Name Neptune Launched 12 April 1815 | Propulsion Sail | |
Owner InitiallyHook & Co.
1827 John Altham Cumberledge
1837 Thacker & Co., London
1839 Mangles & Co., London
1847 Gray & Co., London
1848 J. & F. Somes, London
1853 F.W. Green, London Builder Kyd & Co., Kidderpore, Calcutta Fate Sold for use as a hulk in 1860 Tons burthen 513, or 537, or 644 ⁄94 (bm) | ||
Neptune was a 644-ton merchant ship built at Calcutta, British India in 1815. Neptune was chartered for one voyage with the British East India Company (EIC). Later, she made two voyages transporting convicts from England to Australia.
Career
Neptune cost 150,000 rupees to build. In 1825 her owners sold Neptuneas a trader.
On her one voyage for the EIC she left Portsmouth on 6 July 1827 under the command of Captain John Altham Cumberlege, Jr., bound for Bengal. She reached Bombay on 26 October, Mangalore on 15 November, Saugor on 27 December, and arrived at Calcutta on 2 January 1828. On her return voyage she passed Kedgeree on 14 February, reached Madras on 3 March and St Helena on 18 May, and arrived at the Downs on 12 July.
On her first convict voyage, under the command of William Ferris and surgeon Joseph Steret, she departed Sheerness on the 7 October 1837 and arrived in Hobart on 18 January 1838. She transported 200 male convicts, three of whom died en route.
Neptune sailed from Cork, Ireland, on 26 October 1843, still under the command of William Ferris, and with 308 bounty emigrants aboard. She arrived in Sydney on 11 February 1844 and was placed in quarantine for three days on arrival due to smallpox. Ten people died during the voyage.
On her second convict voyage, under the command of John Henderson and with surgeon Thomas Gibson, she departed England in January 1850 and arrived in Hobart on 5 April 1850. She transported 300 male convicts, and disembarked 282 at Hobart.
In 1849 Neptune attempted to deliver 288 convicts to the Cape Colony to start a new penal settlement in South Africa. The free settlers already there vigorously opposed the idea and it was eventually abandoned.