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HMS Calypso - Brig Sloop [Cruiser/Cruizer Class] (Royal Navy).
Built: 1804-1805 at Deptford.
Dimensions: length, 100 ft. [approx] breadth, 30 ft. 6 inches. Guns: 2 x 6 Pounders + 16 x Pounder Carronades. Crew: 121 men. Tonnage: 382 tons.
The Cruiser/Cruizer Class was the most numerous class of warships built in the age of sail. Served in the North Sea and the Baltic. The Calypso was eventually broken up in March 1821.
Lachlan Macquarie sailed on board H.M.S. Calypso from the Kronstadt [Russia] to Yarmouth [England] in September/October 1807, briefly visiting Copenhagen whilst in transit.
[Source: Winfield, Rif. British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817: design, construction, careers and fates. London: Chatham Publishing, 2005 p.292].

Candidate Bombay Country Ship
Built at Deman, in 1797, as 'country ship'. 700 tons.
Sank on 28 July 1804 during a voyage between Calcutta and Bombay - with no survivors. Dr. Colin Anderson, Lachlan Macquarie's close friend whom he had served with in the 77th Regiment, was amongst those lost on board.
[Sources: Bulley, A. Bombay Country Ships 1790-1833. p. 73; Grocott, T. Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary & Napoleonic Eras. p. 17; The Times (London) 19 March 1805].

HMS Centurion [Fourth Rate, 50 Gun] (Royal Navy).
Built by Barnard at Harwick; launched 22 May 1774. Two decks. Dimensions: length, 146 ft; breadth, 40 ft. 5"; 1044 tons. Guns: 22 x 24 Pounders; 22 x 12 Pounders; 6 x 6 Pounders. Crew: 350.
Served in North America and West Indies: 1775-1783; repaired at Woolwich 1784-1787; further duties in the Caribbean:1789-1793; East Indies and Indian Ocean 1793-1804; became a hospital and receiving ship at Halifax, Nova Scotia 1808-1817; hulked in 1817; sank at its moorings on 21 February 1824; raised and broken up in 1825.
The Centurion is mentioned by Macquarie on 17 January 1803 off the Indian coast near Cochin during his return voyage to Britain on board the East Indiaman Sir Edward Hughes.
[Source: Winfield, Rif. British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817: design, construction, careers and fates. London: Chatham Publishing, 2005 p.117].

HMS Chiffone - Frigate [Fifth Rate, 36 Gun] (Royal Navy).
Built as la Chiffone in a French dockyard at Nantes and launched on 31 August 1799.
Dimensions: length, 144 ft. [approx] breadth, 38 ft. [approx]; 921 tons. Guns: 26 x 12 Pounders; 4 x 9 Pounders; 12 x 32 Pounder Carronades; Crew: 264. Taken by Pomone off Mahe in the Seychelles on 19 August 1801; commissioned in 1802 in the East Indies under Capt. Henry Stuart. Fitted at Woolwich in 1803 and recommissioned for service in the North Sea and the coast of spain 1803-1807 sailed for the East Indies in May 1808 and returned to Portsmouth in 1811; eventually sold in 1814.
Mentioned by Macquarie in July 1802 as carrying despatches to Calcutta with the reports of the murder of the Persian ambassador Haji Khalil Khan in Bombay. [Source: Winfield, Rif. British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817: design, construction, careers and fates. London: Chatham Publishing, 2005 p.210].

City of London East Indiaman
Built by Randall & Co at Rotherhithe, London; launched in 1799. Three decks; length 146 ft, breadth 36 ft; 820 tons.
Six (6) voyages to India in the period 1799 - 1813: (1) May 1800 - October 1804 (Bengal & Madras); (2) January 1803 - October 1804 (St. Helena & Bengal); (3) April 1805 - July 1806 (Bombay); (4) March 1807 - August 1808 (Madras & Bengal); (5) April 1809 - October 1811 (Madras & Bengal); (6) April 1812 - August 1813 (Madras and Bengal). Commanded by Captain Samuel Landon (1775-) on the second and third voyages [in the period 1803-1806].
Lachlan Macquarie travelled on board the City of London on the third voyage from Britain to India: departed Portsmouth: 25 April 1805; arrived Bombay: 11 August; departed Bombay: 8 February 1806, returned via Tellicherry: 14 February; Quilon: 2 March; St Helena: 14 May; Long Reach: 22 July 1806.
[Source: Farrington, A.Catalogue of East India Company Ships' Journals and Logs 1600-1834. pp.125-126].

Comet (2) Steam Boat - Comet Steam Boat Company
Dimensions: Length, 81ft; 30 horse power engines.
The Comet (2) was built at James Lang's shipyard in Dumbarton 1821.
The ship was built and owned by the Comet Steam Boat Company and although Henry Bell [see below] had sold out his interest in the original Comet steamboat in 1820, he remained as Superintendent when the Company put the Comet (2) into service in 1822.

Lachlan Macquarie and his family travelled on the Comet (2) on 9-10 September 1822 from Rothsay to Oban via the Crinan Canal.

After the opening of the Caledonian Canal in 1822 the Comet (2) earned the honour of being the first vessel to complete the passage of the Canal between Inverness and Glasgow via Fort William. However, in the early morning darkness of 21 October, 1825, the Comet (2) was again on the West Highland run, carrying a boat-load of passengers from Inverness and Fort William to the Clyde. As the vessel rounded Kempock Point, between Gourock and the Cloch Lighthouse, she was struck by another steamboat, the Ayr. The collision was so violent that the Comet (2) sank instantly, killing 62 of the 80 passengers on board. The steam engine of Comet (2) is held in the Glasgow Museums' collection: it is currently on loan to the Scottish Maritime Museum and is on display at Clydebuilt, Braehead.

Additional Note: The first Comet (1) designed by Scottish engineer, Henry James Bell (1767-1830) was built in Port Glasgow and commenced its passenger service on the River Clyde between Glasgow and Greenock in August 1812. This was the first commercially successful steamboat service in Europe. It had two paddle wheels on each side, driven by engines rated at three horse power (or perhaps 4 hp.): at a later date the twin paddlewheels were replaced by a single paddlewheel on each side.

Comet (1) was carrying passengers from Fort William down the west cost to the Firth of Clyde on 20 December 1820 when strong winds drove it ashore on to rocks at Craignish Point near Oban. Although the vessel was wrecked all the passengers escaped without any loss of life. In 1862 the original engine of Comet (1) was located in a Glasgow factory and acquired as a national treasure, and it was relocated to the Science Museum, London. A replica of the Comet (made by shipyard apprentices) and a plaque commemorating the actual site of construction are situated in Port Glasgow town centre.

[Sources: Scotsman 26 October 1825; Osborne, Brian D. The Ingenious Mr. Bell: a life of Henry Bell (1767-1830) pioneer of steam navigation. Argyll Publishing, 2002 pp.169-172; 175-180; The Glasgow Directory, 1822; personal communications: Dr. Michael Nix (2007)].

HMS Coromandel - Storeship [Fourth Rate, 10 Gun] - Royal Navy
Originally built as the East Indiaman Cuvera at Calcutta in 1798.
Teak construction. Two decks. Dimensions: length, 168 ft. [approx], 37 ft. [approx]; 936 tons. Guns: (as a storeship) 2 x 9 pounders; 8 x 32 pounder carronnade. Crew: 150 [as a storeship].
Made one round trip to England in 1799; used as a troopship in India in 1801-1802; purchased from the East India Company by the Admiralty in May 1804 and renamed Malabar. Served in the West Indies in 1805-1806. Sailed to South America as a 20-gun storeship in June 1807, and eventually fitted as a storeship in July/August 1808, serving in the Mediterranean 1809-1815; in March 1815 renamed Coromandel; in 1819 fitted as a convict transport for a voyage to NSW. Arrived in Hobart Town on 12 March 1820 with 300 convicts and guard detachments of the 46th and 84th Regiments. Half this complement of prisoners and soldiers was left in Hobart Town and the remainder sailed on to Sydney, arriving on 5 April.
The Coromandel then proceeded to New Zealand to acquire timber spars for the Royal Navy and to undertake coastal survey work - named Coromandel in the North Island. The Coromandel returned to Sydney in June 1821 and departed again for Britain on 25 July 1821. Laid up at Portsmouth in December 1821 and converted as a receiving ship in 1827; thereafter used as a convict hulk in Bermuda from 1828-1853. Eventually broken up in 1853.
In addition to seeing the ship in Sydney in 1820-1821 Macquarie had also sailed to Egypt in convoy with the Coromandel in 1801 (at that stage named the Cuvera). At this stage the ship was in use as a hired troopship.
[Sources: Winfield, Rif. British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817: design, construction, careers and fates. London: Chatham Publishing, 2005 p.113; Lyon, D. The Sailing Navy List 1688-1860. p. 270; Cumpston. J. L. Shipping Arrivals & Departures Sydney, 1788-1825. Canberra: Roebuck, 1977 pp.121 and 127; Nicholson, I. H. Shipping Arrivals & Departures Tasmania 1803-1833. Canberra: Roebuck, 1983 p.59].

HMS Crown [Third Rate, 64 Gun] (Royal Navy).
Built by Perry at Blackwall, London; launched on 15 March 1782. Two decks. Dimensions: length, 126 ft. [approx] breadth, 35 ft. [approx]; 1387 tons. Guns: 26 x 24 Pounders; 26 x 18 Pounders; 12 x 9 Pounders. Crew: 220.
First commissioned in 1782; paid off and commissioned as a guardship 1784-1788 at Plymouth; fitted for foreign service in October - November 1788 and sailed for the East Indies and remained there until 1792. Thereafter became a guard ship at Plymouth; hulked in 1798 and served as a prison ship at Portsmouth; in 1802 became a powder hulk; 1806 fitted as a prison ship; broken up in 1816.
Macquarie refers to HMS Crown at Bombay on 15 November 1789; 14 January 1790; 26 February 1790; and its departure on 24 March 1790.
[Source: Lyon, D. The Sailing Navy List...1688-1860. p. 75; Winfield, Rif. British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817: design, construction, careers and fates. London: Chatham Publishing, 2005 p.102].

Cumberland East Indiaman
Built by Dudman & Co at Deptford, London; launched in 1802; 3 decks; length [approx] 165 ft., breadth [approx] 42 ft.; 1260 tons.
Seven (7) voyages to India and China in the period 1802-1817: (1) January 1803 - August 1804 (Cape, Madras & China); (2) April 1805 - September 1806 (Madras & China); (3) February 1807 - June 1808 (Madras & China); (4) February 1809 Ð August 1810 (Bombay & China); (5) February 1811 - May 1812 (Bombay & China); (6) March 1813 - August 1814 (China); and (7) January 1816 - May 1817 (Bombay & China). Commanded by Captain William Ward Farrer (1760-) on first three voyages between 1803-1808.
Part of 1805 convoy conveying Lachlan Macquarie to India.
[Source: Farrington, A. Catalogue of East India Company Ships' Journals and Logs 1600-1834. pp. 144-145].

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