''Experiment'' was launched in 1798 at

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in County Durham, England, with a population of 84,815 at the 2021 UK census. It gives its name to and is the largest settlement in the wider Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. It is part of Teesside and the Tees Val ...

, England. Between late 1800 and 1802 she made a voyage to India for the British

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

(EIC). In 1803 she transported

convict A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convicts ...

s to

Port Jackson Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta ...

. In 1805, on her way home the French captured her, but the British recaptured her. In 1808 she became a

West Indiaman West Indiaman was a general name for any merchantman sailing ship making runs from the Old World to the West Indies and the east coast of the Americas. These ships were generally strong ocean-going ships capable of handling storms in the Atlantic ...

. Still, in 1818 or so she sailed out to India. ''Experiment'' was condemned at Batavia in 1818 and sold there in 1819 for breaking up.

Early career

''Experiment'' entered ''

Lloyd's Register Lloyd's Register Group Limited, trading as Lloyd's Register (LR), is a technical and professional services organisation and a maritime classification society, wholly owned by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a UK charity dedicated to research ...

'' in 1799 with Aldis, master, R. Wigram, owner, and trade London—Jamaica.''Lloyd's Register'' (1799), Seq.№E392.
/ref> In 1800 her master was Aldis, changing to N. White.''Lloyd's Register'' (1800), Seq.№E420.
/ref> Captain John Nelson Whyte acquired a

letter of marque A letter of marque and reprisal () was a Sovereign state, government license in the Age of Sail that authorized a private person, known as a privateer or French corsairs, corsair, to attack and capture vessels of a foreign state at war with t ...

on 28 November 1800. The ''Register of Shipping'' for 1801 showed ''Experiment''s master as J. White, and her trade as London—Bengal. On 30 December 1800 Captain John Nelson Whyte sailed from the Downs, bound for

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

and Bengal. Mr. Robert Wigram had tendered her to the EIC to bring back rice from Bengal. She was one of 28 vessels that sailed on that mission between December 1800 and February 1801. She arrived at

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

on 30 April 1801. ''Experiment'' reached Madras on 23 May 1801, and arrived at

on 9 June. Homeward bound, she was at

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

on 11 September and the Cape of Good Hope on 22 December. She reached

St Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

on 2 February 1802, and arrived at the Downs on 31 March.British Library: ''Experiment'' (2).
/ref>

Convict voyage and capture (1803-1805)

Under the command of Francis J. Withers, ''Experiment'' sailed from

Cowes Cowes () is an England, English port, seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked b ...

, England on 4 December 1803. She sailed under a

issued to "Francis McWither" on 4 October 1803. She left in company with ''Coromandel'', which was also carrying convicts to

. While sailing in the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay ( ) is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Point Penmarc'h to the Spanish border, and along the northern coast of Spain, extending westward ...

(or 16 leagues from the

Isles of Scilly The Isles of Scilly ( ; ) are a small archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly, St Agnes, is over farther south than the most southerly point of the Great Britain, British mainla ...

, ''Experiment'' sprang her bowsprit and had her main top gallant mast carried away, during a gale. She limped back to Cowes to repair the damage and after repairs were affected, she sailed again on 2 January 1804, in company with the

whaler A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Jap ...

, bound for the Moluccas. ''Experiment'' arrived at Rio de Janeiro on 8 March and left on 8 April. She arrived at Port Jackson on 12 June 1804. ''Experiment'' embarked two male and 136 female

convicts A convict is "a person found Guilt (law), guilty of a crime and Sentence (law), sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a commo ...

. Six female convicts died on the voyage. ''Experiment'' left Port Jackson on 7 October bound for China. While ''Experiment'' was on her homeward passage from China to London, carrying a cargo of tea for the EIC, the French privateer ''Napoleon'', of

Saint-Malo Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo language, Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany (administrative region), Brittany. The Fortification, walled city on the English Channel coast had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth ...

, captured her. ''Napoleon'' encountered ''Experiment'' on 27 May 1805 at and captured her after a 30-hour chase. ''Napoleon'', which was under the command of Captain Malo le Nourville, was heavily armed. She had sixteen 32-pounder and four 18-pounder guns on the main deck, and two 36-pounder on 6-pounder guns on the upper deck. She also had a crew of 200 men. After an engagement of half-an-hour, ''Experiment'' had three men badly wounded, her tiller shot away, some 32 shot between wind and water, and two feet of water in her hold. Withers therefore struck her flag. ''Napoleon'' was four months out of False Bay and ''Experiment'' was her first

prize A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.

. An item in the ''Times'' dated 11 September 1805 simply reported that ''Experiment'' had parted from off the Cape of Good Hope and had not been seen since. On 13 September 1805 ''Lloyd's List'' reported that a large French privateer from Saint-Malo had captured ''Experiment'' as the privateer was on her way to

Île de France Ile or ILE may refer to: Ile * Ile, a Puerto Rican singer * Ile District (disambiguation), multiple places * Ilé-Ifẹ̀, an ancient Yoruba city in south-western Nigeria * Interlingue (ISO 639:ile), a planned language * Isoleucine, an amino aci ...

and had taken her into the Cape of Good Hope. The crew had arrived at St Helena. The French sent Withers, the surgeon, and the Fourth Officer to Île de France in ''Experiment''. ''Napoleon'' then took the remaining officers and the purser to the Cape of Good Hope. There they were able to arrange for a

cartel A cartel is a group of independent market participants who collaborate with each other as well as agreeing not to compete with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. A cartel is an organization formed by producers ...

to take them to

.''Naval Chronicle'', Vol. 14, pp.339-40. The EIC valued at £45,604 its cargo lost when the French captured her. On 3 August 1805, , under the command of Captain Woodriff, left

as escort of a motley convoy to England. The convoy consisted of the East India company's "extra-ship" , from Madras, the southern whaler ''African'' from Desolation, the whaler ''Fox'' from the Mozambique channel, the whaler ''Grand Sachem'' from the Peruvian coast and bound to Milford, the Prussian ship ''Wilhelmina'', which ''Calcutta'' had detained on her way out to

, and the large Swedish ship ''Carolina'', which was sailing from China and asked to join.''Naval Chronicle'', Vol. 19, pp.170–172. The men from ''Experiment'' sailed on ''African''. On 26 September the convoy encountered Allemand's squadron. Woodriff succeeded in drawing the French away from the convoy, but at the cost of his ship, which the French captured. Apparently the French eventually sent ''Experiment'' into Cape Town. There, the British retook her, as her captors did not know that the British had occupied the Cape.

Later career

In 1808 Barkworth & Co., Hull, purchased ''Experiment'' for use as a West Indiaman. She first reappeared in ''

'' for 1809 with T. Forest, master, and trade London-Cuba.''Lloyd's Register'' (1809), supplemental pages, Seq. no. E11.
/ref>

Fate

Lloyd's List ''Lloyd's List'' is one of the world's oldest continuously running journals, having provided weekly shipping news in London as early as 1734. It was published daily until 2013 (when the final print issue, number 60,850, was published), and i ...

'' reported on 7 September 1819 that ''Experiment'', Dacre, master, of Hull, had been condemned at Batavia in December 1818. She was sold on 10 March 1819 for 5000 Java rupees to be broken up.''Lloyd's List'' №5419.
/ref>

Citations

References

* * * * * {{cite book , author=((House of Commons, Parliament, Great Britain)) , year=1830 , title=Reports from the Select Committee of the House of Commons appointed to enquire into the present state of the affairs of the East India Company, together with the minutes of evidence, an appendix of documents, and a general index , volume=2 , publisher=Printed by order of the honourable court of directors, by J.L. Cox , ref={{SfnRef, House of Commons, 1830, url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433077895047;view=1up;seq=232 1798 ships Ships built on the River Tees Convict ships to New South Wales Ships of the British East India Company Captured ships Age of Sail merchant ships Merchant ships of the United Kingdom