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{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox ship
|section1={{Infobox ship/image
| image =
| image_caption =
}}

|section2={{Infobox ship/career
| hide_header=
| country= British East India Company
| flag=[[File:Flag of the British East India Company (1707).svg|60px]]
| name = ''Earl Fitzwilliam''
| namesake = [[Earl Fitzwilliam]]
| owner =*EIC voyages 1-4: James Farquharson
*EIC voyage 5: William Fraser
| operator =
| ordered =
| builder = Barnard, Deptford
| original_cost =
| laid_down =
| launched = 1786
| acquired =
| commissioned =
| decommissioned =
| in_service =
| out_of_service =
| renamed =
| captured =
| fate = Burnt 23 February 1799
| notes =
}}

|section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics
| hide_header =
| header_caption =
| class =
| tons_burthen=750,<ref name=LoM>{{cite web|url=http://www.1812privateers.org/Great%20Britain/marque1793-1815.pdf|title=Letter of Marque, p.60 - accessed 25 July 2017.|access-date=27 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161020052005/http://www.1812privateers.org/Great%20Britain/marque1793-1815.pdf|archive-date=20 October 2016|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> 803,<ref name=BL>[http://searcharchives.bl.uk/IAMS_VU2:IAMS045-001114903 British Library: ''Earl Fitzwilliam''.]</ref> or 803{{small|{{frac|34|94}}}}{{sfnp|Hackman|2001|pp=98–99}} ([[Builder's Old Measurement|bm]])
| length =*Overall:{{cvt|143|ft|6|in|m|1|abbr=on}}
*Keel:{{cvt|116|ft|0|in|m|1|abbr=on}}
| beam = {{cvt|36|ft|1|in|m|1|abbr=on}}
| draught =
| draft =
| hold_depth = {{cvt|14|ft|10|in|m|1|abbr=on}}
| propulsion =
| sail_plan =
| complement = 100
| armament = 26 × 9&4-pounder guns
| notes =
}}
}}

'''''Earl Fitzwilliam''''' was launched in 1786 at Deptford. She made four voyages for the British [[East India Company]] (EIC). She made four complete voyages for the EIC, three to India and one to India and China. She caught fire on 23 February 1799 on her fifth voyage while she was in the River Ganges.

==Career==

===1st EIC voyage (1787–1788)===
Captain James Dundas sailed from [[The Downs (ship anchorage)|the Downs]] on 18 February 1787, bound for [[Chennai|Madras]] and China. ''Earl Fitzwilliam'' was at Madeira on 12 March, reached Madras on 22 June, and arrived at [[Whampoa Anchorage]] on 4 October.<ref name=BL/>

On 2 December Captain William Greer of {{ship||Belvedere|1787 EIC ship|2}}, which had arrived at Canton a few days earlier, had a seaman put into chains. A few days later some 10 crewmen mutinied and threw their officers overboard. No one drowned. Captain James Dundas, the senior EIC captain at Canton, gathered men from the other Indiamen there, suppressed the mutiny, and incarcerated the mutineers on ''Earl Fitzwilliam''. A court of 16 EIC captains tried the mutineers on 15 December. Two were sentenced to 180 lashes around the fleet; the others were subject to a smaller number of lashes aboard ''Belvedere''.{{sfnp|Cotton|Fawcet|1949|pp=60–61}}

Homeward bound, ''Earl Fitzwilliam'' crossed the [[Pearl River (China)|Second Bar]] on 3 February 1788, reached [[Saint Helena|St Helena]] pm 20 May, and arrived at Long Reach on 15 July.<ref name=BL/>

===2nd EIC voyage (1790–1791)===
Captain Dundas sailed from Portsmouth on 14 March 1790, bound for Bengal and Madras. ''Earl Fitzwilliam'' was at Madeira on 5 April, and arrived at [[Diamond Harbour]] on 13 August. Homeward bound, she was at [[List of ports of call of the British East India Company#C|Cox's Island]] on 13 December, and Madras on 19 January 1791. She was at 'Broken Ground', Bengal, on 6 February, and Madras again on 9 April. She reached the [[Cape of Good Hope|Cape]] on 9 July and St Helena on 3 August, and arrived back at Long Reach on 9 October.

===3rd EIC voyage (1793–1794)===
[[French Revolutionary Wars|War with France]] broke out in early 1793. Captain James Tweedale acquired a [[letter of marque]] on 23 June 1793. He sailed from Portsmouth on 7 July 1793, bound for Bombay. ''Earl Fitzwilliam'' arrived at Bombay on 2 December. From there she sailed to Surat, arriving there on 21 December, and returned to Bombay on 31 December. Homeward bound, she was at [[Thalassery|Tellicherry]] on 16 March 1794, [[Kozhikode|Calicut]] on 31 March, and [[Kollam|Quilon]] on 10 April. She reached St Helena on 28 June and arrived back at Long Reach on 10 September.<ref name=BL/>

===4th EIC voyage (1795–1797)===
Captain Tweedale sailed from Portsmouth on 9 July 1795, bound for Madras and Bengal. ''Earl Fitzwilliam'' was at Rio de Janeiro on 7 September and reached Madras on 16 December. She arrived at [[Khejuri II#Khijri|Kedgeree]] on 20 February 1796. Homeward bound, she was at [[Sagar Island|Saugor]] on 10 May, Madras again on 2 July, and the Cape on 4 November. She reached St Helena on 5 December, and arrived at [[Purfleet]] on 18 February 1797.<ref name=BL/>

==Fate==
Captain Tweedale sailed from Torbay on 22 September 1797, bound for Bengal.<ref name=BL/> On 8 December she was at {{coord|26|00|N|20|30|W}} on her way to Bengal. She was in company with the [[whaler]] {{ship||Venus|1788 ship|2}}, which was on her way to the [[Whaling in the United Kingdom#The southern whale fishery|southern whale fishery]].<ref>{{cite news |title=The Marine List |work=Lloyd's List |issue=2977 |date=8 December 1797 |hdl=2027/uc1.c3049069?urlappend=%3Bseq=215 }}</ref>

A fire destroyed ''Earl Fitzwilliam'' on 23 February 1799 while she was in the [[Hooghly River]].<ref name=BL/><ref>''[[Lloyd's List]]'' [https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.c3049070?urlappend=%3Bseq=137 2 August 1799, №3087.]</ref> The fire began in the gun-room and quickly spread out of control. Crew threw anything floatable overboard and the [[lascars]] jumped into the river. The officers and Europeans gathered in the [[forecastle]]. As the fire consumed the ship, her guns, which were loaded, started to [[Cooking off|cook-off]], sending their shot everywhere. The men remaining on the vessel feared that she would explode too. {{ship||Nonsuch|1781 ship|2}} sent a boat, but she would not approach closer than {{cvt|600|ft|m|0}} to ''Earl Fitzwilliam''. A boat from {{ship||Thetis|1786 EIC ship|2}} came within an oar's length of ''Earl Fitzwilliam'' and hauled in as many crew members as it could. A midshipman from ''Thetis'', with two sailors, rowed back and forth between the wreck and the larger boats that were standing off, and kept up his shuttle service until all the men still on board were rescued. ''Earl Fitzwilliam'' drifted onto [[Sagar Island|Saugor Sand]] and continued burning until 4am. In all, one officer and five other Europeans died; the loss among the lascars was unknown, but was believed to be small. The EIC lost 6,500 sacks of saltpeter, and 600 bales [of cotton]. In addition Captain Tweedale and the officers lost their private trade.{{sfnp|France|1799|pp=625–626}} The EIC put the value of its cargo on ''Fitzwilliam'' at £46,250.{{Sfnp|House of Commons|1830|p=977}}

==Citations==
{{reflist|30em}}

==References==
* {{cite book |last1=Cotton |first1=Evan, Sir |first2=Charles |last2=Fawcet |year=1949 |title=East Indiamen: The East India Company's Maritime Service |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.174572 |location=London |publisher=Batchworth Press}}
* {{cite book |author=France |year=1799 |title=An Impartial History of the War, from the Commencement of the Revolution in France. Containing an accurate description of the sea engagements ... battles ... Including an account of the general mutiny ... at Spithead and the Nore. Together with a ... narrative of ... the rebellion in Ireland |location=Manchester |publisher=Sowler & Russell}}
* {{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}}
* {{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 |ref={{SfnRef|House of Commons|1830}}|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433077895047;view=1up;seq=232}}

{{1799 shipwrecks}}

[[Category:1786 ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in Deptford]]
[[Category:Age of Sail merchant ships of England]]
[[Category:Ships of the British East India Company]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1799]]
[[Category:Ship fires]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of India]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks in rivers]]

Earl Fitzwilliam (1786 EIC ship) - Revision history

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