Fortitude (1780 EIC ship)

For other ships with the same name, see Fortitude (ship) and Pitt (East Indiaman).

Pitt, near Dover returning from China 1787; National Maritime Museum, Greewich, and based on a painting by Dominic Serres, National Maritime Museum, Greewich
History
Great Britain
NameFortitude
OwnerJeffery Jackson[2]
BuilderWells, Deptford[2]
Launched1780[1]
Captured23 June 1782
French Navy EnsignFrance
Acquired1782 by capture
FateSold
Great Britain
NameFortitude
OwnerEast India Company
AcquiredBy purchase
FateSold 1785
Great Britain
NamesakeWilliam Pitt the Elder
Owner
  • EIC voyages 1-4: George Macartney Macaulay (1750-1803)[3]
  • EIC voyage 5: John Wells[3]
Acquired29 October 1785 by purchase
RenamedPitt (1785)
FateSold 1798
Great Britain
NamePitt
OwnerWildman & Co.
Acquired1798 by purchase
FateSold for breaking up 1801
General characteristics [4]
Tons burthen761,[5] or 775,[4] or 77568⁄94[2] (bm)
Length
  • 139 ft 4+1⁄2 in (42.5 m) (overall)
  • 111 ft 9 in (34.1 m) (keel)
Beam36 ft 1+1⁄2 in (11.0 m)
Depth of hold14 ft 9+1⁄2 in (4.5 m)
Complement
  • 1781: 110
  • 1793–1796: 70-80
Armament
  • 1781: 26 × 12&4-pounder guns
  • 1793: 24 × 9-pounder guns[5]
  • 1794: 12 × 6- & 4-pounder guns[5]
  • 1796: 12 × 6- & 4-pounder guns[5]

Fortitude was a merchant vessel built in 1780 on the River Thames. A French frigate captured her in 1782 while she was on the return leg of her maiden voyage to India as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). However, the British recaptured her in October 1782. The EIC purchased her and sent her back to England. There, in 1785, George Macartney Macauley purchased her and renamed her Pitt. She then performed five voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) between 1786 and 1798. In between, she made one journey transporting convicts from England to New South Wales. She was broken up in 1801.

  1. ^ Lloyd's Register (1787).
  2. ^ a b c Hackman (2001), p. 110.
  3. ^ a b British Library: Pitt (2).
  4. ^ a b British Library: Fortitude (1).
  5. ^ a b c d "Register of Letters of Marque against France 1793-1815"; p.81 Archived 9 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine