The H nourableC mpany'sS ip''Intrepid'' was launched in 1780 by the

Bombay Dockyard Bombay Dockyard, also known as Naval Dockyard, is an Indian shipbuilding yard at Mumbai. The superintendent of the dockyard is a Naval Officer of the rank Rear Admiral, known as the Admiral Superintendent. Background Shipbuilding was an establ ...

. She was a

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

belonging to 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 ...

's naval arm, the Bombay Marine. She participated in the seizure of Malacca on 17 August 1795 and in an inconclusive

single-ship action A single-ship action is a naval engagement fought between two warships of opposing sides, excluding submarine engagements; called so because there is a single ship on each side. The following is a list of notable single-ship actions. Single-shi ...

with a French privateer off Muscat on 22 November 1800. She foundered without a trace in late 1800 or early 1801.

Career

The Dutch government at Malacca arranged with the British government to turn Malacca over to the British rather than the having the Batavian Government, allies of the French, take possession. The British sent an expedition from Bengal that arrived off Malacca on 15 August 1795. arrived on the 17th, and the operation began that morning. ''Intrepid'' was one of the British vessels that participated. On 10 June 1797 ''Intrepid'' captured the Dutch settlement of

Kupang Kupang ( id, Kota Kupang, ), formerly known as Koepang, is the capital of the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. At the 2020 C ensus, it had a population of 442,758; the official estimate as at mid 2021 was 455,850. It is the largest ci ...

Timor Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is East Timor–Indonesia border, divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western p ...

, in cooperation with ''Resistance''. Lieutenant Frost of ''Intrepid'' was sent ashore to become acting-governor of the settlement, but the native population rose up against him and he narrowly escaped, with sixteen sepoys and seamen being killed. ''Resistance'' then bombarded Kupang into submission and sent a strong landing party ashore, destroying much of the town before abandoning it. On 22 November 1800 ''Intrepid'', under the command of Captain George Hall, was returning to India from Bussorah and was off Muscat when she encountered a French privateer of twelve 6 and 9-pounder

carronades A carronade is a short, smoothbore, cast-iron cannon which was used by the Royal Navy. It was first produced by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, and was used from the mid-18th century to the mid-19th century. Its main fun ...

. An engagement started at 9:30 am. The privateer, which had a larger complement than ''Intrepid'', twice tried to board ''Intrepid'', but Hall so maneuvered her as to frustrate the attempts. At about 10:45 a.m. Hall sustained a mortal wound and was taken below decks. The First Lieutenant, Thomas Smee, continued the engagement until at about 11:45am the privateer sailed away. The British repaired ''Intrepid''s sails and rigging, and then gave chase, but were unable to catch the privateer. Hall died on the 30th. In all the British lost six men killed, including Hall, and 22 men wounded, including her two lieutenants, Smee and Best. ''Intrepid'' arrived back at

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- ...

on 10 December.''Naval Chronicle'', Vol.6, p=77.

Fate

Later in October 1800 struck on the

Perates The Perates or Peratae ( el, Περατής, "to pass through"; πέρας, "to penetrate") were a Gnostic sect from the 2nd century AD. The ''Philosophumena'' of Hippolytus is our only real source of information on their origin and beliefs. The ...

, in the South China Sea some 300 miles to the southeast of Hong Kong, during a gale. She foundered with the loss of all her passengers and crew, who numbered some 150 persons. was sailing from China to Bombay when she sighted the wreckage. ''Houghton'' reported the loss at Bombay. The EIC sent two vessels, ''Intrepid'', Captain George Roper, and , Lieutenant William Henry, from

to the

Paracel Islands The Paracel Islands, also known as the Xisha Islands () and the Hoang Sa Archipelago ( vi, Quần đảo Hoàng Sa, lit=Yellow Sand Archipelago), are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. The archipelago includes about 130 small coral ...

to search for the cause of ''Earl Talbot''s loss and to pick up any possible survivors. In February 1802 reports had reached London that although the two vessels had made many discoveries relating to natural history and geography, and had seen wreckage of other vessels on uninhabited islands, they had found nothing further concerning ''Lord Eldon''. The two vessels were still listed on the establishment of the Bombay Marine as of 1 January 1802. However, by 1803, there was a recognition that both ''Intrepid'' and ''Comet'' had disappeared without a trace. They were presumed to have foundered at sea.

Citations

References

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Intrepid (1780) 1780 ships 1800s missing person cases British ships built in India Missing ships People lost at sea Ships of the British East India Company Warships lost with all hands

Career

Fate

See also

Citations

References