Sir Edward Hughes (1784 EIC ship)

HMS Tortoise, 1 Sept 1853
History
East India Company
Name	Sir Edward Hughes
Namesake	Sir Edward Hughes
Builder	Bombay Dockyard
Launched	22 March 1784, or 1788[1]
Fate	Sold
Great Britain
Name	HMS Sir Edward Hughes
Renamed	HMS Tortoise
Fate	Lost in 1859, or broken up in 1860 or 1863
General characteristics
Type	East Indiaman
Tons burthen	957,[1] or 95768⁄94,[3] or 960,[4] or 9625⁄94[2] (bm)
Length	Overall 146 ft 8 in (44.7 m)[1] or 147 ft 2 in (44.9 m)[2] Keel: 116 ft 10+1⁄2 in (35.6 m)[1] or 118 ft 4+7⁄8 in (36.1 m)[2]
Beam	39 ft 3 in (12.0 m)[1] 39 ft 1 in (11.9 m)[2]
Depth of hold	14 ft 0 in (4.3 m)[1] 19 ft 4+1⁄2 in (5.9 m)[2]
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	1794: 99 1803:205[4] Storeship:90
Armament	1794: 26 × 9- & 4-pounder guns[4] 1803: 40 × 9- & 12- & 18-pounder guns[4] Frigate:38 guns Storeship: Upper deck: 20 × 9-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns Convict transport: 2 × 18-pounder carronades Ascension Island: 10 guns
Notes	Three decks. Teak built.

Sir Edward Hughes was launched in 1784 as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She spent four years as a country ship, i.e., sailing in the East Indies but without going to Britain. Then between 1788 and 1803 she made eight voyages to India and China for the EIC. In 1804 the EIC sold Sir Edward Hughes to the British Royal Navy, which commissioned her as a 38-gun frigate. The Navy renamed her Tortoise in 1807 and converted her to a storeship in 1808. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars she became variously a coal depot, a hulk, and then a convict transport. In 1844 she became a receiving ship at Ascension Island. She was lost there in 1859, or broken up there in 1860, or 1863.