Martha (1796 ship)

History
Great Britain
Name	Martha
Owner	Peter Everitt Mestaer[1]
Builder	Peter Everitt Mestaer, King and Queen Dock, Rotherhithe[1]
Launched	5 July 1796[1]
Fate	Wrecked August 1797
General characteristics
Tons burthen	406,[2] or 40643⁄94,[1] or 428[3] (bm)
Length	113 ft 0 in (34.4 m) (overall); 91 ft 1+1⁄2 in (27.8 m) (keel)[2]
Beam	28 ft 11+1⁄2 in (8.8 m)[2]
Depth of hold	12 ft 3+1⁄2 in (3.7 m)[2]
Propulsion	Sail
Complement	30[3]
Armament	10 × 6-pounder guns[3]
Notes	Three decks

Martha was built in 1796. The British East India Company (EIC) chartered her for a voyage to Bengal.

Captain Thomas Barnard was sworn into the EIC's service on 29 June 1796.^[4] He then acquired a letter of marque on 15 August 1796.^[3] He sailed from Portsmouth on 25 October 1796. Martha was lost on the Gasper Sand, Hooghli River, on 10 August 1797.^[2] Five people died.^[1]

The EIC reported that it had no cargo aboard, and that Martha was lost "going on an expedition".^[5] This may have been the expedition that the British government had intended to mount against Manila in 1797–98. The EIC held several vessels in India to support the expedition.

• Hackman, Rowan (2001). Ships of the East India Company. Gravesend, Kent: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-96-7.
• Hardy, Horatio Charles (1811). A register of ships, employed in the service of the Honorable the United East India Company, from the year 1760 to 1810: with an appendix, containing a variety of particulars, and useful information interesting to those concerned with East India commerce. Black, Parry, and Kingsbury.
• 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.