APPENDIX No. 11, Vol. ii. p. 464.

Historical Abstract of Public Duties performed by the East India Company’s Maritime Service.

In 1601 the first fleet, under Lancaster, took possession of St. Helena, entered into a treaty with the King of Acheen, settled a factory at Bantam, and captured a valuable carrack of nine hundred tons burthen.

During 1609 the Company’s ship Solomon engaged and defeated several Portuguese ships, and in 1611 their fleet, under command of Captain Saris, proceeded to Japan, and settled a Company’s factory at Firando; while in this year a large ship belonging to the Company, assisted by a pinnace, maintained five several engagements with a squadron of Portuguese, and gained a complete victory over forces much superior.

In 1612 the Company’s fleet, under the command of Captain Thomas Best, engaged the Portuguese fleet, consisting of four galleys and twenty-six frigates, in two separate actions, when the Portuguese were defeated with great loss.

In 1613 the Company’s fleet, under the command of Captain (General) Downton, attacked and defeated the Portuguese fleet near Surat, sinking and burning most of the enemy’s ships; and in 1616 their fleet, under Captain Pring, took a valuable Portuguese frigate, and defeated the Dutch fleet in a severe action at Batavia.

1619. A great naval action between four Company’s ships, under the command of Captain Shilling (who was killed), and a Portuguese fleet, in which the Company’s ships were victorious. This fleet also took possession of Saldanha Bay.

1620. Four of the Company’s ships defeated the Portuguese fleet and captured several junks belonging to the Mogul.

1622. Ormuz taken by the Company’s fleet, in concert with the King of Persia’s forces. By this capture the first and most valuable commercial treaty with that monarch was obtained.

1623. In the twenty-first year of the reign of James I. he authorized the Company to exercise martial law in their ships at sea.

1630. A great naval battle near Surat, in which the Company’s fleet was victorious over the Portuguese.

1635. The Company’s fleet, under Sir Thomas Grantham, recapture Bombay.

The Company’s fleet captured forty sail of Mogul ships at Ballasore.

1662. At the expiration of more than half a century after the commencement of the trade to India, men-of-war first sent out.

1690. The Company’s ship Herbert fought a desperate action at Johanna against four ships of superior force, and beat them off, but in the moment of victory she unfortunately took fire and blew up.

1703. The Company’s ships Chambers and Canterbury, in the Straits of Malacca, engaged in the night a French sixty-four and a frigate. The Canterbury was taken, but the Chambers gallantly renewed the action at daylight, and having crippled her opponents, escaped. The following is an extract from the commander’s log: “To prevent all thought among my men of surrendering ye ship, and make ym desperate, I nailed the ensigne to the staff from head to foot, stapled and fore-cockt the ensigne staff fast up. I resolved to part with ship and life together.”

1746. A French squadron, consisting of L’Achille, sixty-four, and two frigates, appeared off St. Helena to intercept the homeward-bound fleet. An Indiaman’s long-boat was fitted out under the command of a midshipman, who succeeded in gaining the weather-gage of the enemy’s squadron unperceived, and cruised for the purpose of warning the expected fleet. Six of the Company’s ships fell in with the squadron, and maintained a running fight for several days, till they anchored in All Saints’ Bay, where they were blockaded by L’Achille and her consorts, notwithstanding which, they ultimately escaped and reached England in safety.

1757. The Company’s ships Suffolk, Houghton, and Godolphin fell in with two French frigates off the Cape, and after a smart action beat them off. The Court of Directors highly commended the conduct of the commanders, officers, and crews upon this occasion, and each ship received a gratuity of 2,000l. These ships were commanded by Captain Wilson, who was made commander of all the Company’s ships, and appointed to the William Pitt, in which ship he discovered Pitt’s Straits, 1759, and “pointed out to admiring nations a new track to China, founded on philosophic principles.”

1758. At the recapture of Fort William many of the Company’s ships were employed, and in some instances the crews were engaged on shore.

1759. When the Dutch, with four frigates of thirty-six guns each, two frigates of twenty-six guns each, and another ship mounting sixteen guns, with crews of fifteen hundred men on board, attempted to capture the British possessions of Bengal, they were driven back, and captured by the Company’s ships Calcutta, Duke of Dorset, and Hardwicke.

In the same year the Company’s ship Hardwicke fought an action with a French frigate.

1760. The Company’s ships Royal George and Oxford intercepted and captured three Dutch ships and three sloops off Culpec. In 1761 the Company’s ship Shaftesbury stood into Madras Roads, in defiance of two French ships there blockading the town, who attacked her, but, succeeding in beating them off, she then embarked a detachment of troops, and proceeded to St. Thomas, where she engaged and beat off a French frigate. The captain, officers, and crew of the Shaftesbury were warmly commended for their gallant conduct on this occasion, and received a reward of 2,000l.

The Company’s ship Winchelsea fought a French frigate single handed and beat her off. The Court in this case also distributed the sum of 2,000l. among the crew for their gallant conduct.

1779. The Company’s ship Bridgewater fought an American privateer of superior force, and beat her off, for which the crew received a reward of 2,000l. from the Court of Directors.

1782. The Company’s ships, under Commodore Johnstone, fought a gallant action at Port Praya, in which the enemy were defeated.

1786. The Princess Royal, Captain Horncastle, fought an action in the Straits of Malacca.

1793. The Company’s ships Triton, Royal Charlotte, and Warley, in company with H.M.S. Minerva, were employed in the blockade of Pondicherry, and assisted at the capture of that place.

1794. The Company’s ship Pigott fought a gallant action at Bencoolen with three French frigates. In this year, there not being a single English man-of-war in the Indian Seas, or to the eastward of the Cape, and while the port of Calcutta was blockaded, and the whole trade of India a prey to large and well-appointed privateers, the Company’s ships William Pitt, Britannia, and Houghton, under Commodore Mitchell (who was knighted for his services on this occasion), cruised in the Indian seas as men-of-war for the protection of commerce. They captured two large privateers, and defeated a French squadron of two frigates, a brig of war, and an armed ship, the Princess Royal.

When, in 1795, the great expedition was ordered for the West Indies, application was made to the Company for assistance, and fourteen of the Company’s ships were fitted out immediately, and ten others sold to Government and equipped as line-of-battle ships.

In the same year an expedition was fitted out at St. Helena, consisting of the Company’s ships Goddard, Mauship, Hawkesbury, Airly Castle, Asia, Essex, and Busbridge; which proceeded to cruise to windward of the island, where they intercepted and captured a valuable fleet of nine Dutch Indiamen. This undertaking involved in its consequences the annihilation of the Dutch East India Company.

The Company’s ships Bombay Castle, Exeter, and Brunswick were fitted out as men-of-war at Bombay, and assisted in taking the Cape of Good Hope.

1797. When at the mutiny of the Nore, the Court of Directors called upon their officers to serve on board his Majesty’s ships for the defence of the river, the request was promptly and zealously answered by the maritime service at large.

Commodore Farquharson, of the Company’s service, with a fleet of their ships, fell in with the French Admiral De Sercey and a powerful squadron of men-of-war; the Indiamen immediately formed the line of battle, and gave chase to the enemy, who crowded all sail, and was soon out of sight. This bold manɶuvre saved a valuable fleet to the Company and to the nation.

In 1797, on the expedition against Manilla, several of the Company’s ships were fitted out to act as men-of-war, and in 1798 the Hughes was equipped at Bombay to protect the trade on the Malabar Coast. That year the Company’s ships Royal Charlotte, Cuffnells, Phɶnix, and Alligator assisted H.M. ships La Pomone, Argo, and Cormorant in convoying a large fleet of merchantmen and transports to Lisbon. On the 25th of September they fell in with a French fleet of nine sail, consisting of one eighty-gun ship and eight frigates. The signal was made for the Company’s ships to form the line with those of his Majesty’s, and the convoy were ordered to push for Lisbon. This manɶuvre, and the warlike appearance of the Indiamen, deterred the French admiral from attacking them, so that the whole fleet reached Lisbon in safety.

1799. The Company’s ships Earl Howe and Princess Charlotte received instructions from H.M.S. Victorious to cruise between the Palmyra Rocks and Pigeon Island. The commander and officers having received commissions from Government, they were occupied in this service until the close of 1800.

1800. The French frigate Melée was taken single-handed by the Company’s ship Exeter, Captain Meriton. In the same year a gallant defence was made by the Company’s ship Kent against the Confiance of twenty-six guns, commanded by the celebrated Surcoufe, and though the Kent was captured, it was only after having lost her commander and twenty-two men killed and thirty-four wounded; the action lasted nearly two hours.

On the 27th of June the Company’s ship Arniston, Captain Campbell Majoribanks, having just anchored at Bencoolen, was attacked by a French sloop of war, supposed to be the Confiance, of twenty-six guns. The Arniston promptly cut her cable, gave chase, and fired several broadsides into her: but, outsailing the Arniston, by beating to windward, she escaped after a chase of several hours.

That year the Hughes, cruising in the Bay of Bengal for the protection of trade, engaged a French ship, which also escaped from superiority of sailing, after having thrown her guns overboard.

In 1801 the Company’s ship Phɶnix, Captain Moffat, captured a French privateer single-handed, and the Company’s ship Admiral Gardner, Captain Saltwell, beat off the Bellona, French frigate, single-handed.

1803. The Company’s homeward-bound China fleet (with a number of country ships and whalers under protection), having no men-of-war in company, fell in with the French Admiral Linois, in the Marengo, eighty-four-gun ship, Semillante, forty guns, Belle Poule, forty guns, Corvette, twenty-eight guns, and a brig of eighteen guns. The enemy being to windward, Commodore Dance, at the suggestion of Captain Timins, made the general signal to tack. The Indiamen then stood towards the French fleet, engaged, defeated, and chased them out of sight. The details of this extraordinary victory of English merchant ships over French men-of-war are familiar to the readers of naval history. The fleet, consisting of China ships, was valued at six millions, and the revenue on the tea alone amounted to upwards of three millions sterling. Commodore Dance was knighted, and various rewards were distributed among the captains, officers, and seamen. In that year the Company’s ships Lord Castlereagh and Lady Castlereagh were fitted out and cruised in the Bay of Bengal for the protection of trade.

In that year also the Company’s ship Preston acted as guard-ship at Kedjaree.

During 1804 the Hughes sailed from Bombay by request of the Government, cruising in company with H.M.S. Concord to intercept French frigates expected off the coast.

In 1805 the Company’s ships Camden and Wexford were fitted out in Bombay Harbour, and cruised in the Indian seas for the protection of trade, whilst the Cumberland, Captain Farrer, under convoy of Sir Thomas Troubridge, received and returned several broadsides, within pistol-shot, from the French line-of-battle ship Marengo, and from a large frigate, her consort.

In 1806 the Company’s ship Warren Hastings fought a most gallant action against the French frigate Piedmontese, and although at last captured, the enemy hauled off several times during the action, which lasted for four hours.

In 1810 the Company’s ships and seamen were employed at the taking of the Isle of France; and in 1812 the Company’s ship Astell was gallantly defended against a very superior force, and escaped, in consequence of the crippled state of her opponents.