Benjamin ORMAN (1784-1824)

East India Company captain and merchant.

Born 4 August 1784 in Dedham, Essex; second eldest son of James and Sarah Orman. He served in the East India Company Maritime Service between 1804-1811: 3rd mate on Union [1804/1805]; 2nd mate on Sarah Christiana [1806/1807 & 1808/1809]; and Surrey [1810/1811].

Orman first arrived in Sydney in April 1816 as master of the merchant vessel Mary with a cargo of merchandise from Calcutta. He returned in the same vessel in March 1817, and May 1819 with additional speculative merchant cargoes; returning to India each time via Batavia with colonial produce.

In March 1820 he arrived as captain of the brig Haldane with a cargo of sugar, tea and general merchandise, and returned with another cargo in December the same year. At this stage he was approached by Lieut. Phillip Parker King for permission to examine the seaworthiness of his vessel. King was completing a detailed survey of the Australian coastline for the British Admiralty, aimed at completing the task begun by Matthew Flinders during his circumnavigation of Australia in 1801. The Haldane had received extensive repairs in India in July 1820 and her soundness impressed King. As a result he approached Macquarie requesting that the Haldane be purchased on behalf of His Majesty's Government. After some initial hesitation Macquarie agreed to the request and the vessel was acquired on 24 January 1821 for the sum of £3000. The Haldane was renamed the Bathurst and King used her on his fourth and final survey in 1823. Orman and his crew found passage back to India on board the Elizabeth in February 1821.

He returned to Sydney in January 1822, now as captain of the John Bull, with a cargo of tea, sugar and spirits from Calcutta. After departing for Calcutta on 15 February 1822 the John Bull was back in Sydney under his command in December 1822 bound for Hobart. Orman was still master and owner of the John Bull in April 1823 when the vessel arrived in Sydney from the Derwent; however when it departed again for Port Dalrymple in July 1823 R. Thomkin was listed in command of the vessel.

Nine months later, on 1 March 1824, Orman passed away in Sydney. The Sydney Gazette recorded his death as occurring "after a long and painful illness, which he bore with fortitude and resignation." He was buried at St John's Cemetery, Parramatta. The inscription [partly destroyed] on his tomb reads:

Beneath are Deposited
the Remains of BENJAMIN ORMAN
Of Bramford in the
County of Suffolk
He was formerly of the
East India Companies Service
but for several years past
Commanded and Owned
-- Ship employed in the trade
between these Colonies and Bengal
He Died at Sydney
on the 1st
March MDCCCXXIV
Aged 40 years
---memory will be long cherished
--umerous circle of friends
--whom has erected this stone
As a last tribute to departed worth

Secondary Sources:
Cumpston, J.S. Shipping Arrivals and Departures Sydney, 1788-1825. Canberra, Roebuck, 1977. [Roebuck Society Publication No.22].

Dunn, Judith The Parramatta Cemeteries St John's. Parramatta: Parramatta & District Historical Society, 1991 p.150.

Farrington, Anthony A Biographical Index of East India Company Maritime Service Officers 1600-1834. London: The British Library, 1999 p.591.

Hordern, Marsden. King of the Australian Coast: the work of Phillip Parker King in the 'Mermaid' and 'Bathurst' 1817 - 1822. Melbourne, The Miegunyah Press, 1997.

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