Career
Sir William Burroughs's early career is currently obscure. One report in 1809, using earlier information, gave the name of her captain as James Haig, and her owner as Sheik Golam Hussain/ [3]
Haig was still captain when the privateer captain Robert Surcouf, in Revenant, captured the 10-gun Sir William Burroughs on 18 December 1807. [4] [Note 1]
The British attacked Île de France and captured it on 3 December 1810. One of the vessels they recaptured was William Burroughs of "1000 tons" (bm). [5] She later appeared on a list of transports that supported the invasion and its aftermath.
After the invasion, the British chartered some nine vessels, Sir William Burroughs among them, as cartels to carry back to France the French troops that they had captured. [7]
Sir William Burroughs, Shaik Gulhum Homain, owner, appeared on a list of vessels registered at Calcutta in January 1811.
On 9 January 1812 Sir William Burroughs was again at Mauritius. There she embarked the headquarters and six companies of the 86th Regiment of Foot. (The remaining four companies followed on Helen.) On 21 February Sir William Burroughs delivered her troops to Madras. [8]
William Burroughs paid £3858 11s 3d on 15 July 1812 for outfitting for a return voyage to India.
Captain Thomas Watken Court sailed from Bengal on 18 September 1812, bound for England. Sir William Burroughs was at Mauritius on 21 November. She then reached the Cape on 17 January and Saint Helena on 2 February 1813. She arrived at The Downs on 14 May. [9] She entered Lloyd's Register in 1813 with Court, master and owner, and trade London–India. [10]
She paid £2473 7s 4d on 31 December 1813 for outfitting for a return voyage. She had also undergone repairs. [11]
Alexander, was built in France in 1791, possibly under a different name. She was taken as a prize and her new owners renamed her Alexander. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC), and then became a slave ship, making four voyages between 1798 and 1807. After 1807 she sailed between Liverpool and Demerara. She is last listed in 1811.
The British East India Company (EIC) had Whim built for use as a fast dispatch vessel. She was sold in 1802 and became a whaler that a French privateer captured and released, and then a merchant vessel. She is no longer listed after 1822.
Baring was launched at Calcutta in 1805 as Alexander Brodie. Her owners sold her to Portuguese interests that named her Asia Felix. They in turn sold her to British owners in 1809. The British owners renamed her Baring. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC) between 1811 and 1812.
Georgiana was launched in 1791. She served as a merchantman, packet ship for the British East India Company (EIC), a whaler, a warship of the navy of the United States of America, and a merchant vessel again. She was condemned in 1818 as leaky and sold.
Suffolk was launched in 1803 at Calcutta and at some point prior to 1810 was renamed General Wellesley. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC) but an American privateer captured her in December 1814 on the outbound leg of her second EIC voyage. In January 1815 she stranded on the Charleston Bar and became a total loss.
Pursuit was launched at Whitby in 1795. She made two voyages for the British East India Company and then traded with the West Indies. She repelled one attack by a French privateer that caused severe casualties, but eventually an American privateer captured her in August 1812.
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.
Eliza Ann was launched at Calcutta in 1795. She sailed to England where she was admitted to the Registry. In all, she made five voyages for the British East India Company (EIC), during one of which she participated in a notable action and during the last of which she captured a French privateer. She herself was lost in 1807.
Sir John Borlase Warren, was launched in 1800. She traded with the West Indies after having made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). A French privateer captured her in 1808 though she was immediately recaptured. Her crew abandoned her in 1812 but she was recovered. She foundered in 1815.
Sir Godfrey Webster was launched in 1799. She was a West Indiaman until 1812 when she made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). On her return she returned to trading with the West Indies. However, she then performed two voyages transporting convicts, the first to Van Diemen's Land, and the second to New South Wales. She ran into difficulties on her way home from Singapore after the second voyage and was condemned at Mauritius.
Royal Edward was launched in 1782 in France as Alexandre. The British captured her c.1796, and new owners changed her name. She then sailed for a few years as a West Indiaman before completing four voyages as a slave ship. She returned to the West India trade after leaving the slave trade, and then traded more generally. She was condemned as unseaworthy and broken up in Bengal in 1815.
Portsea was launched at Calcutta in 1807. She was a country ship; that is, she primarily traded east of the Cape of Good Hope. She participated as a transport in the British invasion of Mauritius. She then carried French prisoners of war to France. She also made one voyage to St Helena from Bengal under charter to the British East India Company (EIC). In 1814 a storm dismasted her and she was lengthened, but it is not clear whether before or after the dismasting. She made two voyages as a South Seas whaler between 1828 and 1835. In 1838 she made one voyage transporting convicts to New South Wales. She carried coal to Valparaiso in 1840 and there her owners turned her into a coal hulk. Her final fate is not known.
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.
Melantho was built in Philadelphia in 1812. The War of 1812 broke out as she was on her first voyage and British captured her that September. She became a merchantman, and then a whaler, making two whaling voyages to Timor and on before she was last listed in 1826.
City of London was launched in 1800 as an East Indiaman. She made six voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) between 1800 and 1814 when she was taken up as a troopship for one voyage. She made one more voyage to India under a license from the EIC and then was broken up circa 1817.
Lord Forbes was launched at Chester in 1803 as a West Indiaman. She soon became an "armed defense ship", but by 1805 had returned to being a West Indiaman. She made two voyages as an "extra" ship for the British East India Company (EIC). She continued trading with India until 1817 when she sustained damage on her way to Bengal. There she was surveyed, condemned and sold.
Otter was launched in America in 1799. She appeared in the Register of Shipping in 1809, after she had already made the first of three voyages as a whaler. She then started trading with the Mediterranean where the French captured her in 1813.
Concord was launched at Dartmouth in 1807. From then until 1809 she traded widely. Between 1809 and 1812 two different histories emerged. The registers carried her as trading with North America. Other sources, however, have her sailing to the British Southern Whale Fishery as a sealer or whaler. She made three voyages between 1809 and 1816 in this capacity and then returned to trading. She was wrecked at the Cape of Good Hope in November 1816.
British Hero was launched at Jarrow in 1809. She initially was a government transport and so did not appear in Lloyd's Register (LR) or the Register of Shipping (RS) until she came into mercantile service c. 1813. She was lost in November 1816 on a voyage to India.
Ganges was launched at Calcutta in 1806. In 1807 or 1809 a French privateer captured her. The British Royal Navy recaptured her the next year. She assumed British Registry in 1812, but had traded out of London since late 1810 or early 1811. By 1820 she was trading between London and Bengal. She was last listed in 1846.
United Kingdom