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 ...
, launched in 1802. The French captured her in 1805 during her second voyage for the
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 ...
and sold her to Danish owners. The British recaptured her in January 1808, and within a year thereafter she was again in her former owner's hands. She then made several more voyages for the company.
Career
First EIC voyage (1803–1804)
Captain Thomas Larkins sailed ''Warren Hasting'' for China, leaving The Downs on 6 April 1803 and arriving at Whampoa on 28 August.British Library: ''Warren Hastings'' (2). /ref> Before she arrived she rescued a dozen or so Chinese sailors. A gale had caught their three "tchuans" and sunk them, causing the loss of some 500 people. The same gale had also caught the East Indiaman , causing her loss, together with that of the 120 or so people aboard her.
Larkins had left Britain during the
Peace of Amiens
The Treaty of Amiens (french: la paix d'Amiens, ) temporarily ended hostilities between France and the United Kingdom at the end of the War of the Second Coalition. It marked the end of the French Revolutionary Wars; after a short peace it se ...
so he did not apply for a letter of marque. However, the Peace broke down in May 1803. Larkins received a letter of marque on 16 September, while he was in China. Homeward bound, ''Warren Hastings'' crossed the Second Bar on 1 February 1804.
''Warren Hastings'' was traveling in convoy with the fleet of East Indiamen returning from China, and under the command of Commodore
Nathaniel Dance
Sir Nathaniel Dance (20 June 1748 – 25 March 1827) was an officer of the East India Company who had a long and varied career on merchant vessels, making numerous voyages to India and back with the fleets of East Indiamen. He was already awar ...
. On 14 February the China fleet encountered a small French squadron under Contre-Admiral Charles-Alexandre Durand Linois. some shots were exchanged, but the East Indiamen were able to bluff Linois into withdrawing.
''Warren Hastings'' was directly engaged and the Indiamen reached Malacca on 19 February and Penang on 1 March. ''Warren Hastings'' was at
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 ...
Larkins sailed ''Warren Hastings'' for Benkulen and China on her second voyage, leaving Portsmouth on 17 February 1805. She spent May–July at St Helena and September–October at
Benkulen
Bengkulu is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the southwest coast of Sumatra. It was formed on 18 November 1968 by separating out the former Bencoolen Residency area from the province of South Sumatra under Law No. 9 of 1967 and was fi ...
. However, on 21 June 1806, as ''Warren Hastings'' was on her way back from Canton, the French frigate ''Piémontaise'', under the command of Captain Épron, captured her at , in a noteworthy
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 ...
.James (1837), Vol. 4, pp.239–44. Larkins put up a stubborn resistance for four hours. Casualties on ''Warren Hastings'' from the engagement amounted to seven killed and 13 wounded; casualties on ''Piémontaise'' amounted to seven killed and five wounded. After ''Warren Hastings'' struck, the French boarding party stabbed Larkin, wounding him severely, and wounded four other officers and crew.
Her captors took ''Warren Hastings'' to Mauritius where they arrived on 4 July. Thereafter the French initially used her as a prison ship.
On 11 December 1806, ''Warren Hastings'' was sold with "her tackle and apparel." The purchaser was a Danish company. One report has the
Danish East India Company
The Danish East India Company ( da, Ostindisk Kompagni) refers to two separate Danish-Norwegian chartered companies. The first company operated between 1616 and 1650. The second company existed between 1670 and 1729, however, in 1730 it was re-fo ...
purchasing ''Warren Hastings'' as a replacement for ''
Holstein
Holstein (; nds, label=Northern Low Saxon, Holsteen; da, Holsten; Latin and historical en, Holsatia, italic=yes) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of German ...
'', which had arrived at
Port Louis
Port Louis (french: Port-Louis; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Polwi or , ) is the capital city of Mauritius. It is mainly located in the Port Louis District, with a small western part in the Black River District. Port Louis is the country's ec ...
on 21 July 1806 and been condemned.''Publications...'' (1902), Vol. 20, p.369. (A report in the ''Madras Courier'' dated 10 February 1807 stated that the Danish company's ship ''Holstein'' was sailing from Copenhagen to Serampore when she was dismasted off Ceylon. She sailed to Mauritius for repairs.)
The Danish East India Company named their newly-bought ship ''Holsten (II)''. Reportedly she was wrecked in a cyclone at Bourbon Island towards end-December. It is clear that she was not totally wrecked as she returned to commerce.
Recapture (January 1808) and third EIC voyage (1809–1810)
The British recaptured ''Warren Hastings'' (plus six other Danish merchant ships) at
Frederiksnagore
Serampore (also called ''Serampur'', ''Srirampur'', ''Srirampore'', ''Shreerampur'', ''Shreerampore'', ''Shrirampur'' or ''Shrirampore'') is a city of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarter of the Srirampore ...
(Surampore), then part of
Danish India
Danish India () was the name given to the colonies of Denmark (Denmark–Norway before 1814) in the Indian subcontinent, forming part of the Danish colonial empire. Denmark–Norway held colonial possessions in India for more than 200 years, i ...
, and 14 miles north of
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
, after news of the British attack on Copenhagen in August–September 1807 reached India. Her captors placed ''Warren Hastings'' in the Indian coastal trade for some months until John Pascall Larkins, Jr., younger brother of Thomas Larkins, Jr., purchased her in 1809.
Captain C. P. MacFarlane sailed ''Warren Hastings'' back to England from Calcutta as an "extra ship", i.e., under charter. She left Calcutta on 11 September 1809, reached
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 24 September, and the Cape on 16 December. She was at St Helena on 27 January 1810 and arrived at Portsmouth on 8 April and Blackwall on 24 April.
Fourth EIC voyage (1811–1812)
Captain Gunter Lyde Browne sailed ''Warren Hastings'' to the Cape and China, leaving Portsmouth on 8 April 1811. He sailed under a letter of marque issued on 20 February 1811. She reached the Cape of Good Hope on 13 July, Penang on 30 August, and Malacca on 20 September, before arriving at Whampoa on 28 October. Homeward bound, she crossed the Second Bar on 11 January 1812, reached St Helena on 21 March, and arrived at The Downs on 14 May.
Fifth EIC voyage (1815–1816)
Captain Richard Rawes left The Downs on 27 April 1815, bound for China. ''Warren Hastings'' arrived at Whampoa on 23 September. Homeward bound, she crossed the Second Bar on 10 January 1816, reached St Helena on 26 March, and arrived at The Downs on 11 May.British Library: ''Warren Hastings'' (5). /ref> Rawes brought with him ''
Wisteria sinensis
''Wisteria sinensis'', commonly known as the Chinese wisteria, is a species of flowering plant in the pea family, native to China, in the provinces of Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Shaanxi, and Yunnan. Growing tall, it is a deciduous v ...
'' (Chinese wisteria) plants. In addition to the wisteria, Rawes brought two ''Camellia'' hybrids for his relation Thomas Carey Palmer, of Bromley in Kent: "Wellbank's White Camellia" (''Camellia japonica'' "Wellbankii") and ''Camellia × maliflora''.
Sixth EIC voyage (1819–1820)
Captain Rawes and ''Warren Hastings'' left Portsmouth on 4 April 1819, reached Penang on 20 July, Malacca on 15 September, and Singapore on ten days later. She arrived at Whampoa on 7 November. Homeward bound, she crossed the Second Bar on 6 February 1820, reached St Helena on 21 April, and arrived at The Downs on 20 June Downs.
Rawes brought with him ''
Camellias.pics: Photographic nomenclature of Camellias. Accessed 2 September 2016. /ref> Rawes also brought Palmer "
Camellia sasanqua
''Camellia sasanqua'', with common name sasanqua camellia, is a species of ''Camellia'' native to China and Japan. It is usually found growing up to an altitude of 900 metres.
It is an evergreen shrub growing to 5 m tall. The leaves are b ...
, var. β. stricata", "Paconia Moutan, var. Rawesii", and "Primula pranitens".
Seventh EIC voyage (1823–1824)
''Warren Hastings'', still under the command of Captain Richard Rawes, left the Downs on 21 April 1823 and arrived at Whampoa on 1 October. Homeward bound, she crossed the Second Bar on 17 January 1824, reached St Helena on 27 March, and arrived at The Downs on 10 June.
Eighth EIC voyage (1825–1826)
Captain Richard Rawes and ''Warrren Hastings'' left The Downs on 1 May 1825. On the way, severe weather caused considerable damage, forcing Rawes to divert to Penang, which she reached on 27 August, for repairs. The repairs took some time long as ''Warren Hastings'' did not reach Singapore until 3 October. A cyclone on the way to China again caused damage, but she arrived at Whampoa on 6 November. Homeward bound, she crossed the Second Bar on 6 February 1826, reached St Helena on 3 May, and arrived at The Downs on 23 June.
Fate
In 1829 ''Warren Hastings'' was sold for breaking up after having been laid up for some time.
Notes, citations, and references
Notes
Citations
References
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*''Publications of the Navy Records Society'', (1902) Vol. 20. (Navy Records Society).
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