Guide to the Logs held by the India Office Library (as filmed by the AJCP), 22 July 1759-06 June 1827

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Summary

Collection number:

M1620-M1627

Creator:

India Office Library

Extent:

35 items

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.

Citation items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.

Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)

Availability:

Not for loan

Access conditions:

Available for reference.

Background

Content Summary:

Logs of the following convict ships: Coromandel, Royal Admiral, Warren Hastings, Ganges, Sovereign, Bellona, Prince of Wales, Young William, Resolution, Warwick, Ceres, Minerva, Hercules, Canada, Nile, Minorca, Friendship, Duff, Barwell, Atlas I, Atlas II, Marquis of Wellington, Henry Porcher, Guilford, England, Alexander, Providence, William Pitt, Ocean, General Graham, Mary, Rolla, Perseus and Indefatigable.

Biographical / Historical:

The East India Company was formed in 1600 and its charter gave it a monopoly of all English (and later British) trade east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of Cape Horn. The monopoly began to be challenged in the late eighteenth century, for instance by whaling companies. In 1813 the Company's new charter limited the monopoly to the China trade. The Company ceased to be a trading organisation in 1833 and it was nationalised in 1858.

In the seventeenth century the Company sent about eight ships each year to India, the East Indies and later China. The number grew significantly in the eighteenth century. In 1787/88, for instance, there were 33 sailings, in 1807/8 there were 43 sailings, and in 1827/28 there were 38 sailings.

By the eighteenth century the East Indiamen were not owned by the Company but were built to specifications agreed on between the Company and the managing owners on the understanding they would be hired by the Company. A Principal Managing Owner represented the shareholders in their negotiations with the Company. The owners were responsible for providing the officers and crews. At the end of a voyage the commander of a ship would normally hand over a fair copy of his journal to East India House. After the Company was nationalised, the journals were transferred to the India Office Library.

The East India Company was unenthusiastic about the formation of a convict settlement at New South Wales. The British Government, in an effort to reduce costs, was keen to use East Indiamen to transport convicts to Botany Bay. At first, the Company was sometimes willing to charter convict ships on the return voyage. For example, three of the ships in the First Fleet, the Charlotte, Lady Penrhyn and Scarborough, were charted and sailed from Port Jackson to China in May 1788. (With one or two exceptions, journals that only cover the return voyages have not been filmed.) After about 1795, a growing number of East Indiamen were charted to bring convicts, free settlers, provisions and other goods to New South Wales (and occasionally Tasmania). After visiting Port Jackson, the ships invariably sailed to China or India where they loaded tea, textiles and other goods before returning to Britain.

Reference: Anthony Farrington. Catalogue of East India Company ships journals and logs 1600-1834 (London, British Library, 1999).

Explanatory note

The Downs is a roadstead in the southern North Sea, lying between the Dover Strait and the Thames Estuary, where ships sailing into or out of the Thames waited for favourable winds. Long Reach is a point near Gravesend, Kent, where East Indiamen traditionally stopped to lighten their loads before sailing up the Thames.

Whampoa, Second Bar and Lintin were anchorages on the Pearl River between Macao and Canton (Guangzhou) used by East Indiamen and other European vessels.

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:: Available for Access.
Conditions Governing Use:: Many of the records digitised as part of the AJCP are still in copyright. Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the owner of the original material.