| History | |
|---|---|
.svg) British East India Company | |
| Name | Cuvera |
| Namesake | Hindu god of wealth |
| Owner | Lambert, Ross, & Co. |
| Builder | Calcutta |
| Launched | 12 September 1798 |
| Fate | Sold 30 May 1804 |
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMSMalabar |
| Namesake | Malabar Coast |
| Acquired | 30 May 1804 |
| Renamed | HMSCoromandel on 7 March 1815 |
| Reclassified |
|
| Fate | Broken up in December 1853 |
| General characteristics[1] | |
| Class & type | 56-gunfourth rate |
| Tons burthen | 93556⁄94, or 93562⁄94[2] (bm) |
| Length |
|
| Beam | 37 ft 2 in (11.3 m) |
| Propulsion | Sails |
| Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
| Complement |
|
| Armament |
|
HMSMalabar was a 56-gunfourth rate of theRoyal Navy. She had previously been theEast IndiamanCuvera, launched atCalcutta in 1798. She made one voyage to London for the BritishEast India Company and on her return to India served as a transport and troopship to supportGeneral Baird's expedition to Egypt to help GeneralRalph Abercromby expel theFrench there. The Navy bought her in 1804 and converted her to a storeship in 1806. After being renamedHMSCoromandel she became aconvict ship and made a trip carrying convicts toVan Diemen's Land andNew South Wales in 1819. She spent the last 25 years of her career as areceiving ship for convicts in Bermuda before being broken up in 1853.
Malabar was originally built as the East IndiamanCuvera at Calcutta in 1798.[a] She was a two-decker vessel built ofteak fromPegue.[5]
Cuvera made one round trip to England and back under Captain John Lowe.Cuvera was at Calcutta on 19 November 1798. She left Calcutta on 12 January, and passedSaugor on 28 January 1799. She left Bengal on 10 February, and reachedSt Helena on 10 May.[4] She arrived at London on 26 July, with 2313 bales of cotton from Bengal.[6] She also carried one French officer who had been taken prisoner in theNizam's service in 1798. For this service she earned passage money ofRs 1,000.[7]
Because she sailed in wartime, i.e., during theFrench Revolutionary Wars, in England Captain John Lowe applied for and received aletter of marque, which was dated 5 December 1799.[3] Acquiring a letter of marque was usual practice for captains in the EIC's service as it authorised them to engage in offensive action against the French, or their allies, and not just defend themselves.Cuvera was admitted to the Registry of Great Britain on 27 November 1799.[2]
She left England on 15 February 1800 forthe Cape and Bengal,[6] carrying a cargo for the British government. When she left England she was in company withCarron,Scaleby Castle, andMinerva. She leftFort St George for Bengal on 4 September 1800.
TheEast India Company then chartered her out as a transport and troopship to support Baird's expedition to Egypt to help GeneralRalph Abercromby expel theFrench there. The charter forCuvera was Rs.14,000 per month.[8] Payments included Rs. 70,000 for five months from 31 December 1800 to April 1801, and Rs. 16,000 to Lowe in consideration of his ship "being diverted from its original destination to the Transport Service",[9] Rs 168,000 for 12 months charter from 31 March 1801,[10] and Rs. 94,987 for charter to 23 October 1802.[11]
On 23 May 1801, SirHome Popham drew 6,000 Spanish dollars for His Majesty's ships on the expedition from the treasury onCuvera, while she was in theJuddaroad.[12]
Lowe later also received £328 for
...sundry presents given to Johnnie Katcheef, of Keree, and Teregah Aga, at Cossire, to interest them in the safe conduct of dispatches sent to Commodore Sir Home Popham, K.M. Mr Melville, and establishment passing the desert, and for the protection of the bakers, &c. &c. working on shore, as well as to the sick landed at Cossire.[13]
Baird landed atKosseir (or Cossire), on the Egyptian side of the Red Sea. He then led his troops army across the desert toKena on theNile, and then toCairo. He arrived before thebattle of Alexandria in time for the final operations.[14]
GeneralArthur Wellesley had appointed Lowe agent for the transports at Rs 1000 per month. He received Rs. 9580 10annas 3pice for his service from January to 18 October 1802.[15]
The Admiralty purchasedCuvera from the East India Company on 30 May 1804 for £19,719 and renamed herMalabar.[1][b] Barnard & Co., of Deptford fitted her out in June to July 1804 before the Deptford Dockyard completed the work in December. She was commissioned in July 1804 under CaptainGeorge Byng.[1]
In 1805 she sailed for the West Indies under Captain Robert Hall.[1] On 2 January 1806 she and thebrig-sloopWolf, (orWolfe), Captain George Charles Mackenzie, captured the French privateer schoonersRégulateur andNapoléon in Port Azarades, Cuba. The port was protected by a double reef of rocks so Hall sent the master ofMalabar in a boat to find a passage. Once a passage was found, rather than go in to capture the vessels,Wolfe came in, but stopped about a quarter of a mile away. She then engaged the privateers for almost two hours until their crews abandoned their vessels, landed, and escaped into the woods. ThenWolfe andMalabar sent in their boats to take possession.[16]
Régulateur was armed with a brass 18-pounder and four 6-pounder guns, and had a crew of 80 men.[16]Napoléon was armed with a long 9-pounder gun, two 12-poundercarronades and two 4-pounder guns, and had a crew of 66 men.[16] The British captured only four men, one of whom was mortally wounded.Malabar lost one man drowned whenRégulateur sank while being towed out past the reefs; two prisoners also died at this time.Wolf lost two men killed and four wounded.[16] Later accounts give the name of the ship that sank asBrutus.[c]
Malabar sailed under Captain George Scott in March 1806 and then James Aycough in July.[1] From November 1806 to January 1807Malabar was in Woolwich being fitted as a 20-gun storeship. In November 1806 she was commissioned under Captain John Temple, and after fitting out sailed for the North Sea.[1]
At a court martial on boardGladiator at Portsmouth on 1 June 1807, Lieutenant Pennyman Stevenson ofMalabar was found guilty of neglect of duty and dismissed from the Navy.[18]Malabar sailed for theRiver Plate later that month.[19]
Malabar was commissioned in May 1808 under J. Henzell (Master).[1]Lloyd's List reported on 10 May 1808 that the Portuguese brigLegeiro had arrived at Portsmouth.Legeiro, Ramos, master, had been sailing from Bengal to Lisbon when the man-of-warMalabar had detained her.[20]
After again fitting out as a storeship in July–August 1808,Malabar was commissioned under F. Bradshaw (master) and served in the Mediterranean from 1809 to 1815.[1]
Still, on 19 December 1809 she sailed from Portsmouth as one of the escorts to the fleet of merchantmen sailing to the West Indies.[21] On 8 June 1810 she was at sea, serving as one of the escorts to the fleet returning from Jamaica.[22]
On 3 July 1815Malabar was renamedCoromandel.[1][d] She was again fitted between July and September 1818.[1]
Then between August and October 1819 she andDromedary were fitted as a convict transports for a voyage toNew South Wales.Coromandel also had a raft port cut into her side at Plymouth to enable her to take on lumber. This port would leak on her way out.[23]
Under the command of Captain James Downie, she arrived inHobart on 12 March 1820 with 300 convicts, as well as detachments of the46th and the84th Regiment of Foot. She left half of her complement of prisoners and soldiers in Hobart Town and the remainder sailed on to Sydney, arriving on 5 April.[24] At Sydney bothDromedary andCoromandel were fitted out to carry lumber. They then went their separate ways to New Zealand,Dromedary toWhangaroa andCoromandel to the riverThames.[23]
In New Zealand,Coromandel acquired timber spars for the Royal Navy and undertook coastal survey work.[25] She gave her name to the townCoromandel on the harbour where she stopped to purchasekauri wood for spars, and to theCoromandel Peninsula on which the town sits.Coromandel returned to Sydney in June 1821 and departed again for Britain on 25 July 1821.[26]
Coromandel was laid up at Portsmouth in December 1821.[1] She was converted to a receiving ship in June–July 1827. Thereafter she served as aprison hulk at theRoyal Naval Dockyard on the island ofIreland, in theImperial fortresscolony ofBermuda from 1828 until 1853.[e] On 12 September 1839, she was driven ashore and severely damaged in ahurricane atIreland Island, Bermuda. Damage was confined to her starboard side.[27]Coromandel was broken up in 1853 by Admiralty Order.
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This article includes data released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported UK: England & Wales Licence, by theNational Maritime Museum, as part of theWarship Histories project.
