B

Benares: Sloop of War - Bombay Marine (HEIC)
Built in Bombay, launched in early 1807. 14 guns.
Employed in expeditions against Joasmi pirates in the Persian Gulf in 1809-1810 and in the capture of Mauritius (Ile de France] from the French in November 1810. In 1816 the Benares was on station at Macassar on the island of Celebes and took part in naval/military action against the local ruler, the Rajah of Boni. Between 1829-1834 the Benares assisted in a nautical survey of the Red Sea route to India, and the Maldives in 1834-1836, and the Chagos Archipelago in 1837.
Macquarie sailed on the Benares on her maiden voyage to the Persian Gulf in March 1807.
[Source: Low, C.R. The History of the Indian Navy 1613-1863. Vols. 1-2].

Blagonamerennyy (Loyal/Well-Intentioned): Russian Navy Sloop
Length: 36.5 metres; breadth: 9 metres; 530 tons. Guns: 20. Crew: 71.
Macquarie refers to it as: Blahonamerenoy.
Visited Port Jackson, NSW: 28 February [16 February] - 26 March [14 March] 1820. Commanded by Captain-Lieutenant Gleb Semenovich Shishmarev.
[Sources: Barratt, Glynn. The Russians at Port Jackson 1814-1822. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, 1981 p.20; personal communication: A. Massov (2006); argo.net.au/andre/OTKRYTIEenfin.htm]

HMS Blenheim [Third Rate, 74 Gun] - Royal Navy.
Built at Woolwich Dockyard; launched 5 July 1761. Originally three-decker, 90-gun Second Rate ship of the line, in 1801 cut down to Third Rate two-decker 74. Dimensions: length, 176 ft. breadth, 49 ft. 1821 tons. Crew: 750/650.
In 1805 bearing the Flag of Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Troubridge Bart.; foundered (presumed) during a gale in the Indian Ocean, off Rodriguez, in mid-February 1807 - no survivors, no trace.
Macquarie sailed in the fleet under convoy with the Blenheim to India in 1805.
[Sources: Lyon, D. The Sailing Navy List 1688-1860. p.63; Grocott, T. Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Eras. pp.233-235].

Bombay Castle - East Indiaman
Built by Randall, launched in 1792. Three decks; length: [approx.] 164 ft.; breadth: [approx.] 42 ft.; 1234 tons.
Six (6) voyages to India and China between 1793 and 1806: (1) January 1793 - August 1794 (Bombay & China); (2) May 1795 - July 1797 (Bombay & China); (3) February 1798 - August 1799 (Bombay & China); (4) May 1800 - December 1801 (China); (5) December 1802 - August 1804 (Bombay & China); (6) February 1805 - September 1806 (Bombay & China). Commanded by Captain Alexander Montgomerie (c1743-) on the first voyage in 1793-1794, and Captain John Hamilton (1764-) on the remaining five voyages between 1795 and 1806. It was Hamilton who was one of the captains at Bombay in 1796 who refused to offer Lachlan Macquarie a passage to China with his wife Jane at the time when her medical condition was becoming critical.
[Source: Farrington, A. Catalogue of East India Company Ships' Journals and Logs 1600-1834. pp. 69-70].

HMS Braave Frigate [32 Gun] - Royal Navy (ex Dutch Prize).
Launched in 1789 by P. Glavimans at Rotterdam as Prinses Frederika Louisa Wilhelmina, renamed Braave in 1795. Dimensions & tons: never measured. Guns: 26 x 12 Pounders; and possibly 6 x 6 Pounder Carronades.
Seized from the Dutch at Saldahana Bay on 17 August 1796 by the British fleet under Elphinstone, and commissioned at the Cape of Good Hope in December 1796 under Capt. Andrew Todd. Remained on the East India station. Commanded by Capt. Josias Rowley in September 1797; Capt. Thomas Alexander June 1799 -1801; Capt. Duncombe Pleydell Bouverie in April 1802, then Comdr. James Gifford in January 1803. Returned to Portsmouth in June 1803 and laid up. Paid off in 1804 and fitted as a receiving ship at Portsmouth in 1811. Eventually sold in July 1825. Macquarie refers to the Braave being at Trincomalee in 1799; later in Cape Town in 1803 he mentions the 'Braave Frigate' and describes her as a 40-Gun Frigate.
[Source: Winfield, Rif. British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817: design, construction, careers and fates. London: Chatham Publishing, 2005 p.210.]

Britannia Steam Boat
Built: Port Glasgow by John Hunter in1815; lengthened Port Glasgow in November 1820 by John Wood and James Barclay shipbuilders; 1 deck 1 mast.
Length: 93ft 4"; breadth: 16ft 5"; depth of hold: 8ft 8"; square stern, carvel built, 2 steam engines; female bust figurehead; 73 tons; Engines furnished by David Napier.
Master: David Wyse, numerous owners listed.
First steamer to sail to Londonderry; wrecked off Donaghadee on 12 October 1829.
The Macquaries sailed on board the Britannia from Campbeltown to Rothsay on 9 September 1822 on their return journey to Mull.
[Sources: Glasgow Shipping Register CE 59/11/2: Britannia registered No.3: 26/2/1821; Mitchell Library Clyde Built Ship Index; The Glasgow Directory, 1822; Glasgow Courier Oct.15 1829 'Loss of the Britannia Steamboat'; personal communications: Dr. Michael Nix [2007].]

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