last listed in 1825.

<i>Larkins</i> (1808 ship)

Larkins made ten voyages for the British East India Company (EIC), all as an "extra ship", i.e. under contract. On two of these voyages she first transported convicts to Australia. She also made one convict voyage independently of the EIC. She traded extensively between England and India or China, and in this twice suffered serious but not fatal maritime mishaps. In 1853 she became a coal hulk at Albany, Western Australia, and remained there until she was broken up in 1876.

Regret was launched at Whitby in 1814. She traded with the East Indies under license from the British East India Company (EIC). She also made one voyage for the EIC. A fire destroyed Batavia Roads in September 1822.

Retreat was launched in 1801 and briefly sailed as a West Indiaman between London and Jamaica. She then made five voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) as an "extra ship", that is, under charter. She was broken up in 1814.

<i>Maitland</i> (1811 ship)

Maitland was launched at Calcutta in 1811. She made four voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) between 1812 and 1830. She also made three voyages transporting convicts to Australia between 1840 and 1846. Thereafter she traded widely before she was wrecked c.1869.

<i>Minerva</i> (1805 ship)

Minerva was launched at Lancaster, Lancashire, in 1805. Following trading with Central and South America, she made two voyages under charter to the British East India Company (EIC) between 1811 and 1814. She also made four voyages transporting convicts to Australia between 1818 and 1824, one to Van Diemen's Land and three voyages to New South Wales. She was broken up in 1826.

Moira, was launched at Calcutta in 1813. Between 1820 and 1834 she made four voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) under voyage charters, and transported troops to Burma in 1824. She was lost in 1844.

Huddart was launched in 1803 as an East Indiaman. She made eight voyages for the British East India Company (EIC), between 1803 and 1818. In 1810-1811 she participated as a transport in two British military campaigns. In 1818 new owners deployed her in sailing to Canada. She was wrecked there in 1821.

Lord Castlereagh was launched on the Thames in 1802 as an East Indiaman She made seven voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) before she was sold in 1820. She then may have sailed one or twice to Bombay under license from the EIC. Her subsequent disposition is currently obscure.

Sir Stephen Lushington was launched in 1796 as an East Indiaman. She made seven voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). During this period she took part as a transport in two military campaigns, the cancelled attack on Manila in 1797, and the capture of Mauritius in 1810. In 1812 she became a West Indiaman, thought around 1816 she made another voyage to India. Thereafter her ownership and trade becomes ambiguous: she either traded with Spain until 1822, or with South America until 1825.

<i>Lord Macartney</i> (1782 EIC ship)

Lord Macartney was launched in 1782 as an East Indiaman. She made six voyages for the British East India Company (EIC0 before she was sold in 1798. She then traded across the Atlantic to North America and was last listed in 1811.

Melville was launched at Calcutta in 1802 and apparently traded as a country ship in the East Indies until 1814. Then she sailed to England under the name Lady Campbell and proceeded to sail between London and India, with three of her voyages being on behalf of the British East India Company (EIC). She is last listed in 1829.

Berrington was launched in 1783. She made six voyages as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She then became a West Indiaman before again making a voyage under the auspices of the EIC to bring rice from Bengal to England for the British government. She returned to Indian waters and was last listed in 1807.

Sovereign was launched at Rotherhithe in 1800 as a West Indiaman. The British East India Company (EIC) then took her up as an "extra" ship on several contracts; in all she made seven voyages as an East Indiaman for the EIC. After she left the EIC's service in 1817 she continued to trade with India, but under a license from the EIC. She was broken up in 1822.

<i>Thomas Grenville</i> (1808 EIC ship) India-built UK merchant ship 1808–1843

Thomas Grenville was an East Indiaman launched at the Bombay Dockyard for the British East India Company (EIC), and one of only a handful of East Indiamen that it actually owned. She made 14 voyages for the EIC. It sold her in 1834 when it gave up its maritime activities. She was sold for a free trader and burnt in Bombay in June 1843 in a suspicious fire.

Coldstream was launched in 1810. She may have sailed to the West Indies before becoming an extra ship for the British East India Company (EIC) and making nine voyages as an East Indiaman. After the end of the EIC's maritime activities Coldstream made one more voyage to India and China. She disappeared in 1835 while returning to Britain from China.

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.

Asia was launched in 1811 on the River Thames as an East Indiaman. She made 10 voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). She then continued to sail to India and China after the EIC gave up its trading activities in 1834. She was condemned and hulked in 1840.

Prince Regent was launched at Blackwall in 1811. She made ten voyages for the British East India Company (EIC), between 1811 and 1834 to India and China. She made one more voyage to China after the end of the EIC's trading activities in 1833, and was broken up in 1838.

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.