EAST INDIAMEN AND THE ROYAL NAVY
The East India Company’s progress was anything but a straight, easy
path. We must never forget that if it made big profits—and when
examined these figures, taken on an average, are not so colossal as
they seem at first sight—the risks and responsibilities were very far
from insignificant. Quite apart from the difficulties out in India, and
the absence of the invention of telegraphy thus making it difficult to
keep a complete control over the factors and trade; quite apart, too,
from the pressure which was harassing the Company from all sides—public
opinion which grudged this monopoly: shipowners who wanted to raise
the cost of hire: and Parliament which kept controlling the Company by
legislation—there were two other sources of worry which existed.
The first of these was the continued insults by the press-gangs,
and the consequent inconvenience to the East India Company and the
great danger to their ships and cargoes. The second worry was the
ever-present possibility during the long-drawn-out wars of losing
also ships and goods by attack from the enemy’s men-of-war. In both
respects the position was not easy of solution. On the one hand, it was
obvious that the Company’s trade was likely to be crippled; but, on
the other, the Government must come first in both matters. The navy was
in dire need of men. All that it had were not enough. Men who had been
convicted and sentenced for smuggling—some of the finest sailors in
the country—were shipped on board to fight for the land that gave them
birth. All sorts of rough characters were rounded up ashore and sent
afloat by the press-gangs, but even then the warships needed more.
Now the crews of these eighteenth-century East Indiamen were such
skilled seamen, so hardened to the work of a full-rigged ship, so
accustomed to fighting pirates, privateers and even the enemy’s
men-of-war, that it was no wonder the Admiralty in their dilemma
overstepped the bounds and shipped them whenever they could be got.
A favourite custom was to lie in wait for the homeward-bound East
Indiamen, and when these fine ships had dropped anchor off Portsmouth,
in the Downs, or even on their way up the Thames, they would be boarded
and relieved of some of their crew: to such an extent, sometimes, that
the ship could not be properly worked. I have carefully examined a
large number of original manuscripts which passed between the Admiralty
and the East India Company of the eighteenth century, and there runs
through the period a continuous vein of complaint from the latter to
the former, but there was very little remedy and the Company had to put
up with the nuisance.
On the 21st of December 1710, for instance, the Company’s secretary,
Thomas Woolley, sends a letter from the directors complaining to
the Admiralty of the press-gang actually invading East India House,
Leadenhall Street, one day during the same month, “on a pretence of
searching for seamen.” As a matter of fact the press-gang had come to
carry off the most capable of the Company’s crews, who happened to be
present at that time. Very strongly the Company wrote complaints to the
Admiralty that the press-gangs would board the East Indiamen lying off
Spithead (bound for London) and take out all the able-bodied seamen
they could lay their hands on. These men had to go whether they liked
it or not, and the Company’s officers were indignant but powerless.
But it added injury to insult that the press-gangs replaced the picked
men taken out by “such as have been either unskilful in their duty
or careless and refractory in the performance of it,” as one of the
letters remarks. The Company therefore begged that no man might be
taken out until the East Indiamen should arrive at their moorings, or
at least till they came into the London river: for, they pointed out,
the ships had very valuable cargoes on board, and this seizing of men
exposed them to very great danger, it being often impossible to replace
the men taken out.
[Illustration: THE PRESS GANG AT WORK.
(By courtesy of Messrs. T. H. Parker Brothers)]
When the Company’s ships at length reached the Thames, the directors
would often send down hoys to meet them and to bring the goods up to
London, where they could be placed on view in the warehouses to show
the buyers before the sale opened. But the naval authorities had given
the crews of these hoys such a fright that they refused to go even
down towards the mouth of the river, fearing that the press-warrants,
which were out, would be put into execution and they themselves would
be sent to serve in the warships. These hoys were fore-and-aft-rigged
vessels of about 40 or 50 tons, the crew consisting of a skipper and
two men. Such craft were sloops—that is to say, practically cutters,
the only difference being purely technical and legal—and were built for
the purpose of carrying passengers and goods from one place to another
along the coast or up estuaries, where ordinary lighters were not able
to be taken with convenience or safety. The Margate hoy, for instance,
was very well known to Londoners at this time.
But the need for naval seamen was so urgent, consequent on the wars,
that the Admiralty had to go to even further extremities. They actually
sent to sea a press smack with a naval officer on board, and this
craft would cruise up and down the English Channel. On one occasion
Captain Mawson of the Company’s ship _Cardonell_, homeward bound, was
followed all the way from Portsmouth to the Downs by such a smack. And
when the bigger ship brought up off Deal, Lieutenant Hutchinson, R.N.,
came aboard and used his best endeavours to take away every one of the
_Cardonell’s_ crew, with the exception only of the ship’s officers. The
skipper of the merchantman naturally resented this very strongly, but
offered to let Mr Hutchinson have most of his men provided the naval
officer would supply him with others to take their place so that the
ship might be safely brought to her moorings in the Thames. But it
was no good. Hutchinson absolutely declined to make a compromise, and
according to Mawson’s account behaved very rudely and, not content with
the able seamen, carried off also the _Cardonell’s_ second mate.
The only way in which this annoyance and danger could be overcome
was for the Admiralty to issue what were known as “protections.”
The holder of a protection was thus made immune from arrest by a
press-gang. It was a document which gave the name of the man, his
age, stature, stated whether he wore a wig or his own hair, and other
particulars of identification. No man with this authorisation could
be forced into his Majesty’s service, but it was valid only for three
months or the period written thereon. There is preserved an original
protection certificate in the archives of the Public Record Office, and
it is a quaint document which must have been very keenly appreciated by
its eighteenth-century owner. On the other hand, when the East India
Company had lost some of their seamen by desertion, they would petition
the Admiralty to allow naval men to be lent.
Every student of history is aware of the unfortunate friction which
existed at this time between the officers of the Royal Navy and the
officers of the Mercantile Marine. Happily in the present century this
slow-dying spirit is almost extinct. In my volume, “King’s Cutters
and Smugglers,” I showed what altercations used to arise, what petty
jealousies existed between the officers of the Revenue cutters and
those of his Majesty’s navy. The captains and officers of the East
India Company were often indebted to the protection and assistance of
naval officers, but the latter were often overbearing in the exercise
of their duties, and despised any seaman who was not in the King’s
navy. On the other hand, the East Indiamen’s officers most heartily
disliked these gentlemen, and the insults from the press-gangs were too
poignant to be forgotten easily.
As an instance, let us refer to the 14th of August 1734, when the East
India Company complained to the Admiralty of what seems certainly a
very high-handed action. It appears that the Company’s ship, the _Duke
of Lorrain_, had arrived in the Downs on the previous Sunday, and her
master, Captain Christopher Wilson, sent in a very indignant report
to the Court of Directors to the effect that “the men of war at the
Nore treated him more like an enemy than a Merchant Ship coming into
Port in such weather as he had, it being very bad, they firing near
Twenty Shott at his Ship, some of which came among the Rigging, might
have been of dangerous consequence to the Ship, and to the Company
who had a Cargo on board to the Value of Two hundred thousand Pounds.
This action being what the Company did not expect from any of the Men
of War, as the Captain of the _Duke of Lorrain_ has assured the Court
that he lowered his sails, and did what was safe to be done, they have
commanded me to signify the same to you,” continued the Company’s
letter to the Admiralty, “that so the Right Honourable the Lords of the
Admiralty may be inform’d thereof.”
But if the East India Company thought it necessary sometimes to
complain of the treatment at the hands of the Admiralty the former
were none the less glad to have the assistance and protection of the
navy in the time of war. There is a voluminous correspondence still
preserved in which the Company write to the Admiralty asking for
convoys of the East Indiamen both outward and inward bound. The French
were very much on the _qui vive_, but unless the regular income of the
East India Company were for the present to be stopped, and the entire
Anglo-Indian trade suspended, the Company’s ships must go on their way.
This could be done only with the assistance of his Majesty’s ships. In
order to deal with this matter there was a special department of the
Company designated the Secret Committee, which communicated with the
Admiralty as to where the East Indian merchant fleet were to rendezvous
and the convoy join them, the confidential signals to be employed, and
so on. The following letter sent by the Company to the Admiralty on
12th December 1740 is typical:—
“Secrett Committee of the United East India Company do humbly
represent to your Lordships That they do expect a considerable
fleet of ships richly laden will return from the East Indies the
next summer and do therefore earnestly beseech your Lordships That
three or four of His Majesty’s ships of good force may be appointed
to look out for and convoy them safe to England.”
These convoys took the East Indiamen sometimes even from the Thames
down Channel as far as Spithead. Sometimes they picked the latter
up only at the Downs, escorting them for several hundred miles away
from the English coast out into the Atlantic. These merchantmen were
similarly met at St Helena and escorted home, the men-of-war being
victualled for a period of two months. Even if an East Indiaman were
able to arrive singly and run into the Hamoaze (Plymouth Sound) on
her way home, having successfully eluded hostile ships roving off the
mouth of the English Channel, it was deemed advisable for her to wait
at Plymouth until she could be escorted by the next man-of-war bound
eastward to the Thames. There were plenty of French privateersmen
lurking about the Channel, and, at any rate about the year 1716, there
were also Swedish privateers on the prowl in the same sea ready to fall
upon any East Indiaman going in or out of the Downs.
One notorious Swede of this occupation was _La Providence_, of 26 guns.
She was commanded by Captain North Cross. The latter was an Englishman
who had been tried and sentenced to death for some crime, but he had
succeeded in making his escape from Newgate, and had fled the country.
He had crossed the North Sea and had obtained from Sweden letters of
marque to rove about as a privateer. His crew were a rough crowd of
desperate fellows of many nations, and this ship was very fond of lying
in Calais roads ready to get under way and slip across the English
Channel so soon as an outward-bound East Indiaman was known to be in
the Downs. Now, in the month of November 1717, the skipper of _La
Providence_ was lying in his usual roadstead, and tidings came to him
concerning one of the Company’s ships then in the Downs.
The privateer was kept fully informed by means of those fine seamen,
but doubtful characters, who lived at Deal. They were some of the
toughest and most determined men, who stopped at nothing. For
generations the men of Deal had been the most notorious smugglers of
the south-east corner of England: and that was saying a great deal.
They were a brave, fearless class of men, but brutal of nature and
always ready to get to windward of the law, if ever a chance presented
itself. They handled their open luggers with a wonderful dexterity, for
which their successors are even yet famous. But they were lawless to
their finger-tips. So on the present occasion when the East Indiaman
was in the Downs, one of these Deal men sailed his little craft across
the strong tides of Dover Straits and brought the information to the
privateer. The messenger asserted that the East Indiaman had nearly
£60,000 on board in cash, so Cross got under way, averring that he
would get this amount or “Loose his Life in the Attempt.” Whether he
succeeded in his attempt I regret I am unable to say. As far as was
practicable these East Indiamen were wont, in those strenuous times,
to wait for a convoy, but there were times when they could not afford
to wait till one of his Majesty’s ships was at liberty. On those
occasions the ships would wait till they numbered a small squadron,
and then voyaging together would resolve to run all risks. There is
on record the case of a French squadron consisting of a “64” and two
frigates arriving off the island of St Helena, where the East Indiamen
were wont to call. The Frenchmen had come here in order to fall upon
the homeward-bound fleet who would soon be seen. But the longboat[B]
of one of these merchantmen was fitted out, and under the command
of a midshipman succeeded in getting to windward of the Frenchmen
unperceived and was able to give the approaching English ships warning
of the danger that awaited them. Six of the Company’s fleet fell in
with the enemy and kept up a running fight for several days, until they
anchored in All Saints’ Bay. Here the French blockaded them, but it was
to no purpose, for these merchantmen succeeded in escaping and reaching
England in safety.
The Royal Navy assisted the Company’s ships in quite another manner as
well. Often enough after enduring heavy weather in the Bay of Biscay or
English Channel these East Indiamen would put into Plymouth and obtain
permission from the Admiralty to obtain from the latter’s stores a new
bowsprit, a new mast, or other spar, the Company of course paying for
the expense. The royal dockyard also on the Medway was similarly found
of great service, as, for instance, early in the eighteenth century,
when the Company’s ship _Hannover_ had the misfortune to run on to
a sandbank whilst going down the Thames to the Downs. The ship thus
suffered damage and was not in a fit condition to proceed to the East.
Permission was asked and obtained for her to be taken into Sheerness,
where the naval authorities could admit her into dry dock, warehouse
her cargo, supply materials and repair the injuries that had been made.
So also on another occasion, in September 1720, the East Indiaman
_Goodfellow_ was lying at Gravesend outward bound. It was discovered at
the last moment that unfortunately all the beer on board was spoilt,
and since there was no time “to detain her till more can be brew’d,”
the Company’s directors had to request the Admiralty victualling office
to furnish the ship with 12 tons of beer at the Company’s expense.
But the naval officials were not always so obliging as this. Towards
the end of the year 1721 the East Indiaman _Cæsar_, outward bound for
Mocha, had the misfortune to damage by friction one of her cables[C]
owing to the latter getting foul of the wreck of the _Carlisle_. Those
were the days when cables were still made of hemp, and were always
liable, except when special steps were taken, to injury when rubbing
along foul ground. As she lay in the Downs, the _Cæsar’s_ master,
Captain Mabbott, asked the naval storekeeper at Deal if he would spare
him a new cable in case another storm should spring up. Mabbott was
by no means pleased when the storekeeper replied very properly that
inasmuch as he had received no orders to oblige merchant ships in that
manner, he was not able to comply with the request. However matters
were eventually set right by the Company obtaining the Admiralty’s
permission.
A voyage in an East Indiaman of those days was often full of adventure.
After proceeding from the Downs the ship cleared the western mouth of
the English Channel and then steered “W and to WSW.” It took three
months to reach the Cape of Good Hope, and even then it was not too
far south to fall in with French men-of-war. After calling at Spithead
outward bound they were wont to sail through the Needles passage. The
seamen were probably better situated in these East Indiamen than in
any other merchant ship, but they were not allowed a soft time. They
were kept at it with setting and stowing of canvas, spreading stuns’ls
in fair weather or taking in upper canvas in heavy gales. There were
plenty of guns on board to be served, so drill formed no small part
of their duties. A seaman went on board with his sea-chest and his
bedding, and in those rough, hard-swearing days, long before ever the
sailor had his trade union, he was treated with no light hand. There is
an instance of the way slackness was wont to be punished on board the
East Indiaman _Greenwich_. This particular occurrence belongs to the
year 1719 and happened when the watch had been called. As some of the
men did not turn out as smartly as they ought, the boatswain took out
his knife and cut down their hammocks, to their great discomfort and
indignation. So infuriated in fact were the crew that they declined to
go on the next voyage until the boatswain had been discharged.
Some idea of the kind of vessels which the Company were hiring for
their service about the year 1730 may be gathered from the following
list, which has been taken direct from the original official documents:—
Name of Ship Commander Tons Men Guns
Devonshire Lawrence Prince 470 94 30
Prince Augustus Francis Gostlin 495 99 36
Lyell Charles Small 470 94 30
Princess of Wales Thomas Gilbert 460 92 30
Middlesex John Pelly 430 86 30
Mary Thomas Holden 490 98 34
Derby William Fitzhugh 480 96 32
London Robert Bootle 490 98 34
Dawsonne Francis Steward 480 96 32
Craggs Caleb Grantham 380 76 26
Bridgwater Edward Williamson 400 80 28
Prince William William Beresford 480 96 30
Lethieullier John Shepheard 470 94 30
Hartford Francis Nelly 460 92 30
Macclesfield Robert Hudson 450 90 30
Cæsar William Mabbott 440 88 30
Harrison Samuel Martin 460 92 30
Walpole Charles Boddam 495 99 32
Frances John Lawson 420 84 30
Duke of Cumberland Benjamin Braund 480 96 30
George George Pitt 480 96 30
Aislabie William Birch 400 80 26
Stretham George Westcott 470 94 30
Ockham William Jobson 480 96 30
It will be noticed that not one of these is really a big ship and that
while the average is somewhere between 400 and 500 tons, yet not one
exceeds 495 tons. The directors settled the size of ship required and
the owners saw that it was supplied. The size of the crews will be seen
to be very large, but this is explained not only because wages were low
in those days and safety was a dominating factor—allowing plenty of men
in each watch for handling sail—but because each ship carried about
thirty guns, and though both broadsides would not be fired at once, yet
even half those guns would necessitate a good number of the crew. At
various dates during the eighteenth century, when the country needed
ships, the Admiralty commissioned a number of these East Indiamen and
also gave commissions in the Royal Navy to their commanders.
Those were the days, too, when merchantmen frequently obtained letters
of marque for acting against the ships of a nation with which our
country was at war. During the year 1739 Britain declared war against
Spain, and so one comes across a document of that year in which the
directors of “The United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the
East Indies”—for this was the official style of the East India Company
at that time—petition for “Letters of Marque or General Reprizals
against Spain.” The request is made on behalf of their ship, _Royal
Guardian_, 490 tons, 98 men and 30 guns; and for other vessels of their
fleet. These were duly granted, and such stout, well-armed craft were
able to render an excellent account of themselves against the foe.
They were necessarily built of great strength, they carried so many
guns, their crews were such seasoned men, and their commanders such
determined fellows, that they formed really a most valuable reserve
to the Royal Navy. They were not individually a match for the biggest
of the enemy’s battleships, but none the less they were equal to any
frigate and of far greater utility to the King’s service than any
merchant liner would proportionately be to-day in the time of war.
FOOTNOTES:
[B] The longboat carried by these East Indiamen measured from
twenty-seven to twenty-nine feet in length.
[C] The East Indiamen of about the middle of the eighteenth century
rode to fifteen-inch cables.