Name Experiment Propulsion Sail Launched 1798 | Tons burthen 568, or 581 ⁄94 (bm) Complement 45 Builder Stockton-on-Tees | |
Owner Robert Wigram
1808 Barkworth & Co., Kingston upon Hull Armament 2 × 6-pounder guns + 12 × 18-pounder carronades | ||
Experiment was launched in 1798 at Stockton-on-Tees, England. In 1803 she transported convicts to Port Jackson. In 1805, on her way home the French captured her, but the British recaptured her. In 1808 she became a West Indiaman.
Contents
Convict voyage and capture (1803-1805)
Under the command of Francis J. Withers, Experiment sailed from Cowes, England on 4 December 1803. She sailed under a letter of marque issued to "Francis McWither" on 4 October 1803.
She left in company with Coromandel, which was also carrying convicts to Port Jackson. While sailing in the Bay of Biscay (or 16 leagues from the Isles of Scilly, Experiment sprang her bowsprit and had her main top gallant mast carried away, during a gale. She limped back to Cowes to repair the damage and after repairs were affected, she sailed again on 2 January 1804. She arrived at Rio de Janeiro on 8 March and left on 8 April. She arrived at Port Jackson on 12 June 1804.
Experiment embarked two male and 136 female convicts. Six female convicts died on the voyage.
Experiment left Port Jackson on 7 October bound for China.
While Experiment was homeward passage from China to London, carrying a cargo of tea, the French privateer Napoleon, of Saint-Malo captured her. Napoleon encountered Experiment on 27 May 1805 at 37°0′S 22°30′E and captured her after a 30-hour chase. Napoleon, which was under the command of Captain Malo le Nourville, was heavily armed. She had sixteen 32-pounder and four 18-pounder guns on the main deck, and two 36-pounder on 6-pounder guns on the upper deck. She also had a crew of 200 men. After an engagement of half-an-hour, Experiment had three men badly wounded, her tiller shot away, some 32 shot between wind and water, and two feet of water in her hold. Withers therefor struck her flag. Napoleon was four months out of False Bay and Experiment was her first prize. The French sent Withers, the surgeon, and the Fourth Officer to Île de France in Experiment. Napoleon then took the remaining officers and the purser to the Cape of Good Hope. There they were able to arrange for a cartel to take them to St Helena.
On 3 August 1805, HMS Calcutta, under the command of Captain Woodriff, left St Helena as escort of a motley convoy to England. The convoy consisted of the East India company's "extra-ship" Indus, from Madras, the southern whaler African from Desolation, the whaler Fox from the Mozambique channel, the whaler Grand Sachem from the Peruvian coast and bound to Milford, the Prussian ship Wilhelmina, which Calcutta had detained on her way out to St Helena, and the large Swedish ship Carolina, which was sailing from China and asked to join. The men from Experiment sailed on African.
On 26 September the convoy encountered Allemand's squadron. Woodriff succeeded in drawing the French away from the convoy, but at the cost of his ship, which the French captured.
Apparently the French eventually sent Experiment into Cape Town. There, the British retook her, as her captors did not know that the British had occupied the Cape.
Fate
In 1808 Barkworth & Co., Hull, purchased her for use as a West Indiaman. She first reappears in Lloyd's Register for 1809 with T. Forest, master, and trade London-Cuba.