Harleston (1811 ship)

UK merchant ship 1801–c.1825

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

History
United Kingdom
Name| Harleston
Owner|

* 1811-c.1813: Peter Everitt Mestaer[1]
* 1823: Davypersaud Ghose

Builder| Jabez Bayley, Ipswich[1]
Launched| 25 January 1811[1]
Fate| Still listed at Bengal in 1823; not listed in 1829
General characteristics [2]
Tons burthen| 528, or 5283⁄94,[1] or 537[3] (bm)
Length| 123 ft 6 in (37.6 m) (overall); 99 ft 0 in (30.2 m) (keel)
Beam| 31 ft 8 in (9.7 m)
Depth of hold| 18 ft 0 in (5.5 m)
Propulsion| Sail

Harleston was launched at Ipswich in 1811, for Peter E. Mestaer. She made one voyage under charter to the British East India Company. Around 1813, she apparently sailed for Bengal and then became a country ship in India; she was still listed in 1823, but was not listed in 1829

## EIC voyage

[edit]

Harleston first appears in the Register of Shipping and Lloyd's Register in 1812 in lists of vessels trading with India. Both give her origin as Liverpool, her owner as Mestear, and the date of sailing for Bengal as 21 June 1811.[4] In addition, Lloyd's Register gives the name of her master as T. Walker.[5]

Captain Thomas Walker sailed from Portsmouth on 21 June 1811, bound for Bengal.[2] Harleton reached Madeira on 2 July, and sailed from there on 5 July, together with William Pitt, Lord Forbes, and Lady Lushington, and under convoy of HMS Emerald.[6]

Harleston reached Calcutta on 2 November. Homeward bound (albeit indirectly), she was at Saugor on 2 January 1812, and then reached Bencoolen on 25 January. She reached Saint Helena on 12 May and arrived at the Downs on 23 July.[2][a]

## Subsequent career

[edit]

Harleston sailed out to Bengal to remain there as a country ship. In 1823 Harleston, of 537 tons (bm), and built in England, was under the command of D. Proudfoot. Her owner was Davypersaud Ghose.[3]

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Benjamin Heyne was a passenger aboard Harleston from Bengal back to London. He wrote ten "Letters from Sumatra", nine between 10 March and 12 April 1812, and a tenth from London on 28 September 1812. These letters provide a great deal of description of Bencoolen and Sumatra, and some commentary about life on the ship.[7]

## Citations

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d Hackman (2001), p. 122.
2. ^ a b c British Library: Harleston.
3. ^ a b India Office and Burma Office List (1823), p.144.
4. ^ Register of shipping (1812).
5. ^ Lloyd's Register (1812).
6. ^ Lloyd's List, n° 4593.
7. ^ Heyne (1814), pp. 367–400.

## References

[edit]

* Hackman, Rowan (2001). Ships of the East India Company. Gravesend, Kent: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-96-7.
* Heyne, Benjamin (1814). Tracts, Historical and Statistical, on India: With Journals of Several Tours Through Various Parts of the Peninsula: Also, an Account of Sumatra, in a Series of Letters. R. Baldwin and Black, Parry and Company.
* India Office and Burma Office List (1823). (H.M. Stationery Office)