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{{other ships|Cornwallis (ship)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2017}}
{{Infobox ship
|section1={{Infobox ship/image
|image=
|image_caption=
}}

|section2={{Infobox ship/career
|hide_header=
|country=Great Britain
|flag={{shipboxflag|Kingdom of Great Britain|civil}}
|name=''Cornwallis''
|namesake=[[Earl Cornwallis]]
|ordered=
|builder=Surat{{efn|Three sources give the location as Surat.{{sfnp|Milburn|1813|p=237}}{{sfnp|Phipps|1840|p=170}}{{sfnp|Phipps|1840|p=173}}{{sfnp|Hackman|2001|pp=28-9}} Two sources give it as Daman or Demaun.<ref name=BL>[http://searcharchives.bl.uk/IAMS_VU2:IAMS045-001114782 British Library: ''Cornwallis''.]</ref><ref name=Report2>''Report and Papers...'' (1809), p.242.</ref> One source gives Bombay, but that source distinguishes only two locations, Bombay and Calcutta.{{sfnp|House of Commons|1814|p=626}} The shipping registers simply report "India".<ref name=LR1800/><ref name=RS1809/>}}
|owner=*Originally:Lennox & Co.{{sfnp|Hackman|2001|pp=28-9}}
* 1803 & 4:Nasserwanji Manockji{{sfnp|Bulley|2000|p=124}}
* 1809:Nasserwanjee Monackjee<ref name=Report2/>{{sfnp|Milburn|1813|p=237}}<ref name=BL/>
* 1813-1818:Nemchand Amichand{{sfnp|Bulley|2000|p=124}}
* 1819-1833:Motichand Armichand{{sfnp|Bulley|2000|p=124}}
* 1841:Khemchand Motichand<ref name=Bombay/>
|laid_down=
|launched=c.1789{{efn|Three sources give the year as 1788.<ref>''The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany ..., Volume 8'' (November 1819), "Comparative strengths of ships built in different parts of India", p.447.</ref><ref name=Bombay>''Bombay Calendar and Almanack'' (1841), p.59.</ref>{{sfnp|Hackman|2001|pp=28-9}} Two sources give it as 1789.<ref name=LR1800/><ref name=RS1809/> Three sources give it as 1790.{{sfnp|Milburn|1813|p=237}}{{sfnp|Phipps|1840|p=170}}{{sfnp|Phipps|1840|p=173}}<ref name=BL/>}}
|acquired=
|commissioned=
|decommissioned=
|in_service=
|out_of_service=
|renamed=
|struck=
|reinstated=
|honours=
|captured=
|fate=Burnt at Bombay Harbour June 1841
|notes=
}}

|section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics
|hide_header=
|header_caption=
|class=
|tons_burthen=653,{{sfnp|Milburn|1813|p=237}}{{sfnp|Phipps|1840|p=170}}<ref name=BL/> or 666,<ref name=Bombay/> or 667,{{sfnp|Phipps|1840|p=173}} or 716,<ref name=Report>''Report and Papers...'' (1809), p.238.</ref>{{sfnp|House of Commons|1814|p=626}} or 719<ref name=LR1800/><ref name=RS1809/>{{sfnp|Hackman|2001|pp=28-9}} ([[Builder's Old Measurement|bm]])
|length={{convert|123|ft|m|abbr=on}}{{sfnp|Hackman|2001|pp=28-9}}
|beam=
|draught=
|hold_depth=
|sail_plan=[[Full-rigged ship]]
|propulsion=
|complement=
|armament=22 guns
|notes=Teak-built
}}
}}
'''''Cornwallis''''' was built probably at [[Surat]] around 1789, or possibly [[Daman, India|Demaun]] in 1790. Her name was originally ''Britannia'', but it was changed to ''Cornwallis'' shortly before her completion.{{sfnp|Hackman|2001|pp=28-9}} She served for some years in India as a country ship, before transferring her registry to Britain in 1797. She then served in private trade between Britain and India until 1809 or so when she transferred her registry back to [[Mumbai|Bombay]]. Thereafter she served as a country ship, though in both 1810 and again in 1817 she performed a voyage to Britain for the British [[East India Company]]. Thereafter she apparently continued to serve as a country ship with homeport of [[Mumbai|Bombay]]. She burnt there in June 1841 as she was about to take a cargo of cotton to China.

==Career==
''Cornwallis'' was admitted to British Registry on 12 May 1797 as a private vessel employed in the trade between Britain and India.{{sfnp|House of Commons|1814|p=626}} On 24 June 1797 the cost of fitting her out in Britain was [[£sd|£]]7475 2[[shilling|s]] 10[[pence|d]].{{sfnp|House of Commons|1814|p=716}}

''Cornwallis'' entered ''Lloyd's Register'' in the supplemental pages to the 1800 volume. The entry notes that she had undergone a "good repair" in that year.<ref name=LR1800>[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015065522479?urlappend=%3Bseq=94 ''Lloyd's Register'' (1800), Seq. №C621.]</ref>

She served as a transport or troopship to support Major-General [[Sir David Baird, 1st Baronet|Sir David Baird]]'s expedition in 1800 to the Red Sea.{{sfnp|House of Commons|1814|p=654}} Baird was in command of the Indian army that was going to Egypt to help General [[Ralph Abercromby]] expel the [[France|French]] there. Baird landed at [[Al-Qusayr, Egypt|Kosseir]], on the Egyptian side of the Red Sea. He then led his troops army across the desert to [[Qena|Kena]] on the [[Nile]], and then to [[Cairo]]. He arrived in time for the [[Battle of Alexandria (1801)|battle of Alexandria]].

{{main|Transport vessels for the British expedition to the Red Sea (1801)}}

''Cornwallis'' underwent a second good repair in 1802. The cost of her repairs in 1802 was £11,273 7s 3d.{{sfnp|House of Commons|1814|p=616}}

'''[[Lloyd's Register]]'''
{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Master
! Owner
! Trade
! Notes
|-
| 1800
| Robertson
| Lennox & Co.
| London-India
| 719 tons (bm),<br> 22 guns
|-
| 1801
| Robertson
| Lennox & Co.
| London-India
| 719 tons (bm),<br> 22 guns
|-
| 1802
| Robertson<br>R. Elderton
| Lennox & Co.
| London-India
| 719 tons (bm)
|-
| 1803
| R. Elderton
| Lennox & Co.
| London-India
| 719 tons (bm)
|-
| 1804
| R. Elderton
| Lennox & Co.
| London-India
| 719 tons (bm)
|-
| 1805
| R. Elderton
| Lennox & Co.
| London-India
| 719 tons (bm)
|-
| 1806
| R. Elderton
| Lennox & Co.
| London-India
| 719 tons (bm)
|-
| 1807
| R. Elderton
| Lennox & Co.
| London-India
| 719 tons (bm)
|-
| 1808
| R. Elderton
| Lennox & Co.
| London-India
| 719 tons (bm)
|-
| 1809
| R. Elderton
| Lennox & Co.
| London-India
| 719 tons (bm)
|-
|}

Captain Robert Robertson died on 26 March 1802 as ''Cornwallis'' was sailing from India to England.{{sfnp|Bulley|2000|p=124}}

In 1806 and 1808 ''Cornwallis'' sailed to China.{{sfnp|Bulley|2000|p=124}}

The ''Register of Shipping'' for 1809 agrees with ''Lloyd's Register'' for 1809 in almost all particulars, but gives the name of ''Cornwallis''{{'}}s master as R. Eleston.<ref name=RS1809>[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015024495320?urlappend=%3Bseq=127 ''Register of Shipping'' (1809), Seq.№C689.]</ref>

''Cornwallis'' then disappears from the registers. She had shifted her registry to [[Mumbai|Bombay]], India. She appears on a list of ships belonging to or sailing out of Bombay as of 1 January 1811.{{sfnp|Milburn|1813|p=237}} At the time her owner was Nasserwanjee Monackjee.{{sfnp|Milburn|1813|p=237}}<ref name=BL/> Another source gives the name of her owner in 1811 as possibly Porcher & Co.{{sfnp|Bulley|2000|p=124}}

In 1810 ''Cornwallis'' made the first of two voyages for the EIC. She left Bombay on 17 June, reached [[St Helena]] on 3 September, and arrived at Long Reach on 16 November.<ref name=BL/>

She participated as one of the transports in the British [[Invasion of Java (1811)|reduction of Java]], under the auspices of [[Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto|Lord Minto]]. She was in the second division, which left Malacca on 7 June 1811.<ref>''Naval Chronicle'', Vol. 27, p.109.</ref>

{{main|Transport vessels for the British invasion of Java (1811)}}

She may have sailed to China either before or after her role in the invasion. During this period her master was Robert Graham.{{sfnp|Bulley|2000|p=124}}

On 25 August 1815 ''Cornwallis'', Graham, master, sailed for London from the [[Cape of Good Hope]]. On 30 September she sailed from St Helena. On 26 November she arrived at [[Gravesend, Kent]].

In 1813 the EIC had lost its monopoly on the trade between India and Britain. British ships were then free to sail to India or the Indian Ocean under a licence from the EIC.{{sfnp|Hackman|2001|p=247}} On 23 January 1816 her agents applied for a licence authorizing ''Cornwallis'' to trade between the United Kingdom and the East Indies. She received the licence on 24 January.{{sfnp|House of Commons|1816}} ''Cornwallis'', Graham, master, sailed from Gravesend 23 February 1816, bound for Bombay.

''Cornwallis'' also sailed to Bengal in 1816 from China.

Her second voyage for the EIC occurred in 1817. Captain Thomas Brown sailed ''Cornwallis'' from Calcutta on 25 March. She was at [[Diamond Harbour]] on 10 May, and [[Chennai|Madras]] on 10 July. She reached the [[Cape of Good Hope]] on 27 October, and arrived at Spithead on 17 January 1818.<ref name=BL/>

More voyages to China followed in 1818, 1822, 1825, 1826, and 1827 (two). Robert Graham was again her master until 1825, when D. Hardie replaced him. Hardie remained her master into 1829. P. Keys was ''Cornwallis''{{'}}s master between 1831 and 1833.{{sfnp|Bulley|2000|p=124}}

''Cornwallis'' was reported as still sailing out of Bombay in 1838,{{sfnp|Phipps|1840|p=173}} and in 1841. In 1841 the name of her master was James Clark.<ref name=Bombay/>

==Fate==
In June 1841 ''Cornwallis'' was in Bombay harbour with a cargo of cotton for China when she caught fire. There was "a strong impression that this fine old ship was willfully set on fire."<ref>"Ships burnt and destroyed" (November 1847) ''Nautical Magazine: A Journal of Papers on Subjects Connected with Maritime Affairs''. Vol.16, p.588.</ref>

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==Citations==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite book |last=Bulley |first=Anne |year=2000 |title=The Bombay Country Ships, 1790–1833 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0700712366}}
* {{cite book |last=Hackman |first=Rowan |date=2001 |title=Ships of the East India Company |location=Gravesend, Kent |publisher=World Ship Society |isbn=0-905617-96-7 }}
* {{cite book |author=((House of Commons, Parliament, Great Britain)) |year=1814 |title=Minutes of the Evidence Taken Before the Select Committee on Petitions Relating to East-India-Built Shipping |publisher=H.M. Stationery Office |ref={{SfnRef|House of Commons|1814}}}}
* {{cite book |author=((House of Commons, Parliament, Great Britain)) |year=1816 |title=Parliamentary Papers |volume=10 |ref={{SfnRef|House of Commons|1816}}|url=}}
* {{cite book |last=Milburn |first1=William |year=1813 |title=Oriental Commerce: Containing a Geographical Description of the Principal Places in the East Indies, China, and Japan, with Their Produce, Manufactures, and Trade |volume=1 |publisher=Black, Parry & Company}}
* {{cite book|last=Phipps|first=John |year=1840|title=A Collection of Papers Relative to Ship Building in India ...: Also a Register Comprehending All the Ships ... Built in India to the Present Time ...|publisher=Scott }}
* Anon. (1809) ''Reports and Papers on the Impolicy of Employing Indian Built Ships in the Trade of the East-India Company, and of Admitting Them to British Registry: With Observation on Its Injurious Consequences to the Landed and Shipping Interests, and to the Numerous Branches of Trade Dependent on the Building and Equipment of British-built Ships''. (Blacks and Parry).

{{1841 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cornwallis (1789 ship)}}
[[Category:1789 ships]]
[[Category:British ships built in India]]
[[Category:Ships of the British East India Company]]
[[Category:Age of Sail merchant ships]]
[[Category:Merchant ships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in June 1841]]
[[Category:Ship fires]]

Cornwallis (1789 ship) - Revision history

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