''Castle Forbes'' was a merchant ship built by Robert Gibbon & Sons at

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, Scotland in 1818. She was the first vessel built at Aberdeen for the trade with India. She then made several voyages to India, sailing under a license from the British

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

(EIC). She made two voyages transporting convicts from Ireland to Australia. She sustained damage in 1826 on a voyage to India and was condemned at the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

. However, she was repaired. She was last listed in 1832 (''Register of Shipping''), and in 1838 in ''

Lloyd's Register Lloyd's Register Group Limited (LR) is a technical and professional services organisation and a maritime classification society, wholly owned by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a UK charity dedicated to research and education in science and ...

'' (''LR'').

Career

''Castle Forbes'' entered ''LR'' in 1818 with J. Frazier, master, R. Gibbons, owner, and trade London–

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

.''Lloyd's Register'' (1818), "C" Supple. pages, Seq. №C45.
/ref> In 1813 the EIC had lost its monopoly on the trade between India and Britain. British ships were then free to sail to India or the Indian Ocean under a license from the EIC. ''Castle Forbes'' was the first vessel built in Aberdeen for the trade with India. On 17 May 1818 Captain J. Frazier sailed from London bound for

, sailing under a license from the EIC. 1st convict voyage (1819–1820): ''Castle Forbes'' was under the command of Thomas Reid and surgeon J. Scott, when she departed

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

, Ireland on 3 October 1819. She arrived in Sydney on 27 January 1820. She had left with 140 convicts and there were no convict deaths en route. She landed four at Sydney. ''Castle Forbes'' departed

Port Jackson Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...

on 15 February 1820, for Hobart Town with 180 male convicts. She arrived in Hobart Town on 29 February 1820. ''Castle Forbes'' left Hobart Town on 26 March 1820 bound for Batavia. On 8 May 1821 ''Castle Forbes'', Reed, master, grounded three times on the Goodwin south sand head, damaging her rudder. Two Deal boats took her into The Downs. She been sailing from London to

. In 1821 ''Castle Forbes''s master was Orde, but her owner was still Gibbons & Co.''Register of Shipping'' (1822), Seq.№C198.
/ref> Between this convict voyage and the next, ''Castle Forbes'' sailed between England and

Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 before it became a sepa ...

. 2nd convict voyage (1823–1824): ''Castle Forbes'' sailed from

on 28 September 1823; she was under the command of John Ord (or Orde) and surgeon Matthew Anderson. She arrived in Sydney on 15 January 1824. She had embarked 140 male convicts and had one convict death en route. ''Castle Forbes'' left Port Jackson on 11 March 1824 bound for Isle de France. From Mauritius ''Castle Forbes'' sailed to

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. On 19 July she arrived at Bengal. On 7 November she sailed from Bengal for Mauritius and London. she arrived at Deal on 7 June 1825. On 28 October 1825 ''Castle Forbes'', Ord, master, came into Portsmouth leaky. She was going to remove part of her cargo to try to discover the source and repair it before continuing on her way to Madras and Bengal. By 19 December her repairs were complete but she was still taking in so much water it was expected that she would again have to be unloaded. One week later she had completed her repairs and she sailed out to the

Motherbank The Motherbank is a shallow sandbar off the northeast coast of the Isle of Wight in England. It lies in the Solent between Cowes and Ryde. The Motherbank is located near historically significant ports and anchorages such as Portsmouth, Spithead, ...

where she awaited a wind in order to resume her voyage. Also on 19 December came into

due to the extraordinary exertions of here master and mariners. Her crew had been living in the vessel's roundhouse and were short of water and provisions before ''Castle Forbes'' and came by and assisted her. On 14 January 1826 ''Castle Forbes'' arrived at Madeira from London. On 2 February she sailed for

and Bengal. ''Castle Forbes'' was sailing from London and Madeira to

when she had to put in at the Cape of Good Hope on 15 April 1826. Her main, mizzen, and foretop masts had been sprung. She had to discharge to repair. The next report was that she was discharging her cargo into ''Coventry'', Purdy, master, and was expected to be found unworthy of repair. She was then surveyed; she was condemned and reportedly sold for breaking up. However, ''Castle Forbes'' was repaired. On 3 June ''Coventry'', Purvis, master, was waiting for ''Castle Forbes'' to be heave down to be repaired. On 4 October 1826 Captain Ord sailed from the Cape, bound for Bombay. ''Castle Forbes'' arrived at Madras on 4 December and was expected to sail to Bengal on the 12th. The next press mention of ''Castle Forbes'' was that ''Castle Forbes'', Beveridge, master, had returned to Deal on 29 November 1827, from Trieste.

Fate

''Castle Forbes'' was last listed in the ''Register of Shipping'' in 1832. She was still listed from 1834 to 1838 in ''LR'', but with minimal data.

Citations

References

* * {{italic title 1818 ships Ships built in Aberdeen Age of Sail merchant ships Convict ships to New South Wales Convict ships to Tasmania Maritime incidents in April 1826