| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Recovery |
| Builder | J. Thomas, [1] Howrah, Calcutta, India |
| Launched | 30 October 1821 [1] |
| Renamed | Valetta |
| Fate | Wrecked July 1825 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen | 317 [1] (bm) |
| Notes | Teak-built |
Recovery was launched at Howrah, Calcutta, in 1821. At some point she was renamed Valetta (or Valletta). [1] She was wrecked in July 1825 while sailing from Sydney to Manila.
In 1823 Valetta was one of five or six British opium ships at Macao or outside the Pearl River, the Chinese government having forbidden them to enter with their cargoes of opium. [2] On 28 March 1824 she was again at the anchorage at Lintin, with opium. [3]
The East-India register and directory for 1824 showed her registered at Calcutta and gave her master's name as J.W.Phillips. [4]
Loss: Lloyd's List reported on 14 April 1826, based on a letter from Sydney dated 21 September, that the country ship Valetta, Phillips, master, had wrecked on 10 July 1825 on the coast of New South Wales, but that her crew and most of the materials had been saved. [5] [lower-alpha 1]
On 13 June 1825. Valetta, Dacre, master, sailed from Sydney, bound for Manila. On 9 July she anchored off an island near Cape Hillsborough. The next day she weighed, but before she could raise her anchor, the wind shifted and drove her on some rocks. She beat heavily during the night and the next day her crew landed her provisions to lighten her. During the night of the 11th, she floated off. She had water in her lower hold. Her crew anchored her in 25 fathoms of water and set to work with the pumps. They were able to pump her dry, but she continued to leak and one pump had to be kept in service. [6]
Her crew repaired the pintails for her rudder and reloaded her provisions. On 22 July she set sail again. The next day she anchored at the entrance to the Whitsunday Passage. She began to leak alarmingly and both pumps were put in service. Her crew beached the next day at Cape Gloucester, New Britain. After she had been unloaded again, her crew hove her down. It turned out her keel had been broken in two places, coral was embeded in her hull in two places, and she had sustained other damage. After three weeks Dacres decided that she could not be repaired. He put a deck on the longboat, and together with the second mate and nine seamen, set out for Sydney. They reached Sydney on 9 September. [6]
On 26 September 1825 the Colonial sloop Brisbane sailed to the wreck of Valetta in Torres Strait. [7]
Although Valetta was declared a total loss, all 57 people on board survived. [8]
A source reported that Valetta had been repaired and refloated. However, she was lost in the Pelew Islands in 1826. [6]
Campbell Macquarie was a ship that Joseph Underwood, a Sydney merchant, purchased at Calcutta in 1810. She appears, with Richard Siddins, master, in a list of vessels registered at Calcutta in 1811. She was wrecked near Macquarie Island in 1812.
Sun was a brig built in 1819 at Sunderland and was condemned at the Cape of Good Hope in August 1822. She was repaired and began sailing east of the Cape. She was wrecked in May 1826 in the Torres Strait.
John Barry was a three-masted merchant ship, convict transport, and immigrant transport built in 1814 at Whitby, England by John Barry for his own interests. A typhoon damaged her in 1841 and at last report she was an opium hulk at Hong Kong.
Royal Charlotte was a three-masted merchant ship launched in 1819. Royal Charlotte carried convicts to Australia in 1825. On her way home to India via Batavia she wrecked on 11 June, but with minimal loss of life.
Asia was a merchant ship launched at Calcutta in 1815 for Charles Hackett. She made four voyages transporting convicts from Great Britain to Australia, and two voyages under charter to the British East India Company (EIC) between 1826-1830. She was hulked or broken up c.1860.
Norfolk was built at Littlehampton, England in 1814. She was originally a West Indiaman, and then sailed to India and Quebec. She made four voyages transporting convicts from England to Australia, one voyage from Ireland to Australia and one from Madras and Mauritius to Australia. She was wrecked on 7 July 1837.
Forth was a 397-ton sailing ship built in 1814 at Calcutta, British India under the name New Carmo. She was sold at Manila, but then repurchased at Calcutta and renamed Forth. In 1830 she made one voyage transporting convicts to New South Wales. Forth was still operating out of Calcutta in 1839.
Countess of Harcourt was a two-decker, teak merchant ship launched at Prince of Wales's Island in 1811, and sold in Great Britain in 1814. An American privateer captured her in 1814, but the British recaptured her in 1815. Later, she made five trips transporting convicts to Australia. Between the third and fourth of these, she undertook a voyage to China and Nova Scotia while under charter to the British East India Company (EIC). She was wrecked in late 1830.
Castle Forbes was a merchant ship built by Robert Gibbon & Sons at Aberdeen, Scotland in 1818. She was the first vessel built at Aberdeen for the trade with India. She then made several voyages to India, sailing under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She made two voyages transporting convicts from Ireland to Australia. She sustained damage in 1826 on a voyage to India and was condemned at the Cape of Good Hope. However, she was repaired. She was last listed in 1832, and in 1838 in Lloyd's Register (LR).
Ann and Amelia was launched in 1816 at Chittagong. She was sold at Calcutta in August 1823 for a "Free Trader". She transported convicts from Britain to Port Jackson, New South Wales, in 1825. She then made three voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) and was lost in gale on the coast of France in 1835 as she was finishing her third voyage.
Gilmore, was a merchant ship built at Sulkea, opposite Calcutta, British India, in 1824. In 1829-30 she made a voyage delivering settlers to the Swan River Colony in Western Australia. She then made two voyages transporting convicts from England to Tasmania.
Nimrod was launched late in 1821 at Calcutta. One report has her being sold in 1825; she did change her homeport to the United Kingdom. In 1832 her ownership and homeport changed to Sydney, Australia.
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 (EIC). 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.
Lady Nugent was built at Bombay in 1813. She made four voyages under contract to the British East India Company (EIC). She then made two voyages transporting convicts to Australia, one to New South Wales and one to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). She also made several voyages with emigrants to New Zealand under charter to the New Zealand Company. She foundered in May 1854 with the loss of some 400 persons, most of them soldiers that she was carrying from Madras to Rangoon.
Juliana was launched at Salkia, opposite Calcutta, in 1814. She spent almost all of her career trading between England and India. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC), in 1824–25; she ended this voyage in Quebec, becoming, with her consort, the first vessels to arrive at Quebec from China. She wrecked at Cape Town in 1839 while carrying immigrants from England to Sydney, New South Wales.
Aurora was built at Chittagong in 1816. She made one voyage transporting convicts to New South Wales in 1833, and a second transporting convicts to Tasmania in 1835. In 1839 she carried immigrants to New Zealand for the New Zealand Company. She was wrecked in 1840.
Adrian was launched in 1819 at Newcastle-on-Tyne. She initially sailed between London and Canada but then in 1822 she started sailing east of the Cape of Good Hope under a license from the British East India Company. She made voyages to Bengal and Batavia. In between, she transported convicts to New South Wales. She foundered in 1833.
Venus was built in Mauritius in 1807. She spent most of her career sailing between London and the Cape of Good Hope (CGH). She also sailed to Mauritius, sailing under a licence from the British East India Company (EIC). She wrecked in July 1826 while sailing from Sydney to Singapore.
Lady Kennaway was launched in Calcutta in 1816. In 1819 and thereafter she sailed between England and India under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). In 1823 she was sold in London. She made three voyages under charter to the EIC. In 1835 and again in 1851 she made voyages transporting convicts to Tasmania. On one voyage some of the convicts were young men for the Pankhurst apprentice scheme. In between, in 1836, she transported convicts to New South Wales. She made five voyages carrying immigrants to Australia, including young Irish women for the Earl Grey Irish Famine Orphan scheme. In 1847 her crew abandoned her in the Bay of Biscay although she seemed to have sustained little damage; she was salvaged and returned to service. She was finally wrecked on 25 November 1857 at South Africa.
Nassau was launched at Gosport in 1819. In 1824 a pirate plundered her, and then let her proceed. She was wrecked in August 1825 as she was on her way back to London from a voyage to New South Wales.