HMS Malabar (1804)
| Career (UK) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Malabar |
| Builder: | Calcutta |
| Launched: | 12 September 1798 |
| Acquired: | 30 May 1804 |
| Renamed: |
Launched as Cuvera HMS Malabar in 1804 HMS Coromandel on 7 March 1815 |
| Reclassified: |
20-gun storeship in 1806 Convict ship in 1819 Receiving ship in 1828 |
| Fate: | Broken up in December 1853 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | 56-gun fourth rate |
| Tons burthen: | 935 56/94 bm |
| Length: |
168 ft 6 in (51.4 m) (overall) 127 ft 4 in (38.8 m) (keel) |
| Beam: | 37 ft 2 in (11.3 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Full rigged ship |
| Complement: | 150 as storeship |
| Armament: |
As fourth rate:
As storeship:
|
HMS Malabar was a 56-gun fourth rate of the Royal Navy. She had previously been the East Indiaman Cuvera, bought and converted by the Navy in 1804. She was converted to a storeship in 1806. After being renamed HMS Coromandel she became a convict ship and made a trip carrying convicts to New South Wales in 1819. She spent the last 25 years of her career as a receiving ship for convicts in Bermuda before being broken up in 1853.
East Indiaman
Malabar was originally built as the East Indiaman Cuvera at Calcutta in 1798. She was a teak-built two-decker.[1] Cuvera made one round trip to England in 1799. The East India Company then chartered her out as a troopship in India in 1801-1802.
The Admiralty purchased Cuvera from the East India Company in May 1804 and renamed her Malabar.[1][Note 1] Barnard & Co., of Deptford fitted her out in June to July 1804 before the Deptford Dockyard completed the work in December. She was commissioned in July 1804 under Captain George Byng.
In 1805 she sailed for the West Indies under Captain Robert Hall. On 2 January 1806 she and the brig-sloop Wolf captured the five-gun French privateer schooner Napoleon and the five-gun privateer schooner Regulateur off Port Azarades, Cuba. The Regulateur was so damaged that she sank. Malabar lost one man killed and Wolf lost two men killed and four wounded.
Malabar sailed under Captain George Scott in March 1806 and then James Aycough in July. From November 1806 to January 1807 she was in Woolwich being fitted as a 20-gun storeship. In November 1806 she was commissioned under Captain John Temple, and after fitting out, sailed for the North Sea.
At a court martial on board Gladiator at Portsmouth on 1 June 1807, Lieutenant Pennyman Stevenson of Malabar was found guilty of neglect of duty and dismissed from the Navy. Malabar sailed for the River Plate later that month.
After again fitting out as a storeship in July-August 1808, she served in the Mediterranean from 1809 to 1815 under F. Bradshaw (master).
HMS Coromandel
In March 1815 Malabar was renamed Coromandel. Then in 1819 she was fitted as a convict transport for a voyage to New South Wales. She arrived in Hobart on 12 March 1820 with 300 convicts and guard detachments of the 46th Regiment of Foot and the 84th Regiment of Foot. She left half of her complement of prisoners and soldier in Hobart.[2] Town and the remainder sailed on to Sydney, arriving on 5 April. Coromandel then proceeded to New Zealand to acquire timber spars for the Royal Navy and to undertake coastal survey work.
In New Zealand she gave her name to the town Coromandel on the harbour where she stopped to purchase kauri wood for spars and to the Coromandel Peninsula on which the town sits. Coromandel returned to Sydney in June 1821 and departed again for Britain on 25 July 1821.[3]
Prison hulk
Coromandel was laid up at Portsmouth in December 1821. She was converted to a receiving ship in June-July 1827. Thereafter she served as a prison hulk in Bermuda from 1828 until 1853.[Note 2] Coromandel was broken up in 1853 by Admiralty Order.
Notes
References
- Cumpston. J. L. (1977) Shipping Arrivals & Departures Sydney, 1788-1825. (Canberra: Roebuck).
- Lyon, D. The Sailing Navy List 1688-1860. p. 270;
- Nicholson, I. H. (1983) Shipping Arrivals & Departures Tasmania 1803-1833. (Canberra: Roebuck).
- Winfield, Rif. British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817: design, construction, careers and fates. London: Chatham Publishing, 2005.
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