HMS ''Cornwallis'' was a 74-gun third rate

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...

of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

, launched on 12 May 1813 at

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

. She was built of teak. The capture of ''

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

'' by delayed the completion of ''Cornwallis'' as ''Java'' had been bringing her

copper sheathing Copper sheathing is the practice of protecting the under-water hull of a ship or boat from the corrosive effects of salt water and biofouling through the use of copper plates affixed to the outside of the hull. It was pioneered and developed b ...

from England. ''Cornwallis'' arrived at

Deal, Kent Deal is a coastal town in Kent, England, which lies where the North Sea and the English Channel meet, north-east of Dover and south of Ramsgate. It is a former fishing, mining and garrison town whose history is closely linked to the anch ...

on 31 May 1814, having escorted several

East Indiamen 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 ...

(including , , and ), and two whalers (including ). On 27 April 1815, ''Cornwallis'' engaged the American sloop , which had mistaken ''Cornwallis'' for a merchant ship. Heavily outgunned, ''Hornet'' was forced to retreat. The crew threw boats, guns and other equipment overboard in order to escape.James (1837), Vol.6, p.387. HMS Cornwallis and Squadron in Nanking

After China's defeat in the

First Opium War The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of the ...

, representatives from the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

Empires negotiated a peace treaty aboard ''Cornwallis'' in

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and t ...

. On 29 August 1842, British representative Sir

Henry Pottinger Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Pottinger, 1st Baronet (; 3 October 1789 – 18 March 1856) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and colonial administrator who became the first Governor of Hong Kong. Early life Henry Pottinger was born at his family est ...

and Qing representatives, Qiying,

Yilibu Yilibu (Manchu: ''Ilibu''; ; 1772 – 4 March 1843Boulger, Demetrius Charles (1898). The History of China'. Volume 2. p. 146.), also spelt Elepoo, was a Chinese official of the Qing dynasty. A Manchu of the Bordered Yellow Banner, he was Viceroy ...

and Niujian, signed the

Treaty of Nanking The Treaty of Nanjing was the peace treaty which ended the First Opium War (1839–1842) between Great Britain and the Qing dynasty of China on 29 August 1842. It was the first of what the Chinese later termed the Unequal Treaties. In the ...

aboard her. ''Cornwallis'' was fitted with screw propulsion and reduced to 60 guns in 1855, and took part in the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

, where she was commanded by

George Wellesley Admiral Sir George Greville Wellesley (2 August 1814 – 6 April 1901) was a Royal Navy officer. As a junior officer he took part in the capture of Acre during the Oriental Crisis in 1840 and, as Captain of in the Baltic Fleet, he took part ...

, future

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet ...

and

First Sea Lord The First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff (1SL/CNS) is the military head of the Royal Navy and Naval Service of the United Kingdom. The First Sea Lord is usually the highest ranking and most senior admiral to serve in the British Armed Fo ...

, and the nephew of the

Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister ...

. She was converted to a

jetty A jetty is a structure that projects from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French word ', "thrown", signifying somet ...

Sheerness Sheerness () is a town and civil parish beside the mouth of the River Medway on the north-west corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 11,938, it is the second largest town on the island after the nearby tow ...

in 1865. In 1916 she was renamed and used as a base ship. She was finally broken up in 1957 at Sheerness, some 144 years after her launching.

Citations and references

Citations References * * *Lavery, Brian (2003) ''The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. . *Parkinson, C. Northcote (1954) ''War in the Eastern Seas, 1793-1815''. (London: George Allen & Unwin), p. 421. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cornwallis (1813) 1813 ships British ships built in India Crimean War naval ships of the United Kingdom First Opium War ships of the United Kingdom Ships of the line of the Royal Navy Vengeur-class ships of the line War of 1812 ships of the United Kingdom