''Winchelsea'' was launched in 1803 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 ...

(EIC). She made 11 voyages for the EIC before she was broken up in 1834.

Career

EIC voyage #1 (1804–1805)

Captain Walter Campbell 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 22 December 1803. He sailed from Portsmouth on 13 February 1804, bound for

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. ''Winchelsea'' arrived at Bombay on 26 May, and left on 6 August. 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 13 September and arrived at

Whampoa anchorage Pazhou is a subdistrict of Haizhu in southeastern Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, in China. , formerly Whampoa Island, has a total area of and is the site of Pazhou Pagoda. Its eastern bay was formerly the chief anchorage for ships parti ...

on 15 October. Homeward bound, she crossed the Second Bar on 4 January 1805, reached

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

on 20 January 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 ...

28 March. She left St Helena on 11 July, and arrived at The Downs on 10 September.

EIC voyage #2 (1806–1807)

Captain William Moffat acquired a letter of marque on 19 December 1805. He sailed from Portsmouth on 4 March 1806, bound for Bombay and China. ''Winchelsea'' arrived at Bombay on 20 June and left on 12 August. She reached Penang on 4 Sep Penang and arrived at Whampoa on 30 October. Homeward bound, she crossed the Second Bar on 6 January 1807, reached Penang on 22 January and St Helena on 17 April, and arrived at The Downs on 2 July.

EIC voyage #3 (1808–1809)

Captain Moffat sailed from Portsmouth on 9 February 1808, bound for Bombay and China. ''Winchelsea'' arrived back at her moorings on 12 September 1809, with an elephant on board.

"Mr Polito ... has obtained possession of a remarkably fine Elephant, brought to England in the Hon. East India Company's ship, Winchelsea, Capt. William Moffat, which will be exhibited at Rumsey icfair on Monday; and it is expected he will be offered for public inspection for a day or two, in this town , on his way to the Exeter 'Change London."

EIC voyage #4 (1810–1811)

Captain the Honourable Hugh Lindsay sailed from Portsmouth on 21 January 1810, bound for Bombay and China. ''Winchelsea'' reached the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

on 9 April and arrived at Bombay on 26 May. She left Bombay on 12 August, reached Penang on 31 August, and arrived at Whampoa on 12 October. Homeward bound, she crossed the Second Bar on 11 February 1811, reached St Helena on 28 May, and arrived at The Downs on 8 August.

EIC voyage #5 (1812–1813)

Captain William Moffat sailed from Portsmouth on 1 March 1812, 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 China. ''Winchelsea'' reached Madras on 11 June and Penang on 2 August, and arrived at Whampoa on 7 September. Homeward bound, she crossed the Second Bar on 17 January 1813, reached St Helena on 6 April, and arrived at The Downs on 5 June.

EIC voyage #6 (1814–1815)

Captain Moffat sailed from Portsmouth on 22 February 1814, bound for Madras and China. ''Winchelsea'' reached

Johanna Johanna is a feminine name, a variant form of Joanna that originated in Latin in the Middle Ages, including an -h- by analogy with the Latin masculine name Johannes. The original Greek form ''Iōanna'' lacks a medial /h/ because in Greek Spiritus ...

on 6 June, and arrived at Madras on 4 July. Sailing on, she reached Penang on 21 August, Malacca on 16 September and "Linton" ( Lintin on 20 October. She left Linton on 27 November and arrived at Whampoa on 2 December. Homeward bound, she crossed the Second Bar on 20 January 1815, reached St Helena on 19 April, and arrived at The Downs on 24 June.

EIC voyage #7 (1817–1818)

(7) 1816/7 China. Capt William Adamson sailed from The Downs on 5 March 1817, bound for China. ''Winchelsea'' reached Penang on 4 July and Malacca on 6 August, and arrived at Whampoa on 12 September. Homeward bound, she crossed the Second Bar on 29 November 1817. ''Winchelsea'' was sailing in company with . On 1 January 1818 ''Waterloo'' grounded in 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 ...

. They were still there 12 days later and informed a passing vessel that they intended to sail for the Cape. ''Winchelsea'' reached the Cape on 20 February 1818 and St Helena on 13 March, and arrived at The Downs on 11 May. When ''Winchelsea'' assisted ''Waterloo'', ''Winchelsea'' had taken aboard heavy goods worth £8,000 to lighten ''Waterloo'', and Captain Birch of ''Waterloo'' thanked Adamson for his assistance. On ''Winchelsea''s return to London, Moffat sued the EIC for salvage. The EIC argued that the two vessels had sailed in company for mutual assistance and that later ''Waterloo'' had assisted ''Winchelsee''. The court awarded ''Winchelsea'' £4000, of which £2000 went to Moffat, £500 went to Adamson, and £1500 went to the officers and crew in the same proportions as would apply to

prizes 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.

EIC voyage #8 (1820–1821)

Captain William Adamson sailed from The Downs on 15 March 1820, bound for St Helena and China. ''Winchelsea'' reached St Helena on 18 May and arrived at Whampoa on 10 October. Homeward bound, she crossed the Second Bar on 20 February 1821, reached St Helena on 13 May, and arrived at The Downs on 21 July.

EIC voyage #9 (1822–1823)

(9) 1821/2 Bengal. Captain William Adamson sailed from The Downs on 13 June 1822, bound for Bengal. ''Winchelsea'' arrived at

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 9 November. Homeward bound, she was at Saugor again on 29 January 1823. On 10 February she was at , when she experienced the effects of an earthquake. She was carrying 550 people, including the

17th Regiment of Foot 17 (seventeen) is the natural number following 16 and preceding 18. It is a prime number. 17 was described at MIT as "the least random number", according to the Jargon File. This is supposedly because, in a study where respondents were asked t ...

and detachments of the King's and company's soldiers.''Edinburgh Journal of Science'', Volumes 3-4, pp264-7. She reached St Helena on 3 April and arrived at The Downs on 24 May. Currently, ''Winchelsea''s whereabouts in the period 1824-25 are unknown.

EIC voyage #10 (1826–1827)

Captain Roger B. Everest sailed from The Downs on 18 July 1826, bound for China. ''Winchelsea'' arrived at Whampoa on 24 December. Homeward bound, she crossed the Second Bar on 11 February 1827, reached St Helena on 25 April, and arrived at The Downs on 3 June. Currently, ''Winchelsea''s whereabouts in the period 1827-31 are unknown.

EIC voyage #11 (1831–1832)

Captain Patrick Henry Burt (or Birt), sailed from The Downs on 7 May 1831, bound for China. ''Winchelsea'' became leaky and put into

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 10 May; she returned to The Downs on 8 June, and left again on 18 August. She arrived at Whampoa on 28 January 1832. Homeward bound, she crossed the Second Bar on 3 March, reached St Helena on 5 June, and arrived at The Downs on 6 August.

Fate

In 1834 ''Winchelsea'' was sold for breaking up, after having been laid up.

Notes

Citations

References

* * {{cite book , last=Hackman , first=Rowan , year=2001 , title=Ships of the East India Company , location=Gravesend, Kent , publisher=World Ship Society , isbn=0-905617-96-7 *Howard, Jacob Merritt, George Minot, Christopher Robinson, Thomas Edwards, Sir James Marriott, Sir George Hay, Jerome William Knapp, Edmund F Moore, John Dodson, Thomas Harman Acton, John Haggard, William Robinson (1853) "Waterloo, Birch" ''English Admiralty Reports: Reports of cases argued and determined in the High court of admiralty, commencing with the judgments of the Right Hon. Sir William Scott, Trinity term, 1811

1822 Events January–March * January 1 – The Greek Constitution of 1822 is adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus. * January 3 – The famous French explorer, Aimé Bonpland, is imprisoned in Paraguay on charges of espionage. ...

By John Dodson''. (Little, Brown). 1803 ships Age of Sail merchant ships of England Ships of the British East India Company