Britannia (1806 EIC ship)

For other ships with the same name, see Britannia (ship).

History
United Kingdom
Name	Britannia
Owner	British East India Company[1]
Builder	Perry & Wells, Blackwall[1]
Launched	29 September 1806[1]
Fate	Wrecked 25 January 1809
General characteristics
Tons burthen	1200,[2] 1273,[3] or 127373⁄94,[1] or 1349,[4] (bm)
Length	165 ft 5+1⁄2 in (50.4 m) (overall)[3] 133 ft 7+1⁄2 in (40.7 m) (keel)[3]
Beam	42 ft 4 in (12.9 m)[3]
Depth of hold	17 ft 1 in (5.2 m)[3]
Complement	138[4]
Armament	38 x 9&18-pounder guns[4]

The wrecks of Britannia and Admiral Gardner, East Indiamen, on the Goodwin Sands, 24 January 1809

Britannia was launched in 1806 as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company. She made only one voyage for the company before a gale wrecked her in January 1809.

Captain Jonathan Birch received a letter of marque on 3 November 1806. He sailed Britannia from Portsmouth on 26 February 1807, bound for Bombay and China. He returned from that voyage on 1 July 1808.[3]

Birch and Britannia were in the Downs on 24 January 1809, prior to setting out on a second voyage to the east, this time to Madras and China.[3]

The next day, 25 January, a howling gale tore her from her moorings off Deal, Kent, and she wrecked on the Goodwin Sands off the South Foreland.[5] Seven of her crew drowned.[6] The EIC valued her cargo at £57,091;[7] the total loss, vessel plus cargo, was £117,820.[8]

The gale also wrecked the Indiaman Admiral Gardner and the brig Apollo. Only one man of Apollo's crew of 20 survived.[9] Boatmen from Deal were able to rescue almost the entire crew from Admiral Gardner. A few days later, Lloyd's List reported that all three wrecked vessels had gone to pieces.[10]

Citations

1. Hackman (2001), p. 72.
2. Cotton (1949), p. 137.
3. British Library: Britannia (9).
4. Letter of Marque, 1793–1815, p.54; Archived 9 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine
5. The Times (№7581). London. 28 January 1809. col D, p. 3.
6. The Tradesman, (1809), Vol. 2, p.271.
7. House of Commons (1830), p. 977.
8. Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany. (July 1816, Vol. 2, p.38.
9. Lloyd's List №4322.
10. Lloyd's List №4324.

Reference

• Cotton, Sir Evan (1949). Fawcet, Sir Charles (ed.). East Indiamen: The East India Company's Maritime Service. London: Batchworth Press.
• Hackman, Rowan (2001). Ships of the East India Company. Gravesend, Kent: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-96-7.
• House of Commons, Parliament, Great Britain (1830). 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. Vol. 2. Printed by order of the honourable court of directors, by J.L. Cox.