Prince Blucher was launched at Chittagong in 1815. She made one voyage for the British East India Company. She participated in two and possibly three rescues, one particularly notable, and was wrecked in 1821. Condemned, she was laid up and later broken up in 1824.
First rescue – Frances Charlotte: Frances Charlotte left Batavia on 18 September 1816 bound for Bengal, carrying the 78th Highlanders regiment, together with their wives and children. On 5 November Frances Charlotte struck a sunken reef off Preparis. On 10 November Prince Blucher, Captain Weathrall, was sailing in the vicinity when she spied wreckage. Weathrall investigated and when he saw a signal fire stopped to render assistance. Between 11 and 14 November Prince Blucher was able to rescue some 316 men, women, and children before bad weather forced her to leave. She took the survivors to Calcutta, where the Bengal Government dispatched two cruisers to rescue the 130 or so remaining survivors.[3][4]
At Calcutta, Weathrall and his men received great praise for their efforts. The Governor-General, on behalf of the government of Bengal, awarded Weathrall 5000 sicca rupees for plate. It also awarded money to his officers and crew. The merchants of Calcutta awarded Weathrall with an engraved silver plate.[3]
EIC voyage (1817): Captain M. T. Weathrall sailed from Calcutta on 1 February 1817. Prince Blucher reached the Cape of Good Hope on 29 April, and arrived at Portsmouth on 30 June.[5] She had carried some of the surviving 78th Highlanders.[6][7]
Second rescue: Captain Weathrall sailed Prince Blucher from England on 23 August and Madeira on 21 September. On 21 January 1818 she encountered at 20°00′N87°56′E / 20.000°N 87.933°E / 20.000; 87.933 a boat of pilgrims that had been driven out to sea from Saugor some nine day earlier. They were completely without food or water. Eight had died, two died after Prince Blucher got them aboard, and one more died thereafter. Still, Weathrall was able to bring safely into Calcutta, "eight Brahmans, four women, and twenty-six Bengalees".[6]
In 1818 Captain James Henry Johnston[8] took command of Prince Blucher. In her he sailed twice to London.
Third rescue: On 7 February 1819, Iris, Jones, master, wrecked on Canda Island,[9] on her way from London to Bombay. (Canda, or Candy, or Candu Island does not exist.[10]) Contemporary accounts believed that the island was east of the Chagos Archipelago.) Lloyd's List reported on 13 August 1819, that Iris had wrecked on "Solomon or Canda Island"; this would suggest that "Solomon Island" was the Salomon Islands, a small atoll in the Chagos Archipelago. Lloyd's List further reported that Prince Blucher had rescued Jones and some of the crew but that the rest of Iris's crew had remained on the island, and it was expected that most of the cargo would be saved. Prince Blucher had taken with her 40,000 dollars that Iris had been carrying.[11] The Asiatic Journal... has an account of the wrecking and a subsequent dispute between Captain Lewis Jones and Captain Lagour, master of a French schooner, respecting compensation for passage for Jones and some of his crew to India. The account makes no mention of Prince Blucher.[12]
Lloyd's List reported on 23 June 1820, that Prince Blucher, Johnston, master, had arrived in England from Bengal. She had left Bengal on 11 February 1820, and reached the Cape of Good Hope on 5 April. She left the Cape on 18 April, and reached Ascension Island on 5 May.[13] On the morning of 22 June Prince Blucher grounded on the Shivering Sands in the Thames Estuary. That afternoon some smacks got her off; she arrived in the Thames River on the 24th.[14]
Prince Blucher, Johnston, master, left London on 24 September and arrived at Bengal on 13 February 1821.[15]
Loss
On 3 May 1821 Prince Blucher sailed from Bengal for Mauritius.[16] She then stranded on the James and Mary Shoal in the Ganges River. She was refloated but was so badly damaged she had to be taken back to Calcutta.[2] There she was condemned in June and laid up. She was finally broken up in 1824 at Fort Gloster.[1] Her entry in Lloyd's Register for 1823 carried the annotation "condemned".[17]
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.
Hebe, built in Hull in 1810, made two notable voyages, one voyage as an extra ship for the British East India Company (EIC), and one voyage transporting convicts to New South Wales. In between, an American privateer captured Hebe, but the British Royal Navy recaptured her. Hebe was wrecked in 1833.
Claudine was launched at Calcutta in 1811. She made two voyages transporting convicts, one to Van Diemen's Land in 1821 and one to New South Wales in 1829. In between, she made one voyage under charter to the British East India Company. Her captain deliberately grounded her in November 1840 to survive a storm, but she was able to return to service. She was broken up in 1849.
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.
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.
Cecilia was launched in 1790, possibly at Pegu, Surat, Bombay, or Calcutta. She transferred to British registry in 1797 after sailing there under charter to the British East India Company (EIC). She made one more voyage for the EIC and was wrecked in January 1804.
Kingston was launched at Bristol in 1811. She traded between Bristol and Jamaica until her owners sold her in 1818. She then made two voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). Afterwards she continued trading with India, and then with Quebec. She was wrecked in 1833.
Milford was built at Bombay in 1786 for Pestonjee Bomanjee and John Tasker. 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.
Arran was launched at Calcutta in 1799. In 1800, she sailed to Britain for the British East India Company (EIC). On her return voyage, she suffered a major outbreak of illness while between England and the Cape. She then traded between England and India and around India until she was lost in June 1809 while sailing to Basra from Bengal.
Frances Charlotte was launched at Rangoon in 1815 as Four Sisters. She was renamed and as Frances Charlotte was lost in 1816 on Preparis in the Bay of Bengal.
Caesar was launched in 1825 on the Thames River. She sailed between England and the East Indies under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). In 1832-33 she made one voyage under charter to the EIC). Later in 1833 she again sailed to India and wrecked.
Auspicious was built in 1797. The British East India Company (EIC), chartered her for a voyage to Bengal and back. At Calcutta a fire almost destroyed her. She was rebuilt there some years later. She served as a transport vessel in the British government's expedition to the Red Sea in 1801. She then sailed to England, again under charter to the EIC. In 1811 she sailed to Bengal to remain. She was sold in 1821 either to Malabars or Arabs.
Iris was launched at Shields in 1811. She first sailed as a London-based transport. In 1819 she was wrecked on a voyage to India.
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.
Varuna was launched at Calcutta in 1796. She made four voyages as an "extra ship" for the British East India Company (EIC), and then spent two years as a troopship. She returned to India in 1806. She was lost in 1811, probably in a typhoon.
Blucher was launched in 1814 at Sunderland. She mostly sailed across the Atlantic to South and North America though she may have made a voyage to Calcutta under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She was wrecked in 1824.
East Indian was launched at Calcutta in 1815. She remained a country ship, that is, a British vessel trading east of the Cape of Good Hope, until 1819. In 1819 she apparently sailed to England and may briefly have assumed British registry. By 1824 she had returned to Calcutta registry. She was wrecked in 1826 near Saugor.
Christopher was launched in Quebec in 1811. She transferred her registry to Britain, and then sailed between Quebec and Britain. She made one voyage to India under license from the British East India Company (EIC). She was last listed in 1820.
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.
Indian Oak was launched at Cochin, probably in 1813. She then traded between India and Britain. From circa 1824 she operated as a "country ship" trading primarily in the Indian Ocean. Notable events included arson by the crew, a dispute between her master and the government of Mauritius, transport of 200 labourers from Bengal to Mauritius, and mutiny that resulted in the cutting and maiming of her master. She was wrecked in August 1840 after having delivered troops to Chusan for the First Opium War.
References
Chronicles of the sea: or, Faithful narratives of shipwrecks, fires, famines, and disasters incidental to a life of maritime enterprise (1838).
Hackman, Rowan (2001). Ships of the East India Company. Gravesend, Kent: World Ship Society. ISBN0-905617-96-7.
Phipps, John, (of the Master Attendant's Office, Calcutta) (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.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Stewart, David (major general) (1825). Sketches of the Character, Manners, and Present State of the Highlanders of Scotland: With Details of the Military Service of the Highland Regiments. Vol.2. Constable.
Stommel, Henry (2017). Lost Islands: The Story of Islands That Have Vanished from Nautical Charts. Courier Dover Publications. ISBN9780486784670.
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