''Lady Jane Dundas'' was launched in 1800 as an

East Indiaman East Indiaman was a general name for any sailing ship operating under charter or licence to any of the East India trading companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries. The term is used to refer to vesse ...

. She made four voyages for 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) and was lost in 1809 on the homeward-bound leg of her fifth voyage. She and three other Indiamen parted from the homeward-bound convoy during a gale on 18 March 1809 and were never seen again.

Career

EIC voyage #1 (1800–1801)

Captain the Hon. Hugh Lindsay acquired a letter of marque on 10 April 1800. He sailed from Torbay on 27 May 1800, bound for Bengal. ''Lady Jane Dundas'' reached Acheh on 4 November and arrived at

Kedgeree Kedgeree (or occasionally ) is a dish consisting of cooked, flaked fish (traditionally smoked haddock), boiled rice, parsley, hard-boiled eggs, curry powder, butter or cream, and occasionally sultanas. The dish can be eaten hot or cold. Other ...

on 6 December. Homeward bound, she was at

Saugor Sagar is a city, municipal corporation and administrative headquarter in Sagar district of the state of Madhya Pradesh in central India. Situated on a spur of the Vindhya Range, above sea-level. The city is around northeast of state capital ...

on 24 January 1801, reached

St Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...

on 21 May and

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 ...

on 24 July, and arrived at The Downs on 11 August.

EIC voyage #2 (1802–1803)

Captain Lindsay sailed from Portsmouth on 27 February 1802, bound for

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 ...

and Bengal. ''Lady Jane Dundas'' reached Madras on 25 June and arrived at

Diamond Harbour Diamond Harbour () is a town and a municipality of the South 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is situated on the eastern banks of the Hooghly River. It is the headquarters of the Diamond Harbour subdivision. Histor ...

on 13 July. Homeward bound, she was at Saugor on 22 October. She and left Bengal on 28 December and reached St Helena together. They reached St Helena on 3 March 1803, and arrived at The Downs on 5 May.

EIC voyage #3 (1804–1805)

War with France had resumed in 1803 and Captain Lindsay acquired a letter of marque on 26 January 1804. He sailed from Portsmouth on 20 March 1804, bound for Madras and Bengal in a convoy under the escort of The other East Indiamen in the convoy were , , , , , , and . ''Lady Jane Dundas'' reached Madras on 18 July and arrived at Diamond Harbour on 13 August. She was at

Kidderpore Khidirpur or Kidderpore is a neighborhood of metropolitan Kolkata (Calcutta), in Kolkata district, West Bengal, India. Etymology Most plausibly, the name is a corruption of ''Khidrpur'' or ''Khizarpur'', Khizr/Khidr being the guardian sai ...

on 23 September. Homeward bound, she was at Saugor on 22 November and Madrasa again on 12 February 1805. She reached St Helena on 20 June, and arrived at The Downs on 10 September.

EIC voyage #4 (1806–1807)

Captain Lindsay sailed from Portsmouth on 4 March 1806, bound for Madras and Bengal. ''Lady Jane Dundas'' reached Madras on 28 June and arrived at Diamond Harbour on 10 July. She was at Saugor on 12 September, visited Penang on 18 October and returned to Bengal, arriving at Kedgeree on 13 December. Homeward bound, she was at Saugor on 30 January 1807, reached St Helena on 13 June, and arrived at The Downs on 6 September.

Loss

Captain John Eckford acquired a letter of marque on 12 February 1808. He sailed from Portsmouth on 8 May 1808, bound for Madras and Bengal. On 14 March 1809, ''Lady Jane Dundas'', , , and parted company with the main convoy of homeward-bound East Indiamen off Mauritius in a gale. was the last vessel to see ''Jane, Duchess of Gordon'' and ''Lady Jane Dundas''; was the last vessel to see ''Bengal'' and ''Calcutta''.''Naval Chronicle'', Vol. 26, p.218. They were never heard of again. The hull of one of the four missing vessels was sighted overturned off Mauritius the following October, but sank before it could be identified. The EIC valued the cargo it lost on ''Lady Jane Dundas'' at £36,808.

Citations and references

Citations References * * {{1809 shipwrecks 1800 ships Ships built on the River Thames Age of Sail merchant ships of England Ships of the British East India Company Maritime incidents in 1809 Missing ships Ships lost with all hands Shipwrecks in the Indian Ocean