Britannia (1806 EIC ship)
| History | |
|---|---|
.svg.png){kind=small} United Kingdom | |
| Name: | Britannia |
| Owner: | British East India Company[1] |
| Builder: | Perry & Wells, Blackwall,[1] |
| Launched: | 29 September 1806[1] |
| Fate: | Wrecked 1809 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen: | 1200,[2] 1273,[3] or 1273 73⁄94,[1] or 1349,[4] (bm) |
| Length: | |
| Beam: | 42 ft 4 in (12.9 m)[3] |
| Depth of hold: | 17 ft 1 in (5.2 m)[3] |
| Complement: | 138[4] |
| Armament: | 38 x 9&18-pounder guns[4] |
Britannia was launched in 1806 as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company. She made only one voyage for the company before a gale wrecked her in January 1809.
Captain Jonathan Birch received a letter of marque on 3 November 1806. He sailed Britannia from Portsmouth on 26 February 1807, bound for Bombay and China. He returned from that voyage on 1 July 1808.[3]
Birch and Britannia were in the Downs on 24 January 1809, prior to setting out on a second voyage to the east, this time to Madras and China.[3]
The next day, 25 January, a howling gale tore her from her moorings off Deal, Kent and she wrecked on the Goodwin Sands off the South Foreland.[5] Seven of her crew drowned.[6] The EIC valued her cargo at £57,091;[7] the total loss, vessel plus cargo, was £117,820.[8] The gale also wrecked the Indiaman Admiral Gardner.
Citations and references
Citations
- 1 2 3 4 Hackman (2001), p. 72.
- ↑ Cotton (1949), p.137.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 British Library: Britannia (9).
- 1 2 3 Letter of Marque, 1793–1815, p.54; Archived 9 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ The Times (№7581). London. 28 January 1809. col D, p. 3.
- ↑ The Tradesman, (1809), Vol. 2, p.271.
- ↑ Report from the Select Committee of the House of Commons appointed to enquire into the present state of the affairs of the East India Company, together with the minutes of evidence, an appendix of documents, and a general index, (1830), Vol. 2, p.977.
- ↑ Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany. (July 1816, Vol. 2, p.38.
References
- Cotton, Sir Evan, and Sir Charles Fawcet, ed., (1949) East Indiamen: The East India Company’s Maritime Service. (London: Batchworth Press).
- Hackman, Rowan (2001) Ships of the East India Company. (Gravesend, Kent: World Ship Society). ISBN 0-905617-96-7