Calcutta, 1795
Type: Transport ; late 4th Rate ; late Indiaman ; Armament 50 (28 x long 18-pdrs on lower deck, ; 26 cannonades 32-pounders ; 2 x long 9-pdr on the upper deck)
Purchased for the Transport Service : 1795 ; Disposal date or year : 26 Sep 1805
Disposal Details : Captured by Magnanime, 74, a part of French squadron, near Scilly, Capt Daniel Woodriff.
Complement: 343
Notes:

May 1795 commissioned.

Feb 1796 paid off.

Jun 1796 commissioned as a transport.

19 Nov 1798, off Minorca, with the Leviathan, Centaur, Ulysses, Argo, Cormorant, Aurora, Peterell, and cutter Constitution, Lt. Whiston, in support of the Army during the capture of Minorca. See also the Naval Chronicle pp. 77-80 Vol. 1, 1799.

1 Jan 1799 Capt. R. Foulden. In the Mediterranean.

18 Jun 1799 Europa, Ulysses, and Calcutta, arrived at Lisbon from the Mediterranean. The Calcutta departed from the Tagus on the 23 Jun, with a regiment of Royals for Ireland.

22 Mar 1800 Portsmouth, departed the Calcutta, Ulysses, and Dover, with the guards, for Cork.

28 Apr 1800 Portsmouth, arrived with the Dover from Ireland.

17 May 1800 Portsmouth, arrived the Dragon and Calcutta troop ships in distress.

6 Jun 1800 Portsmouth, departed the Calcutta, with the Banffshire fencibles on board, for Gibraltar.

25 Sep 1800 Portsmouth, arrived with several transports from Guernsey.

Circa 11 Feb 1801 the Lady Arabella packet, Capt Portens, departed Barbadoes for Martinique where the Venus, Gait�, Arab and Calcutta were lying, she then proceeded to Dominica, where she found the Tamar and reportedly the Gait� again. The latter then accompanied her to Antigua, and in the process recaptured a schooner and sloop which had been taken by a French privateer, which had also captured an English letter of marque. The Leviathan was at Antigua, which sailed shortly after her arrival. She then departed for St. Kitt's where she found the Hornet, with the Southampton and Arab, the latter convoying the packet to Tortola, and sailed for England on 6 Mar, where she arrived on 3 Apr.

10 Mar 1801 at Martinique, in company with the sloop Cyane / Cayenne, her escort, en route from Dominique to Antigua.

5 Apr 1801 at St Thomas's the Southampton with the Coromandel, Arab and Calcutta.

10 Aug 1801 was observed passing Falmouth for the Eastward with the Amphitrite and a convoy.

18 Aug 1801 was observed passing Portsmouth for the Eastward with a convoy of 85 vessels from the Leeward Isles, a similar number of vessels having separated from the convoy in the chops of the Channel for Bristol and St George's Channel.

19 Aug 1801 arrived at Spithead the Calcutta and the Amphitrite from the West Indies, last from the Downs, with a convoy.

1 Sep 1801 is has been reported by the crew that the armed transport Calcutta was so leaky during the last passage, the crew, and the 200 French prisoners she was carrying, had great difficulty in keeping her afloat.

19 Nov 1801 went out of harbour to Spithead.

30 Dec 1801 departed Spithead the De Ruyter, armed en flute, Captain V. Ballard, and the Calcutta armed transport, Captain Anderson, with sealed orders. It it supposed they are bound to Madeira, to take the 1st Battalion of the 85th regiment from thence to Jamaica.

25 Apr 1802 arrived Spithead the Calcutta armed transport, Captain Anderson, with invalid sailors and soldiers from Jamaica.

9 May 1802 departed Spithead for Chatham.

11 May 1802 passed through the Downs from Spithead to Sheerness.

16 May 1802 arrived at Sheerness, to prepare to be paid off, and will depart for Chatham the first fair wind to be paid off.

21 May 1802 departed Sheerness for Chatham.

May 1802 - Feb 1803 fitted out at Chatham as a Convict Ship.

Circa 21 Nov 1802 Capt Woodriffe, late agent for transports, is appointed to the command of the Calcutta, fitting in the river, to receive convicts for Botany Bay.

7 Feb 1803 passed through the Downs to the Westward. Wind NE, with snow.

8 Feb 1803 having overshot her original destination of Spithead, due to the strength of the easterly wind, and arrived at Plymouth, she will return to Spithead when the wind changes direction accordingly.

11 Feb 1803 was manoeuvered into the Sound. A man fell from aloft and died. Verdict : accidental death.

13 Feb 1803 arrived Spithead, from the Downs, last from Plymouth, to take 130 convicts to Botany Bay.

10 Apr 1803 the Calcutta's Royal Marine contingent, for New South Wales, has embarked ; and Lt Col Collins, RM, who has been appointed Governor of the Colony, and also goes out in the Calcutta, has arrived at Portsmouth.

15 Apr 1803 her ship's company were paid an advance of wages previous to leaving England for Australia. She is flying the Blue Peter so is expected to depart shortly. She has on board 306 male convicts, besides 50 women, the wives of part of them. They are expected to be absent 3 years, as they are to form a new settlement at Port Philip, in the Bass Straits, where it is said there are no Europeans.

16 Apr 1803 Aaron Graham Esq., one of the magistrates for Westminster, has been here at Portsmouth several days selecting 200 convicts from the ships here, and superintending their removal to the Calcutta. The soldiers that mutinied at Gibraltar, condemned to death, and sent to England in the Cynthia, would appear to have received a reprieve, as they are also being put on board the Calcutta, although reading the report in the newspapers it appeared to result due to consuming too much alcohol, which, combined with the frustration of being cooped up in an Army barracks on an Island like Gibraltar....... Not that I don't like Gib., I love it, but when the border is closed I felt that it could get more than a bit claustrophobic, and that combined with too much alcohol can sometimes be a dangerous mixture if there is no outlet for these frustrations, and in those days men often seem to have been left to their own devices, rather than being kept occupied.

25 Apr 1803 departed Spithead the Calcutta, with the Ocean transport, with convicts and a detachment of Royal Marines, for Port Phillip, Oz. I take it that they're going to NSW first, before departing for Port Phillip ?

4 Mar 1804 newspapers of this date from Paramatta, NSW, report that prisoners at public labour and out settler men have been committing outrages and all the inhabitants, as well as the Army were under arms, supported by a detachment of men from the Calcutta. The Governor issued a Proclamation for Martial Law to be instituted. In summary, following a number of executions and floggings, and up to 30 men being returned to prison, things settled down over the next week and the Proclamation was repealed.

19 Mar 1804 departed Port Jackson for England with several persons transported in the first establishment of the colony.

18 Jun 1804 the Calcutta, Capt Woodriffe, on her passage back to England from NSW, fell in with the American ship Montezume, from Batavia, bound for Baltimore, the mate of which went on board the Calcutta and informed Capt Woodriffe that previous to the Montezume sailing from Batavia Adm Linois's squadron had arrived there to repair damages sustained in an action with the homeward bound China fleet, who had beat him off, and that a brig of the squadron had with great difficulty arrived at Batavia.

22 July 1804 arrived Spithead, from NSW.

Circa 28 Jul 1804 departed Spithead for Portsmouth harbour.

Circa 1 Sep 1804 Mr Stewart apptd surgeon of the Calcutta.

Circa 8 Dec 1804 Lieut Tuckey, of the Calcutta, and author of the recently publish book Voyage to New South Wales, apptd Governor of Prince of Wales Island.

May 1805 Portsmouth.

3 Aug 1805 departed from St. Helena with a convoy. 25 Sep sighted the Rochefort squadron. 26 Sep captured by the Rochefort squadron.