Surat Castle (1788 ship)

For other ships with the same name, see Surat Castle (ship).

The East Indiaman Surat Castle, in two positions calling, for a pilot off Dover, 1790; Thomas Whitcombe
History
Great Britain
NamesakeSurat Castle
BuilderSurat,[1][2] or Bombay Dockyard[3]
Launched25 March 1788,[3] or 1789,[2] or 1790[1]
FateSold 1819
General characteristics 1796 measurement
Tons burthen963,[4] or 1000[2] (bm)
Length
  • Overall: 137 ft 11 in (42.0 m)
  • Keel: 107 ft 1 in (32.6 m)
Beam41 ft 0 in (12.5 m)
Depth of hold15 ft 3 in (4.6 m)
General characteristics 1806 measurement
Tons burthen1139,[5] or 1149,[6] or 114943⁄94,[3] or 114956⁄94 (bm)
Length
  • Overall: 157 ft 10 in (48.1 m)
  • Keel: 127 ft 0 in (38.7 m)
Beam41 ft 3 in (12.6 m)
Depth of hold15 ft 3 in (4.6 m)
Complement
Armament
  • 1791:12 guns[2]
  • 1796:26 × 6&9-pounder guns[5]
  • 1796:20 × 9-pondr + 6 × 6-pounder guns[7]
  • 1804:50 × 12&18-pounder guns[5]
  • 1807:36 × 18-pounder guns[5]

Surat Castle was launched at Surat in 1788 as a country ship, that is, a vessel that traded around and from India, staying east of the Cape of Good Hope. She originally was intended for the cotton trade with China. From 1796 to 1817 she made nine voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). She then made one more voyage under a license from the EIC. She made one more voyage to India, this time under a licence from the EIC and then disappeared from easily accessible online sources after her sale in 1819.

  1. ^ a b House of Commons (1814), p. 83.
  2. ^ a b c d e Bulley (2013), p. 131.
  3. ^ a b c Hackman (2001), pp. 197–198.
  4. ^ British Library: Surat Castle (1).
  5. ^ a b c d e f g "Letter of Marque, p.88 - Retrieved 25 July 2017" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  6. ^ British Library: Surat Castle (2).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference LR1797 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).