Cornwallis (1787 ship)

For other ships of the same name, see Cornwallis (East Indiaman).
History
Great Britain
Name: Cornwallis
Namesake: Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis
Owner: British East India Company
Operator: Bengal Pilot Service
Builder: Bombay Dockyard[1]
Captured: 1796
General characteristics
Tons burthen: 170[2] (bm)
Sail plan: Snow, or sloop
Armament: 14 guns

Cornwallis was a snow that the Honourable East India Company had built in 1787 at Bombay Dockyard for the Bengal Pilot Service. A French privateer captured her in 1796.

Career

On 12 November 1792, Cornwallis left Calcutta for the Andaman Islands, together with the EICs vessels Juno, Union, and Seahorse, all under the command of Captain Archibald Blair, in Union. They were carrying some 360 settlers and supplies for six months to establish a settlement on North Andaman Island. A gale dispersed the vessels, but all arrived, with Cornwallis, the last to arrive on 14 December.[3] Cornwallis was under the command of Captain C. Crawley, who on 27 December wrote a letter to Blair reporting on a mutinous attitude among the European members of his crew. At the end of December Crawley was relieved of duty and replaced by Lieutenant Wales, of the Bombay Marine, who was then in command of the Ranger. At the same time Cornwallis was removed from the Pilot Service and transferred to the Andaman Station.[4]

On 23 March 1793 Cornwallis arrived at Port Cornwallis with a detachment of sepoys. Major A. Kyd, the superintendent for the Andamans, then dispatched her for Achoon (Aceh) and the coast of Pedeir (or Pedir; the north part of the coast of Sumatra), to purchase rice and livestock. On her return she was to sail to the Carnicobars to gather coconuts for planting.[5]

Fate

A French privateer captured her on 10 December 1796 at Balasore Roads.[2] Cornwallis was under the command of Mr. Atkins. Her captor was the Esperse, of 22 guns, Captain Le Dane.[6][Note 1]

Notes, citations and references

Notes
  1. ↑ It has so far been impossible to identify the privateer or her master. A search of the most comprehensive book on French armed vessels of the period, Demerliac (2004), yielded nothing. Similarly, Austen's list of corsairs operating out of Mauritius between 1793 and 1801 shows no vessel with a name even remotely similar, or a master whose name is remotely similar.[7]
Citations
  1. ↑ Hackman (2001), p.325.
  2. 1 2 Phipps (1840), p.132.
  3. ↑ Indian Antiquary, Vol. 31, pp.41-43.
  4. ↑ Indian Antiquary, Vol. 31, pp.43-44.
  5. ↑ Indian Antiquary, Vol. 31, p.143.
  6. ↑ G. T. Labey (1963) History of the Bengal Pilot Service, 1534 – 1800. - accessed 5 October 2015.]
  7. ↑ Austen ()1935), p.189.
References
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