Transport vessels for the British invasions of Île Bourbon and Île de France (1810)

For the invasions of Île Bourbon and Île de France (Mauritius) the British government hired a number of transport vessels. Most of the transports were "country ships". Country ships were vessels that were registered in ports of British India such as Bombay and Calcutta, and that traded around India, with Southeast Asia, and China, but that did not sail to England without special authorization from the EIC. In addition, some were "regular ships" of the British East India Company (EIC), and some were "extra ships". Regular ships were on a long term contract with the EIC, and extra ships were vessels the EIC had chartered for one or more voyages.

The data in the table below comes primarily from an 1814 report from a Select Committee of the House of Commons of the British Parliament, which provided the data only on country ships, giving the names of a large number of vessels, and their burthen (bm).

Also, transliteration of non-English names shows no consistency across sources, making it extremely difficult to try to find more information about the vessels in question.

The British government chartered some nine of these vessels as cartels to carry back to France the French troops that they had captured in these campaigns.[1] An asterisk after the name in the table below designates the vessels.

Country ships
Name Burthen Where built Notes
Anna* 684 Calcutta "Bengal Anna"; lost 1811
Bheemoolah 500/520 Calcutta
Borneo 365/382/400 Built at Pegu; Lost on Madagascar in 1814[2]
Cape of Good Hope / Good Hope 388 Calcutta, 1806[3] Aboukir, captured in 1808,[4] of Calcutta again in 1809.[5] Later renamed.
Castlereagh (or Lord Castlereagh*) 750 Cochin, 1803[6]
Charlotte 248 Foundered in Madras Roads October 1818[7]
Coromandel 500 Built at Chittagong; Foundered 1821
Cornwall 802/795 Howrah (Calcutta), 1810[8]
Emma* 440 Calcutta Serving as a "Government armed ship", Captain Street.[9]
Hamoody / Harmoody 415
Helen* 300 Pegu,[5] 1807[10] Lost at Fultah, 1817[10]
General Wellesley 430 Calcutta, 1803 Captured December 1814 and sank January 1815
Lady Barlow* 420/450 Pegu/Rangoon,[5][11] 1803?[11] Broken up at Calcutta, 1822[11]
Marian 350 Calcutta, 1800
Palmer 184 / 200 Chittagong, 1810[12] Lost 1812[13]
Portsea* 320 Calcutta Last listed 1844
Sir William Burroughs* 500 / 620[6] Calcutta, 1803 Captured 1808;[14][Note 1] William Burroughs of "1000 tons" (bm) was recaptured at Île de France on 3 December 1810.[9]
Troubridge 804
Union 300 Possibly the French privateer that HMS Culloden captured on 5 July 1808 off Ceylon.[15]
Upton Castle* 627 Bombay Burnt 1817
Venus 250 / 350 Chittagong Captured by USS Peacock in 1815; later returned to British ownership

East Indiamen
Name Burthen Master Notes
City of London[16] 820 Joseph Yates Yates died on shore on the first day of the invasion
Euphrates 596 Philip Herbert Sailed to Bengal, then back to Madras and Mauritius, and then to England
Hugh Inglis 821 John Wood Returned to India and then participated in the invasion of Java (1811)[17]
Huddart[16] 547 William Nesbitt Returned to India and then participated in the invasion of Java (1811)
Phoenix 861 John Ramsden Returned to India and then participated in the invasion of Java (1811)[17]
Preston 671 Henry Sturrock Returned to India and then participated in the invasion of Java (1811)[17]
Sir Stephen Lushington 608 Captain James Hay Returned to Madras and then resumed journey to Britain

Non-European vessels
  • Futteh Romer
  • Grab Naseery
  • Solomunshaw

Precedent

In 1794 the British government had contemplated an invasion of Mauritius but had cancelled the plan in May. It had intended to use East Indiamen about to sail from England to India and China. One suspects that the logistics of such an operation proved too daunting.

See also: Transport vessels for the cancelled British invasion of Île de France (1794)

Notes, citations, and references

Notes

  1. The privateer captain Robert Surcouf, in Revenant, captured the 10-gun Sir William Burroughs on 18 December 1807.

Citations

  1. Lloyd's List №4547.
  2. Phipps (1840), p.141.
  3. Phipps (1840), p.102.
  4. Phipps (1840), p.139.
  5. Reports and Papers... (1809), p.240.
  6. Reports and Papers... (1809), p.241.
  7. Phipps (1840), p.102.
  8. Phipps (1840), p.103.
  9. Lloyd's List №4537.
  10. Phipps (1840), p.180.
  11. Phipps (1840), p.179.
  12. Phipps (1840, p.176.
  13. Phipps (1840), 141.
  14. Phipps (1840), p.139.
  15. Asiatic Annual Register (1811), Vol. 10, p.68.
  16. Cobbett's Political Register, Vol. 19, pp.476-7.
  17. Taylor (2007), pp.333-4.

References

  • Reports and Papers on the Impolicy of Employing Indian Built Ships in the Trade of the East-India Company, and of Admitting Them to British Registry: With Observation on Its Injurious Consequences to the Landed and Shipping Interests, and to the Numerous Branches of Trade Dependent on the Building and Equipment of British-built Ships. (1809). (London:Blacks and Parry).
  • 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).
  • Select Committee on Petitions Relating to East-India-Built Shipping, House of Commons, Parliament of Great Britain (1814) Minutes of the Evidence Taken Before the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Petitions Relating to East-India-built Shipping. (His Majesty's Stationery Office).
  • Taylor, Stephen (2008) [2007]. Storm and Conquest: The Battle for the Indian Ocean, 1809. Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-22467-8.
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