G

Ganges East Indiaman
Built by Wells at Rotherhithe, London, launched in 1797. Three decks; length, 181 ft. 6 in.; breadth 43 ft. 7 in.; 1502 tons.
Four (4) voyages to India and China. between 1797 and 1807: (1) June 1797 - February 1799; (2) January 1800 - September 1802; (3) May 1803 - August 1804; and (4) April 1805 - [1807].
After departing from Bombay on 27 February 1807 the Ganges sprang a leak and sank almost due south of Cape Agulhas, South Africa on 30 May 1807. There were 209 persons on board - all of whom were taken on board the Indiaman Earl St. Vincent - not a single life was lost. Amongst those on board were some of the men of the 77th. Regiment, whom Lachlan Macquarie had farewelled from Bombay on 26-27 February 1807. These soldiers of the 77th. assisted in working the ship's pumps until it was clear that the vessel would founder and they were transferred to the Earl St. Vincent.
[Sources: Farrington, A. Catalogue of East India Company Ships' Journals and Logs 1600-1834. pp. 260-261; Grocott, T. Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Eras. pp. 238-239; and Naval Chronicle Vol. 18 pp. 216-218].

General Hewitt (also spelt Hewett)
Transport: 973 tons. Launched in Bengal in 1811. Arrived in Sydney from London on 7 February 1814 with 300 prisoners, a detachment of the 46th Regiment sent to replace the 73rd Regiment, and Captain John Piper [former NSW Corps officer]. The General Hewitt departed for Ceylon on 5 April 1814 with the main contingent of the regiment: 10 officers, 362 rank and file, 96 women and 163 children, including commanding officer, Lt. Col. Maurice O'Connell. Arrived in Colombo on 18 August 1814.

Governor Hunter, Colonial Schooner [35 tons].
Built by Isaac Nichols, Sydney; launched 17 January 1805. Stranded near Badger Island in the Furneaux Group, Bass Strait, on 1 April 1809; later refloated and returned to Sydney on 3 April 1810 (with 200 seal skins). Sighted by Governor Macquarie near Newcastle in January 1812. Lost at sea in July 1816, after having been sighted off Cape Howe returning from Kangaroo Island to Sydney, not seen again. The remains of the Governor Hunter were found years later in a lagoon 50 miles north of Port Stephens, NSW. The fate of the crew is unknown, but believed to have been killed by aborigines.
[Source: Stone, Peter. Encyclopedia of Australian Shipwrecks. Yarram: Vic.: Oceans Enterprises, 2006 pp.374-375].

HMS Grampus [Fourth Rate, 50 Gun] - Royal Navy
Built at Portsmouth Dockyard; launched 20 March 1802. (ex Tiger, renamed 4 March 1802). Two decks.
Dimensions: length, 151 ft. breadth, 41 ft; 114 tons. Guns: 22 x 24 Pounders; 22 x 12 Pounders; 6 x 6 Pounders; 6 x 24 Carronades. Crew: 350.
Sailed for the East Indies on 29 June 1803. From June 1806 under Captain Walter Bathurst, and October 1807 under Captain James Tait. Remained in East Indies until 1809. Repaired at Chatham and recommissioned in January 1810 and sailed in convoy to East Indies. On duty Spain, South America, North America, Leeward Islands between 1811-1813; returned to East Indies 1814-1815. Laid up at Woolwich and Deptford 1815-1816; troopship in 1817; fitted as a hospital ship in 1820 for the Committee for Distressed Seamen in the Thames. Returned to the Royal Navy in December 1831, and sold in 1832.
Macquarie mentions the arrival of the Grampus at Bombay on 10 February, escorting the Bombay fleet on its return from China.
[Source: Winfield, Rif. British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817: design, construction, careers and fates. London: Chatham Publishing, 2005 p.121; Macquarie, L. Journal February 1807].

Grappler Brig - Bombay Marine (HEIC).
12 guns.
The Grappler appears to have been the 150-ton brig built at Kiddapore Dockyards, Calcutta, by A. Wadell and launched in 1804.
Captured by the French frigate la Piemontaise on 31 August 1806 off the Malabar coast near Quilon. Among the passengers on board the Grappler were Lieut. G.W. Brande and Assistant-Surgeon William Thomas who were granted parole by their French captors and returned to Madras. They subsequently joined Lachlan Macquarie in Bombay and accompanied him on his 1807 overland journey to Britain through Iraq, Persia, Russia and the Baltic.
The Grappler was eventually recaptured from the French in September 1809 in a daring military/naval raid on the Ile de Bourbon (Reunion) from the nearby British-held island of Rodriguez. A force of approximately 400 men under the command of Lieut. Colonel Henry Sheehy Keating (56th Regiment of Foot) seized the port of St. Paul at Bourbon, destroyed its defences and recovered a number of British vessels, including the Grappler.

"The following French ships and vessels were captured or destroyed in the harbour of St. Paul, Isle of Bourbon, in September, by the British troops under Colonel Keating and the squadron commanded by Captain Josias Rowley (the senior Captain), namely, la Caroline 44 guns, Grappler brig 16, two East Indiamen, three small merchant vessels captured; three vessels destroyed, and one ship burnt on the stocks."

Details of the fate of the Grappler are currently unknown.
[Sources: Shipping and Ship Building in India 1736-1839: a checklist of ship names. London: India Office Records, 1995 p.36; Bombay Courier; Gentlemen's Magazine [1828] p.490].

HMS Greyhound Frigate [Fifth Rate, 32 Gun] - Royal Navy
Built by James Betts at Mistleythorn; launched 11 December 1783. Two decks. Dimensions: 103ft; breadth 35ft; 682 tons. Guns: 26 x 12 Pounders; 6 x 6 Pounders; 12 swivels. Crew: 220.
Between 1794-1797 served in the Channel and Irish Sea; Jamaica, 1798; Channel 1799-1804; sailed for East Indies on 25 April 1805 under the command of Captain Charles Elphinstone; took several 'prizes' in 1806 near Celebes; under the command of Commander Edward Troubridge assisted in the unsuccessful search for HMS Blenheim in April 1807 [the flagship of Troubridge's father, Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Troubridge (1758-1807)]; HMS Greyhound was wrecked off the coast the coast of Luzon in the Philippines on 4 October 1808, under the command of Captain William Pakenham. The survivors reached Manilla - only one seaman died.
Macquarie refers to HMS Greyhound on 25 April 1805 - as one of the escort vessels (with HMS Blenheim, 74) accompanying the fleet of 22 East Indiamen departing for India from Portsmouth. Macquarie was travelling on the City of London. After rounding the Cape of Good Hope the Greyhound was designated [on 12 July] as the escort vessel for the Bombay Division of the Fleet, consisting of the City of London, Earl Camden, Metcalfe and Retreat. The principal danger at this stage of the voyage was posed by French naval vessels and privateers operating from Ile de France (Mauritius). HMS Greyhound accompanied the Bombay-bound East Indiamen until 6 August - before sailing on direct for Madras.
[Sources: Winfield, Rif. British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817: design, construction, careers and fates. London: Chatham Publishing, 2005 p.195; Lyon, D. The Sailing Navy List... 1688-1860. p.84; Macquarie, L. Journal: 25 April; 27 April; 12 July; 6 August 1805; Grocott, T. Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Eras. pp.261-262; and the Times [London] 15 July 1809].

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