The Royal Navy assisted the Company’s ships in quite another manner as well. Often enough after enduring heavy weather in the Bay of Biscay or English Channel these East Indiamen would put into Plymouth and obtain permission from the Admiralty to obtain from the latter’s stores a new bowsprit, a new mast, or other spar, the Company of course paying for the expense. The royal dockyard also on the Medway was similarly found of great service, as, for instance, early in the eighteenth century, when the Company’s ship Hannover had the misfortune to run on to a sandbank whilst going down the Thames to the Downs. The ship thus suffered damage and was not in a fit condition to proceed to the East. Permission was asked and obtained for her to be taken into Sheerness, where the naval authorities could admit her into dry dock, warehouse her cargo, supply materials and repair the injuries that had been made.
So also on another occasion, in September 1720, the East Indiaman Goodfellow was lying at Gravesend outward bound. It was discovered at the last moment that unfortunately all the beer on board was spoilt, and since there was no time “to detain her till more can be brew’d,” the Company’s directors had to request the Admiralty victualling office to furnish the ship with 12 tons of beer at the Company’s expense. But the naval officials were not always so obliging as this. Towards the end of the year 1721 the East Indiaman Cæsar, outward bound for Mocha, had the misfortune to damage by friction one of her cables[C] owing to the latter getting foul of the wreck of the Carlisle. Those were the days when cables were still made of hemp, and were always liable, except when special steps were taken, to injury when rubbing along foul ground. As she lay in the Downs, the Cæsar’s master, Captain Mabbott, asked the naval storekeeper at Deal if he would spare him a new cable in case another storm should spring up. Mabbott was by no means pleased when the storekeeper replied very properly that inasmuch as he had received no orders to oblige merchant ships in that manner, he was not able to comply with the request. However matters were eventually set right by the Company obtaining the Admiralty’s permission.
A voyage in an East Indiaman of those days was often full of adventure. After proceeding from the Downs the ship cleared the western mouth of the English Channel and then steered “W and to WSW.” It took three months to reach the Cape of Good Hope, and even then it was not too far south to fall in with French men-of-war. After calling at Spithead outward bound they were wont to sail through the Needles passage. The seamen were probably better situated in these East Indiamen than in any other merchant ship, but they were not allowed a soft time. They were kept at it with setting and stowing of canvas, spreading stuns’ls in fair weather or taking in upper canvas in heavy gales. There were plenty of guns on board to be served, so drill formed no small part of their duties. A seaman went on board with his sea-chest and his bedding, and in those rough, hard-swearing days, long before ever the sailor had his trade union, he was treated with no light hand. There is an instance of the way slackness was wont to be punished on board the East Indiaman Greenwich. This particular occurrence belongs to the year 1719 and happened when the watch had been called. As some of the men did not turn out as smartly as they ought, the boatswain took out his knife and cut down their hammocks, to their great discomfort and indignation. So infuriated in fact were the crew that they declined to go on the next voyage until the boatswain had been discharged.
Some idea of the kind of vessels which the Company were hiring for their service about the year 1730 may be gathered from the following list, which has been taken direct from the original official documents:—
| Name of Ship | Commander | Tons | Men | Guns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Devonshire | Lawrence Prince | 470 | 94 | 30 |
| Prince Augustus | Francis Gostlin | 495 | 99 | 36 |
| Lyell | Charles Small | 470 | 94 | 30 |
| Princess of Wales | Thomas Gilbert | 460 | 92 | 30 |
| Middlesex | John Pelly | 430 | 86 | 30 |
| Mary | Thomas Holden | 490 | 98 | 34 |
| Derby | William Fitzhugh | 480 | 96 | 32 |
| London | Robert Bootle | 490 | 98 | 34 |
| Dawsonne | Francis Steward | 480 | 96 | 32 |
| Craggs | Caleb Grantham | 380 | 76 | 26 |
| Bridgwater | Edward Williamson | 400 | 80 | 28 |
| Prince William | William Beresford | 480 | 96 | 30 |
| Lethieullier | John Shepheard | 470 | 94 | 30 |
| Hartford | Francis Nelly | 460 | 92 | 30 |
| Macclesfield | Robert Hudson | 450 | 90 | 30 |
| Cæsar | William Mabbott | 440 | 88 | 30 |
| Harrison | Samuel Martin | 460 | 92 | 30 |
| Walpole | Charles Boddam | 495 | 99 | 32 |
| Frances | John Lawson | 420 | 84 | 30 |
| Duke of Cumberland | Benjamin Braund | 480 | 96 | 30 |
| George | George Pitt | 480 | 96 | 30 |
| Aislabie | William Birch | 400 | 80 | 26 |
| Stretham | George Westcott | 470 | 94 | 30 |
| Ockham | William Jobson | 480 | 96 | 30 |
It will be noticed that not one of these is really a big ship and that while the average is somewhere between 400 and 500 tons, yet not one exceeds 495 tons. The directors settled the size of ship required and the owners saw that it was supplied. The size of the crews will be seen to be very large, but this is explained not only because wages were low in those days and safety was a dominating factor—allowing plenty of men in each watch for handling sail—but because each ship carried about thirty guns, and though both broadsides would not be fired at once, yet even half those guns would necessitate a good number of the crew. At various dates during the eighteenth century, when the country needed ships, the Admiralty commissioned a number of these East Indiamen and also gave commissions in the Royal Navy to their commanders.
Those were the days, too, when merchantmen frequently obtained letters of marque for acting against the ships of a nation with which our country was at war. During the year 1739 Britain declared war against Spain, and so one comes across a document of that year in which the directors of “The United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies”—for this was the official style of the East India Company at that time—petition for “Letters of Marque or General Reprizals against Spain.” The request is made on behalf of their ship, Royal Guardian, 490 tons, 98 men and 30 guns; and for other vessels of their fleet. These were duly granted, and such stout, well-armed craft were able to render an excellent account of themselves against the foe. They were necessarily built of great strength, they carried so many guns, their crews were such seasoned men, and their commanders such determined fellows, that they formed really a most valuable reserve to the Royal Navy. They were not individually a match for the biggest of the enemy’s battleships, but none the less they were equal to any frigate and of far greater utility to the King’s service than any merchant liner would proportionately be to-day in the time of war.