| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Princess Charlotte |
| Builder | Thomas Brocklebank, Whitehaven [1] |
| Launched | 1815 |
| Fate | Last mentioned 1843 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen | 514, [2] or 517 [1] (bm) |
| Armament | 22 guns [2] |
Princess Charlotte was launched in 1815 at Whitehaven. She made several voyages to India, sailing under a license issued by the British East India Company (EIC). She was last listed in 1841, though she apparently sailed for at least another two years.
The Brocklebanks, owners of Princess Charlotte, built her at their yard in Whitehaven to respond to the challenge posed by Kingsmill in the newly opened trade between the United Kingdom and India. She was almost the same size as Kingsmill. [2]
In 1813 the EIC had lost its monopoly on the trade between India and Britain. British ships were then free to sail to India or the Indian Ocean under a license from the EIC. [3] Princess Charlotte's owners applied on 4 January 1816, for a licence, which they received the next day. [4]
Princess Charlotte first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1815. [5]
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source & notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1815 | Brocklebank | Workington | LR | |
| 1816 | M'Kean | Brocklebank | Workington Whitehaven–West Indies | LR |
| 1818 | M'Kean | Brocklebank | Whitehaven–West Indies Liverpool–Calcutta | LR |
Princess Charlotte was registered at Whitehaven on 11 January 1816. [2] Captain J.M'Kean sailed on 8 February 1816 from London, bound for Bombay. [6] She returned on 24 March 1818. Her cargo was worth £28,000, which yielded a net profit to her owners of £10,651. [2]
Thereafter she made several voyages to India and Penang. On 1 September 1824 she put back to Calcutta to repair, after having sailed for Liverpool. [7]
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source & notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1827 | M'Kean | Brocklebank | Liverpool–Calcutta Liverpool–New Orleans | Register of Shipping |
| 1828 | J.M'Kean Johnstone | Brocklebank | Liverpool–New Orleans | LR |
| 1829 | Johnston J.M'Kean | Brocklebank | Liverpool–New Orleans | LR; repairs 1829 |
| 1830 | A.Kerr | Brocklebank | Liverpool–Calcutta | LR; large repair 1829 |
| 1835 | J.M'Kean | LR | ||
| 1841 | M.King | Brocklebank | Liverpool–Bombay | LR |
Princess Charlotte, King, master, was last listed in Lloyd's Register in 1841. However, she was reported to have sailed from St Helena on 28 July 1843, having come from Bombay on her way to Liverpool. She arrived at Liverpool on 21 September. She may have sailed again, but absent original research her ultimate fate is unclear.
Several vessels have been named Caledonian for the people of Caledonia:
Kingsmill was a French vessel launched in 1793 under a different name, captured in 1798, and sold to British owners who renamed her. She then became a slave ship, making three voyages from Africa to the West Indies in the triangular trade in enslaved people. A French privateer captured her in 1804, but she returned to her owners in 1804. In 1807, after the end of British participation in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, she became a West Indiaman. In 1814 she became the first ship to trade with India under a license from the British East India Company (EIC) after the EIC lost its monopoly on British trade with India. She was badly damaged in 1821 and subsequently disappears from the registers.
Fairlie was launched at Calcutta in 1810 and sailed to England. There she became a regular ship for the British East India Company (EIC). Including her voyage to England, she made four voyages for the EIC. From around 1821 on she became a Free Trader, continuing to trade with India under a license from the EIC. She also made two voyages transporting convicts to New South Wales (1834), and Tasmania (1852). She made several voyages carrying immigrants to South Australia, New South Wales, and British Guiana. She foundered in November 1865.
Earl of Lonsdale was launched at Whitehaven in 1810. She sailed as West Indiaman. She next made one voyage to the East Indies in 1814, and then returned to the West Indies trade. A gale at Jamaica in October 1815 destroyed her.
True Briton was launched at Pont Neuf, Quebec, in 1811. Her primary trade was sailing between Britain and New Brunswick, but she also sailed to Jamaica, and made two voyages to India. Her crew abandoned her in the Atlantic in 1822.
Earl of Buckinghamshire was built at Montreal in 1814. She sailed to Britain and made two voyages to India. She then started trading between Liverpool and North America. In 1821 she carried some 600 settlers from Greenock to Quebec. Her crew abandoned her in the North Atlantic in October 1822 and she was wrecked in November when she drifted ashore at Galway Bay, Ireland.
Sir James Henry Craig was launched at Quebec in 1811. She sailed to England and made three voyages as a West Indiaman. The British East India Company (EIC), in 1813 lost its monopoly on the trade between Britain and India. In 1817 she sailed for India but was condemned at Calcutta after she sustained extensive storm-damage at the start of her homeward-bound voyage.
Ceres was launched in France in 1784. The British captured her circa 1800 and sold her as a prize. Once under British ownership she sailed to the Mediterranean, but in 1801 she started sailing in the slave trade. She made four voyages as a slave ship, gathering slaves in West Africa and delivering them to the West Indies. After the abolition of the British slave trade in 1807 she became a West Indiaman, and then an East Indiaman. She was last listed in 1822.
Glenmore was launched in 1806 at Elgin. She was initially a West Indiaman. She made one voyage to Bengal in 1813–14. She became a Greenland whaler in 1818 and made four full whaling voyages. She was lost in the White Sea in 1822.
Aberdeen was launched at Quebec in 1811. She sailed to England and then traded between Quebec and Britain. She made two voyages to India under license from the British East India Company (EIC). After her return from the second, in 1820, she was no longer listed.
Lord Wellington was launched in 1810 at Rochester, or equally, Chatham, as a West Indiaman. She made at least one voyage to India under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She then made a voyage to New South Wales transporting female convicts from England and Ireland. She was lost in December 1822 off Denmark while sailing from Saint Petersburg to London.
Majestic was launched at Aberdeen in 1829. She made several voyages from England to India, and one voyage transporting female convicts to Van Diemen's Land.
Stentor was a British transport and merchant vessel launched in 1814 at Sunderland. In 1820 she transported settlers to South Africa. She made several journeys to India under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). As a transport she carried troops and supplies to such destinations as Sierra Leone, Fernando Po, Ceylon, and the West Indies. She was wrecked in November 1846.
Oromocto was launched at Oromocto, New Brunswick in 1813. She then traded between England and the Caribbean. She started trading between England and India but in 1820 she became leaky on her way back to England from India, put into Maranham, and was condemned there in 1821.
Asia was launched in 1799 at North Shields. She sailed first as a transport and then as a general trader. She made four voyages (1814–1818) to India under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She was lost at sea in 1835.
Actaeon was launched at Topsham, Devon in 1815. She traded widely and from 1823 she made some voyages to Bombay under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She then traded with what is now Peru, and was probably condemned in what is now Chile in 1828.
Marquis of Anglesea was a British ship, launched in 1815 at Sunderland. She initially traded with India under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She then traded with the Americas. In 1829, she carried 104 settlers and troops to the Swan River Colony. She was wrecked there on 4 September 1829, a few days after she had landed them and her cargo. Her hulk then served the Colony's government for some three years before a storm finally destroyed her.
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.
Cyrus was launched in 1811 in Whitby. She spent her early career as a transport. Then after the war she made one or more voyages to Bengal and Ceylon under a license from the British East India Company. After her return she traded between Great Britain and North America. She was wrecked at Quebec in November 1844.
Bengal was launched at Greenock in February 1815. She was the first vessel built in Scotland for the East India trade. She immediately made three voyages to India, sailing under a licence from the British East India Company (EIC). She then traded with the United States, alternating that with other voyages to India. In 1819, on one voyage to India, she was anchored at Calcutta and the venue for a party that resulted in her captain, surgeon, and about a fifth of the guests all dying within days of an unknown disease. She was wrecked in about 1847.