General Baird (1801 ship)

See also: Transport vessels for the British expedition to Balambangan Island (1803)

History
United Kingdom
Name	General Baird
Namesake	Sir David Baird, 1st Baronet
Builder	Rangoon
Launched	1801,[1] or 1802[2]
Fate	Destroyed by fire 29 October 1803
General characteristics
Tons burthen	550,[2] or 650[3] (bm)

General Baird was built in Rangoon in 1801 or 1802 as a "country ship", that is, a British ship that traded east of the Cape of Good Hope. Her master was W. Fleming, and her owner Fairlie, Gilmore and Co.[2]

In 1803 Lord Wellesley, Governor-General of India, had decided upon the resettlement of Balambangan Island and instructed R. J. Farquhar, the British Resident at Amboina, to manage the expedition.[4]

The expedition sailed from Malacca on 29 August.

Farquhar reestablished the settlement at Balambangan by the end of September 1803.

A fire on 29 October 1803 destroyed General Baird, Captain Fleming, master, in the harbour at Balambangan. She caught fire and burned to the water's edge.[5][6][7]

Post script: The British burnt their fort and village and withdrew from Balambangan on 5 December 1806.

Citations

1. Phipps (1840), p. 179.
2. East-India register and directory (1803), p.97.
3. Phipps (1840), pp. 127 & 179.
4. Hall (1981), p. 540.
5. "India News". The Times. No. 6151. London. 13 October 1804. col C, p. 2.
6. "Ship News". The Morning Post. No. 11240. 13 October 1804.
7. Grocott (1997), p. 157.

References

• Grocott, Terence (1997). Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary & Napoleonic Eras. London: Chatham. ISBN 1861760302.
• Hall, D. G. E. (1981). A History of South-East Asia. Macmillan Press.
• Phipps, John (1840). A Collection of Papers Relative to Ship Building in India ...: Also a Register Comprehending All the Ships ... Built in India to the Present Time ... Scott.