HMS Tortoise, 1 Sept 1853
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History | |
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East India Company | |
Name | Sir Edward Hughes |
Namesake | Sir Edward Hughes |
Builder | Bombay Dockyard |
Launched | 22 March 1784, or 1788[1] |
Fate | Sold |
Great Britain | |
Name | HMS Sir Edward Hughes |
Renamed | HMS Tortoise |
Fate | Lost in 1859, or broken up in 1860 or 1863 |
General characteristics | |
Type | East Indiaman |
Tons burthen | 957,[1] or 95768⁄94,[3] or 960,[4] or 9625⁄94[2] (bm) |
Length | |
Beam | |
Depth of hold | |
Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
Complement |
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Armament |
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Notes | Three decks. Teak built. |
Sir Edward Hughes was launched in 1784 as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She spent four years as a country ship, i.e., sailing in the East Indies but without going to Britain. Then between 1788 and 1803 she made eight voyages to India and China for the EIC. In 1804 the EIC sold Sir Edward Hughes to the British Royal Navy, which commissioned her as a 38-gun frigate. The Navy renamed her Tortoise in 1807 and converted her to a storeship in 1808. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars she became variously a coal depot, a hulk, and then a convict transport. In 1844 she became a receiving ship at Ascension Island. She was lost there in 1859, or broken up there in 1860, or 1863.
Indian shipwrights built water tanks or cisterns into their vessels that made the use of water butts or casks unnecessary. These tanks were perfectly water tight and saved stowage and manual labour. However, in their designs, the shipwrights did not prioritize sailing speed.[5]
She was named after Admiral Sir Edward Hughes, the outgoing Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Station, who retired in 1784. Between 1784 and 1788, Sir Edward Hughes traded locally in India.[3] Thereafter she made nine voyages to China or India, with one to the West Indies under contract to the Navy in between the voyages for the EIC.
Captain Joseph Smith left Bombay on 21 August 1788. Sir Edward Hughes arrived at Whampoa anchorage on 14 October. Outward bound, she crossed the Second Bar on 26 December, reached St Helena on 19 March 1789, and arrived at the Downs on 17 May.[1]
Captain Robert Anderson left the Downs on 14 March 1790, reached Madras on 1 July and Penang on 15 August, before arriving at Whampoa on 4 October. Homeward-bound, Sir Edward Hughes crossed the Second Bar on 18 December, reached the Cape on 9 April 1791 and St Helena on 28 April, and arrived at the Downs on 28 June.[1]
Captain Anderson left Falmouth on 15 February 1792, reached Madras on 9 June, Penang on 29 July, and Malacca on 30 August. They arrived at Whampoa on 26 September. Homeward-bound, she crossed the Second Bar on 26 November, arrived at St Helena on 19 March 1793, and arrived at Portsmouth on 9 June.[1]
Captain Anderson received a letter of marque on 16 January 1794.[4] However, he did not sail Sir Edward Hughes again. Instead, Captain James Urmston received a letter of marque on 10 May.[4]
Under Urmston'a command, Sir Edward Hughes left Plymouth on 22 June 1794. She arrived at the Cape on 9 September and Bombay on 1 December. She left Tellicherry on 18 January 1795, reached St Helena on 18 March, and arrived at the Downs on 23 July.[1]
In 1796 Sir Edward Hughes sailed as part of Admiral Hugh Cloberry Christian's expedition to the West Indies. She carried hospital tents, bedding, and stores.[6][7] After numerous starts aborted by weather issues, the fleet sailed on 20 March to invade St Lucia, with troops under Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Abercromby. St Lucia surrendered to the British on 25 May.[8] The British went on to capture Saint Vincent and Grenada. Sir Edward Hughes returned to Britain in September 1796.[1]
See also: Transport vessels for the British expedition to the West Indies (1795) |
Captain Urmston and Sir Edward Hughes left Plymouth 22 February 1797. She reached the Cape on 4 May and arrived at Bombay on 4 July. She then sailed back and forth along the Malabar and Coromandel coasts. She visited Tellicherry (9 October), Cochin (18 October), Anjengo (24 October), Calicut (1 November), Tellicherry (14 November), Calicut (25 November), Cannanore (1 December), Tellicherry (7 December), Cannanore (16 December), and Tellicherry 28 December. She was at Bombay on 9 January 1798. (She had carried Major Lachlan Macquarie, Jonathan Duncan Governor of Bombay, and General Stuart from Calicut to Bombay. By 28 April she had reached the Cape, and by 26 May St Helena. She arrived at the Downs on 2 August.[1]
Urmston sailed Sir Edward Hughes from Portsmouth on 2 April 1799. She arrived at 23 Jul Bombay on 23 July. She was at Goa on 6 September, Managalore on 18 September, Calicut on 24 September, and Madras on 5 October. She reached the Cape on 30 December and St Helena on 27 January 1800, before arriving at the Downs on 30 May.[1]
Sir Edward Hughes left Portsmouth on 5 September 1800 and reached Madeira by 23 September. Sir Edward Hughes, Price William Henry, Basket, master, and Hawke, Baker, master, were reported to have been "all well" on 11 November at 28°11′S 27°23′W / 28.183°S 27.383°W.[9] She reached Madras on 29 January 1801. She then visited Masulipatam (23 March), Narsipore (25 March), Coninga (28 March), and Vizagapatam (31 March). She reached the Cape on 12 July and St Helena on 14 August. She arrived at the Downs on 31 October.
Captain Urmston was still in command of Sir Edward Hughes when she sailed from the Downs on 18 April 1802.[1] She was reported to have been "all well" on 5 May at 28°35′N 19°14′W / 28.583°N 19.233°W.[10] She reached Johanna on 9 August, and arrived at Bombay on 29 August. She visited Surat on 13 October but returned to Bombay by 22 October. She then visited Tellicherry (2 November), Cochin (12 November), Calicut (19 November), Mahé (24 November), Tellicherry (25 November), and Managalore (29 November), before returning to Bombay by 8 December. When she left Bombay she again carried Lachlan Macquarie, who was returning to Britain. Sir Edward Hughes was at Mahé on 13 January 1803 and Calicut two days later. She reached the Cape on 5 March and St Helena on 25 March, before arriving back at the Downs on 9 May.[1]
On her return to Britain, the EIC had Sir Edward Hughes fitted as a frigate. Captain Thomas Barrow received a letter of marque on 3 October 1803. This showed her as having doubled her armament and her complement relative to her service as an Indiaman.[4] Barrow sailed from Portsmouth 26 October 1803 with destination Madras and with the EIC intending her to remain in the Far East.[1]
On this voyage, she was reported to have been "all well" at 40°N 15°W / 40°N 15°W on 11 November.[11] On 19 June 1804 she sailed from Madras to Bombay to go into dock to fix leaks.[12] Still, on 12 July, she captured the French slaver Jeune Clementine at 4°18′S 64°0′E / 4.300°S 64.000°E. Jeune Clementine had a crew of 15 men and was carrying 180 slaves.[13]
The fate of Tortoise is a little unclear. The Admiralty issued an order on 18 October 1859 that she be broken up at Ascension Island.[2] However, in 1979 a Royal Navy team of divers searching the waters around Ascension Island for any trace of William Dampier's ship Roebuck, found a number of other wrecks. They identified three: HMS Maeander, lost in 1870; Normandie, an iron sailing ship of 1900, and Soudan, lost in 1892. They also found an older wreck that they speculated was Tortoise, which "broke away from its moorings in 1859".[34] Other reports have her being broken up at Ascension in 1860,[3] or 1863.[2]