''Hillsborough'' was a three-decker

merchant ship A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are ...

launched in 1782. She made six voyages to India and China as an

East Indiaman East Indiamen were merchant ships that operated under charter or licence for European trading companies which traded with the East Indies between the 17th and 19th centuries. The term was commonly used to refer to vessels belonging to the Bri ...

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 ...

. In 1798 she transported convicts from England to

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. After delivering her convicts in 1799, she became a

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 ...

in the South Seas fisheries for several years. She was broken up in 1804.

East Indiaman

Voyage #1 (1784-85)

Captain William Hardcastle left the Downs on 27 January 1784 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. ''Hillsborough'' reached

Simon's Bay Simon's Town (), sometimes spelled Simonstown, is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa and is home to Naval Base Simon's Town, the South African Navy's largest base. It is located on the shores of Simon's Bay in False Bay, on the eastern s ...

on 24 April and arrived at Madras on 11 July. She then 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, lemon juice, salt, butter or cream, and occasionally sultanas. The dish can be eat ...

on 8 August. For her return voyage she passed

Saugor Sagar, formerly Saugor, is a city, municipal corporation and administrative headquarter in Sagar district of the state of Madhya Pradesh in central India. It's Madhya Pradesh's 6th largest city of by Population. The city is situated on a ...

on 8 February 1785, reached the Cape on 5 May and

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 5 June, and arrived at the Downs on 17 August.

Voyage #2 (1786-89)

Captain William Hardcastle left the Downs on 13 March 1786, bound for Bengal,

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

, and China. ''Hillsborough'' was part of a convoy that also included the East Indiamen ''Prince William'', ''Lord Thurlow'', ''William Pitt'', ''Barwell'', ''Earl of Oxford'', ''Fort William'', ''London'', ''Glatton'', ''Houghton'', ''Marquis of Landsdown'', ''Pigot'', , and ''Earl of Abergavenny'', amongst numerous other vessels, merchant and military, most of the non-Indiamen travelling to the Mediterranean. ''Hillsborough'' reached

on 10 June and Diamond Point on 14 August. From there she sailed to Batavia, which she reached on 30 December. to Bombay via the

Sunda Strait The Sunda Strait () is the strait between the Indonesian islands of Java island, Java and Sumatra. It connects the Java Sea with the Indian Ocean. Etymology The strait takes its name from the Sunda Kingdom, which ruled the western portion of Ja ...

, where she saw , which was returning to England from China. On 23 May 1787 she was at Bombay. She reached

Malacca Malacca (), officially the Historic State of Malacca (), is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state in Malaysia located in the Peninsular Malaysia#Other features, southern region of the Malay Peninsula, facing the Strait of Malacca ...

on 24 August and Whampoa on 11 October. For her homeward voyage she crossed the Second Bar, some 20 miles down the river from Whampoa, on 19 February 1788. She reached

Benkulen Bengkulu (), historically known as Bencoolen, 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 area of the historic Bencoolen Residency from the province of S ...

on 23 May and St Helena on 2 October, and arrived at the Downs on 7 February 1789.

Voyage #3 (1790-91)

Captain Edward Coxwell left the Downs on 17 April 1790 for China, and arrived at Whampoa on 27 August. ''Hillsborough'' crossed the Second Bar on 19 December, reached the Cape on 9 April 1791 and St Helena on 28 April, and arrived at the Downs on 27 June.

Voyage #4 (1793-94)

The

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars () were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted French First Republic, France against Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, Habsb ...

having broken out, Captain Edward Brown received 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 17 April 1793. He left Portsmouth on 22 May 1793 for Madras and Bengal. ''Hillsborough'' arrived at Madras on 13 September, and

Diamond Harbour Diamond Harbour is a town and municipality located in the South 24 Parganas district of the Indian state of West Bengal. Situated on the eastern banks of the Hooghly River, it serves as the administrative headquarters of the Diamond Harbour su ...

on 3 November. On her return voyage she passed Saugor on 27 December, and reached Madras on 31 January 1794. By 1 May she was at St Helena. On 20 July she reached

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

, and on 27 August she arrived at the Downs.

Voyage #5 (1795-96)

Captain Richard Hutt left Portsmouth on 24 May 1795, bound for Madras and Bengal. ''Hillsborough'' arrived at Madras on 2 September and Diamond Harbour on 6 October. On 4 December she passed Saugor, reaching Madras on 7 Feb 1796 and St Helena on 7 May, and arriving at the Downs on 3 August.

Voyage #6 (1797-98)

Hutt left Portsmouth on 18 March 1797, bound for Madras. ''Hillsborough'' reached the Cape on 4 June and arrived at Madras on 7 August. By 24 December she was back at the Cape. She reached St Helena on 3 February 1798 and

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

on 24 June. On her way, on 27 May, ''Hillsborough'' captured the sloop ''Rosario'' (or was in sight at the capture). ''Hillsborough'' arrived at the Downs on 7 July.

Convict transport and whaler

Robert Preston and the other owners sold ''Hillsborough'' and she disappeared from the list of the EIC's ships. Her new owner was Daniel Bennett.British Southern Whale Fishery Database – voyages: ''Hillsborough''.
/ref> Under the command of William Hingston (or Kingston), ''Hillsborough'' sailed from

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Roche ...

via Portland Roads, England, on 23 December 1798, and arrived at

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 ...

on 26 July 1799. She had left with 300 male convicts, but 95 died of yellow fever and dysentery on the voyage, and six more shortly after landing. This high death toll gave rise to ''Hillsborough'' becoming known as the "fever ship". Governor Hunter wrote a letter to the Secretary of the Colonies: While at Port Jackson ''Hillsborough'' received a new master, Captain Robert Rhodes, who had come out to New South Wales as

mate Mate may refer to: Science * Mate, one of a pair of animals involved in: ** Mate choice, intersexual selection *** Mate choice in humans ** Mating * Multi-antimicrobial extrusion protein, or MATE, an efflux transporter family of proteins Pers ...

on ''Hillsborough''. As ''Hillsborough'' was preparing to sail from Sydney Cove in October, a strict search found 30 stowaways aboard her. They were removed and punished. Two sailors who had aided the stowaways were also brought on shore and punished before being returned to ''Hillsborough''. Rhodes then sailed for the south seas fisheries to engage in

whaling Whaling is the hunting of whales for their products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that was important in the Industrial Revolution. Whaling was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16t ...

. ''Hillsborough'' spent eight months sealing and whaling around the

Kerguelen Islands The Kerguelen Islands ( or ; in French commonly ' but officially ', ), also known as the Desolation Islands (' in French), are a group of islands in the subantarctic, sub-Antarctic region. They are among the Extremes on Earth#Remoteness, most i ...

, also known as the Desolation Islands. During this period Rhodes prepared a chart of the islands, and named a bay "Hillsborough Bay". Forty years later,

James Clark Ross Sir James Clark Ross (15 April 1800 – 3 April 1862) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer of both the northern and southern polar regions. In the Arctic, he participated in two expeditions led by his uncle, Sir John Ross, John ...

spent some months in the islands during his expedition to the

Antarctic The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antar ...

in and . Ross found Rhodes's charts useful and so named a bay after Rhodes in tribute to him. ''Hillsborough'' then returned from

South Georgia South Georgia is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. ...

. She reached Gravesend on 15 April 1801 with 450 tuns of oil. ''Hillsborough'' again sailed for the South Seas on 11 August 1801. Daniel Bennett now shared her ownership with Charles Price, and her master was Captain Thomas Pittman (or Pitman). Pittman received a

on 17 July 1801, shortly before ''Hillsborough'' left England. ''Hillsborough'' was also listed on the Protection List, which exempted her crew from

impressment Impressment, colloquially "the press" or the "press gang", is a type of conscription of people into a military force, especially a naval force, via intimidation and physical coercion, conducted by an organized group (hence "gang"). European nav ...

. In 1802 she was valued at £11,000. ''Hillsborough'' returned from the South Seas on 20 March 1803. ''Hillsborough'' apparently made one more voyage for Bennett and Price, this time to Peru. ''Cyrus'' reported that in October 1805 ''Hillsborough'' was near the Galapagos Islands with 60 barrels of oil and on her way to New Zealand.

Fate

The volume of the ''Register of Shipping'' for 1804 carried the annotation that ''Hillsborough'' was broken up.''Register of Shipping'' (1804), Seq. №H486.
/ref>

Notes

Citations

References

* * * * * * * * * *Stanbury, Myra, Kandy-Jane Henderson, Bernard Derrien, Nicolas Bigourdan, & Evelyne Le Touze (2015) "Chapter 18: Epilogue" nline In: Stanbury, Myra. ''The Mermaid Atoll Shipwreck: A Mysterious Early 19th-century Loss''. (Fremantle, WA: Australian National Centre of Excellence for Maritime Archaeology and the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology): 235-290

ited 20 Aug 18

External links

Convicts to AustraliaConvicts on the transport ship Hillsborough - 1799Convicts: Transported on ship HillsboroughWilliam Noah - 'A Voyage to Sydney in New South Wales in 1798 & 1799' and 'A Few Remarks of the County of Cumberland in New South Wales, 1798-1799
{{italic title Ships of the British East India Company Convict ships to New South Wales 1783 ships Age of Sail merchant ships Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Whaling ships