Mornington (1799 ship)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name: | Mornington |
| Namesake: | Possibly Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley |
| Owner: |
|
| Builder: | J. Gilmore & Co., Calcutta,[1] India |
| Launched: | 1799,[2][3] or 1800[1] |
| Fate: | Burnt 1815 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen: | 668,[4] or 700,[5] or 750,[6] or 768,[4] or 770,[2][1] or 799,[3] or 800[7] (bm) |
| Complement: | 120[4] |
| Armament: | 16 x 9-pounder guns,[4] |
Mornington was a British merchant vessel built of teak and launched in 1799 at Calcutta. She made three voyages under charter to the British East India Company (EIC). On the third French privateers twice captured her and Royal Navy vessels twice recaptured her. A fire destroyed her in 1815.
Career
EIC voyage #1 (1799-1801)
Under the command of Captain James Carnegy (or Carnageie), Mornington left Calcutta on 30 December 1799. She was at Saugor on 23 January 1800, reached St Helena on 8 June, and arrived at The Downs on 9 September.[Note 1]
On 3 December 1800 Mornington sailed from England for Bombay and Bengal.[2]
EIC voyage #2 (1801-02)
Captain George Kelso was in the Hugli River on 19 May 1801. On 23 June Mornington was at Kedgeree, and on 19 July Saugor. By 30 October she had reached the Cape of Good Hope, and by 20 November she was at St Helena. She arrived at The Downs on 19 January 1802.[8]
The "United Company of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies" offered 28,966 bags of rice for sale on 25 March. The rice had come in on Travers, Melville Castle, Skelton Castle, and Mornington.[9]
Mornington enters Lloyd's Register in the supplemental pages to the 1802 volume with "Kelsa", master, and "Fairly", owner. She is listed as being of 750 tons and three years old.[10]
EIC voyage #3 (1804)
Captain Kelso sailed for Madras on 16 May 1804. She left Bengal on 5 July in company with the country ship Anna, and the Maria, Northampton, and Princess Mary.[11] The French privateer Nicholas Surcouf in Caroline captured Mornington on 14 August 1804. However, HMS Phaeton recaptured Mornington, before Captain Fallonard of the brig Île de France recaptured Mornington.[12][Note 2] Fallonard took Mornington, of 600 tons and six guns, into Port Nord-Ouest.[15] The British recaptured Mornington yet again.[Note 3] Mornington was reported at St Helena on 6 October,[11] and completed her voyage on 18 December 1804.[2]
Later career
Captain George Kelso received a letter of marque for Mornington on 22 February 1805.[4] The Register of Shipping of 1805 carries Mornington, of 750 tons, built in Calcutta in 1798. It gives her master as Kelsa, and her owners as Fairlie & Co.[6] Lloyd's Register has the same information, except it gives the year of launch as 1799.[17]
Mornington was reported at St Helena on 23 September 1810.[18] Captain David Dunlop, of Mornington, was reported to have died at Calcutta on 22 September 1809,[19] but that appears to have been in error as he remains listed as Mornington's captain until her loss.
From 1810 or so on Mornington appears in lists of vessels based at Calcutta.
Fate
Mornington sailed for Bengal on 24 June 1815.[20] She burnt off Nursapore (Narsapuram: 16°26′N 81°41.49′E / 16.433°N 81.69150°E) in October 1815.[1] On 27 February 1816, Lloyd's List reported that Mornington, Dunlop, master, had been burnt in the Bay of Bengal.[21]
Notes, citations and references
Notes
- ↑ The British Library's website mistakes Mornington for Earl of Mornington (or Earl Mornington), launched in England in 1799 as a dispatch vessel.[8]
- ↑ On 8 April 1806 HMS Duncan captured Île de France. The notice in the London Gazette states that she was destroyed.[13] French records indicate that on 15 May 1806, the French frigate Sémillante recaptured Île de France, but scuttled her as she was "of low value and a poor sailer".[14]
- ↑ A newspaper report dated 8 December 1804 states that HMS Tremendous had recaptured Mornington.[16]
Citations
- 1 2 3 4 Phipps (1840), p.98.
- 1 2 3 4 Hackman (2001), p.239.
- 1 2 Hackman (2001), p.299.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Register of Letters of Marque against France 1793-1815"; p.78. Archived July 9, 2015, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Phipps (1840), p.130.
- 1 2 Register of Shipping (1805), seq. №M944.
- ↑ Phipps (1840), p.142.
- 1 2 British Library: Mornington.
- ↑ "No. 15458". The London Gazette. 2 March 1802. p. 232.
- ↑ Lloyd's Register (1802), Seq. №M35.
- 1 2 Lloyd's List, №4513 - accessed 12 October 2015.
- ↑ Austen (1935), p.94.
- ↑ "No. 16014". The London Gazette. 28 March 1807. p. 395.
- ↑ Demerliac (2004), p.327, №2811.
- ↑ Epinay (1890), pp.423-4.
- ↑ Roger Houghton: A Peoples' History 1793 – 1844 from the newspapers; Prize-taking. Accessed 14 October 2016.
- ↑ Lloyd's Register (1805), Seq. №M1016.
- ↑ Lloyd's List, №4511 - accessed 12 October 2015.
- ↑ The Scots Magazine, Or, General Repository of Literature, History, and Politics, Volume 71, p.398.
- ↑ Register of Shipping (1818), p. 1806.
- ↑ Lloyd's List №5042.
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). Nomenclature des navires français (in French). 1800-1815. Nice: Éditions A.N.C.R.E.
- Epinay, Adrien d'. (1890) Renseignements pour servir à l'histoire de l'Île de France jusqu'à l'année 1810: inclusivement; précédés de notes sur la découverte de l'île, sur l'occupation hollandaise, etc. (Imprimerie Dupuy).
- 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)