Upton Castle was launched at Bombay in 1793. She spent her career as a "country ship", that is trading in the Far East. She made some voyages to England, including at least one, in 1809, under charter to the British East India Company (EIC). She also participated in two military campaigns as a transport. The French Navy captured her in 1804, but she returned to British hands before 1809. A fire in 1817 destroyed her.
Upton Castle was built for Pestonjee Bomanjee and John Tasker, then the Master Attendant at Bombay, and was named after Tasker's Upton Castle estate in Wales.[5] Capt. Thomas was an early master of the vessel and later one of its co-owners,[6] and may have been the Captain William Thomas to whom Tasker left all his "charts and sea books" in 1800.[7] John Pavin was master of the vessel by 1799[8][9] and married Tasker's great-niece in 1801.[10] He was again master and was taken prisoner when Upton Castle was captured by the French in 1804.[11]
Around 1800-01, Upton Castle's history becomes a little ambiguous. One report has her in the Red Sea as one of the many transports supporting General Baird's expedition to help General Ralph Abercromby expel the French from Egypt.[2] However, between 13 April 1800 and 10 April 1801, she had traveled from Bombay to England,[1] having arrived at Portsmouth on 10 April. She sailed from Gravesend for India on 12 June.
In December 1801, Upton Castle sailed, together with Marquis Cornwallis, Betsey (an armed HEIC brig), some other vessels, and 1000 troops to Daman and Diu to persuade the Portuguese governor to resist any French incursion. The expedition was under the command of Captain John Mackellar, of the Royal Navy, whose own vessel, Terpsichore, was not ready for sea.[12] The governor accepted the British reinforcements, which, as it turned out, were not needed.
Linois described Charlotte as being copper-sheathed, of 650 tons and 16 guns. She was carrying a cargo of rice. Upton Castle he described as being copper-sheathed, of 627 tons, and 14 guns. She was carrying a cargo of wheat and other products from Bengal. He sent both his prizes into Isle de France (Mauritius).[13] She arrived at Ile de France in November, a few days prior to the 14th.[14][15]
How Charlotte and Upton Castle returned to British hands is currently obscure. Still, Charlotte was again in British hands by 1807, and Upton Castle by 1809.
On 23 July 1809, Master Hugh Adams sailed her from Bombay for England. She was at the Cape of Good Hope on 15 September, reached Saint Helena on 7 October, and arrived at The Downs pm 22 December.[16]
View from the Deck of the Upton Castle Transport, of the British Army Landing at Île de France; R. Temple, National Maritime Museum, Greewich
The British attacked Île de France and captured it on 3 December 1810. Upton Castle was one of almost 30 transports that delivered troops and supplies for the invasion.[2]
The British then chartered some nine vessels, Upton Castle among them, as cartels to carry back to France the French troops that they had captured. Upton Castle arrived at Morlaix on 19 March 1812.[17]
Between 1814 and 1817, Upton Castle's master was Henry W. Beyts. In 1816 and 1817, he sailed her to China.[18]
In 1813, the British East India Company (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 licence from the EIC.[19]Upton Castle's applied for a licence on 31 October 1814, and received it on 1 November.[3] It is not clear that she ever took up the option to sail between London and the Far East.
Fate
A fire destroyed Upton Castle on 16 February 1817, at Saugor, near the mouth of the Ganges.[4][1]
↑ "List of Ships, Brigs, Schooners, Grabs &c, Built for Service of the British Government, the East India Company and Private Merchants from 1736 to 1840", Parliamentary Papers: Report from the Select Committee on East India Produce, 1840, Vol. VIII, p. 609.
↑ The Bombay Almanack, and Register, for ... 1798, p.109.
↑ Will of John Tasker of Upton Castle, TNA, PROB11/1354/172.
↑ Letter dated 2 September 1799 from Hormanjee Bomanjee to Capt. John Pavin instructing him as to his duties: Pembrokeshire Record Office: D-TE/19
HMS Cornwallis was a Royal Navy 54-gun fourth rate. Jemsatjee Bomanjee built the Marquis Cornwallis of teak for the Honourable East India Company (EIC) between 1800 and 1801. In March 1805 Admiral Sir Edward Pellew purchased her from the Company shortly after she returned from a voyage to Britain. She served in the Far East, sailing to Australia and the Pacific Coast of South America before returning to India. In February 1811 the Admiralty renamed her HMS Akbar. She captured forts and vessels in the Celebes and Amboyna, and participated in the invasion of Isle de France, and the 1811 invasion of Java. She also served in the West Indies before being laid up at Portsmouth in December 1816. She then stayed in Britain in a number of stationary medical and training capacities until the Admiralty sold her in the 1860s.
Porcher was launched in 1799 at Calcutta. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC) from Bengal to England. A French privateer captured her in 1802, which gave rise to a case in French courts about the validity of the capture given the impending Treaty of Amiens. The French courts condemned her in prize and new owners in Bordeaux named her Ville de Bordeaux. The British recaptured her in 1804. Thereafter she traded between England and India as a licensed ship. In 1809 she sailed to England where in 1810 new owners renamed her Cambridge. As Cambridge she made three voyages for the EIC as an extra ship. In 1818 she was again sold with her new owners continuing to sail her to the Far East as a licensed ship. She then made two more voyages to India for the EIC. In 1840 she was sold to an American trading house at Canton, and then to the Qing Dynasty, which purchased her for the Imperial Chinese Navy. The British Royal Navy destroyed her on 27 February 1841 during the Battle of First Bar at the onset of the First Opium War.
Charlotte was built at the Bombay Dockyard in 1803. She spent most of her career as a country ship, trading between India and China, though she did sail between India and the United Kingdom on occasion, and under a licence from the British East India Company (EIC). The French captured her in 1804 but she returned to British hands. She was wrecked in 1851.
Henry Addington was launched in 1800 as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She made seven voyages for the EIC before she was sold in 1815 for breaking up. She was one of the vessels at the Battle of Pulo Aura in 1804.
Wexford was launched in 1802 as an East Indiaman in the service of the British East India Company (EIC). She made seven voyages to India, Persia, and China for the EIC, on the first of which she participated in the battle of Pulo Aura. Her last voyage ended in 1817 and she was broken up c. 1819.
Countess of Sutherland was launched in 1801 at Tittaghur on the Hooghly River, about 15 miles upstream from Calcutta. She made one voyage from Calcutta to England for the British East India Company in 1801–1802. The French captured her in 1803 as she was sailing from Bengal to China. They used her as a hulk until she was broken up c.1821.
Dover Castle was launched in 1798 as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She made six voyages for the EIC. During the second she transported EIC troops to Macao to augment the Portuguese forces there, but the authorities there refused them permission to land. In 1814 Dover Castle was sold and she served for a half-dozen years as a London-based transport. She was hulked c.1820 and finally broken up in 1826.
For the British expedition to the Red Sea (1801) the British government hired a number of transport vessels. The transports supported Major-General Sir David Baird's expedition in 1801 to the Red Sea. Baird was in command of the Indian army that was going to Egypt to help General Ralph Abercromby expel the French there. Baird landed at Kosseir, on the Egyptian side of the Red Sea. He then led his troops army across the desert to Kena on the Nile, and then to Cairo. He arrived in time for the battle of Alexandria. Captain Hardie of Shah Kaikusroo was appointed Commodore of the fleet of country ships.
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.
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.
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 Castlereagh was launched in 1803 at Cochin and spent her entire career as a country ship based in Bombay. She made several voyages to China, during the first of which she was present at the battle of Pulo Aura. She also made a few voyages to England, including one for the British East India Company (EIC). She participated as a transport in the British Invasion of Isle de France. She was lost in 1840 at Bombay coming into harbour.
True Briton was launched in 1790 as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She was lost without a trace in 1809 during her eighth voyage.
Bombay Castle was launched in 1792 as an East Indiaman. She made six voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) before she was sold in 1807 for breaking up. In addition to carrying cargo for the EIC, she transported troops in one campaign, participated in a naval action in which she helped capture a French frigate, and played a leading role in an encounter between the French Navy and a fleet of East Indiamen in which the East Indiamen succeeded in bluffing the French to withdraw.
Dorsetshire was launched in 1800 as an East Indiaman. She made nine voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). In each of her first, second, and third voyages she was involved in a notable action. The remainder of her voyages appear to have proceeded without incident. She ceased sailing for the EIC in 1823 and was broken up c.1827.
Cornwall was launched in 1794 as a West Indiaman. In a little more than three years later she had left on the first of three whaling voyages to the Southern Whale Fishery. On her first whaling voyage she captured a Spanish ship and fought off a French privateer. After her third whaling voyage Cornwall returned to the West Indies trade. Around 1817 new owners sent her to India where a Parsi merchant purchased her. She traded in the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, and also participated as a transport in a naval expedition to the Persian Gulf. She was last listed in 1824.
Aurora was launched in 1790 at Calcutta. The first 10 years of her career are currently obscure. In 1801 she made a voyage to England for the British East India Company (EIC), and then was briefly registered in England. She returned to India to continue to sail as a "country ship" until she was sold to Portuguese or Spanish owners in 1811. She returned to British ownership circa 1816 and made a second voyage for the EIC, this time from China to England. She returned to English registry and made one voyage to India under a license from the EIC. She then switched to sailing between Liverpool and Quebec and was lost in the Atlantic around 1822.
Surat Castle was launched at Surat in 1788 as a country ship, that is, a vessel that traded around and from India, staying east of the Cape of Good Hope. She originally was intended for the cotton trade with China. From 1796 to 1817 she made nine voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). She then made one more voyage under a license from the EIC. She made one more voyage to India, this time under a licence from the EIC and then disappeared from easily accessible online sources after her sale in 1819.
Devaynes was launched in 1802 and made six voyages as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She then made one more round-trip to India, sailing under a license from the EIC. She was condemned at Bengal in 1817 on a second licensed voyage to Bengal.
Carmarthen was launched in 1802 as an East Indiaman. She made eight round-trip voyages to India as an "extra" ship for the British East India Company (EIC). On her first voyage she participated in an experiment in bringing variolation to India and other British possessions to combat smallpox. After leaving the EIC's employment, she took one more voyage to India, sailing under a licence from the EIC. She was last listed in 1820.
References
Bulley, Anne (2000). The Bombay Country Ships, 1790–1833. Routledge. ISBN978-0700712366.
Hackman, Rowan (2001). Ships of the East India Company. Gravesend, Kent: World Ship Society. ISBN0-905617-96-7.
House of Commons, Parliament, Great Britain (1814). Minutes of the Evidence Taken Before the Select Committee on Petitions Relating to East-India-Built Shipping. H.M. Stationery Office. pp.655–656.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Mathison, John; Mason, Alexander W., eds. (1802). A new oriental register and East-India directory for 1802: Containing complete lists of the company's servants, civil, military and marine ... together with lists of the Europeans mariners ... London: Black & Perry.
Phipps, John (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.
House of Commons, Parliament, Great Britain (1816). Parliamentary Papers. Vol.10.
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