Cornwallis (1787 ship)

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

For other ships with the same name, see Cornwallis (ship).

History
Great Britain
Name: Cornwallis
Namesake: Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis
Owner: British East India Company (EIC)
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

Career

On 12 November 1792, Cornwallis left Calcutta for the Andaman Islands, together with the EIC's 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] There is no record in available online resources of any vessel named Esperse, or any corsair captain named Le Dane. However, a French source reports that Cornwallis arrived at Mauritius on 25 January 1797. It further reported that she was a prize to Enterprise, Captain Leblond.[7][Note 1]

Notes, citations, and references

Notes

  1. Enterprise was the former Jean Bart, a corvette of 500 tons (French; "of load"), 20 guns, and about 180 men. She was commissioned in August 1794 and renamed Entreprise circa 1795. She was under François Legars.[8] Two of Legar's prizes had come into Mauritius ahead of Cornwallis, and Enterprise returned on 9 February. LeDane or LeBlond may have been the name of the captain of the prize crew on Cornwallis, represent transcription errors, or at least in one case be a nickname.

Citations

  1. Hackman (2001), p.325.
  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. Piat (2007), p.92.
  8. Demerliac (2004; 1792-1799), №2908, p. 309.

References

  • Austen, Harold Chomley Mansfield (1935) Sea Fights and Corsairs of the Indian Ocean: Being the Naval History of Mauritius from 1715 to 1810. (Port Louis, Mauritius:R.W. Brooks).
  • Demerliac, Alain (2004). La Marine de la Révolution: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1792 A 1799 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN 2-906381-24-1.
  • Hackman, Rowan (2001) Ships of the East India Company. (Gravesend, Kent: World Ship Society). ISBN 0-905617-96-7
  • Phipps, John Phipps (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). (Google eBook)
  • Piat, Denis (trans: Mervyn North-Coombes) (2007) Pirates and Corsairs in Mauritius. (Christian le Comte). ISBN 978-99949-905-3-5
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