Name Ocean Type East Indiaman Launched 1800 | Fate Foundered 1811 Beam 42 ft 3 in (12.88 m) Builder London | |
Tons burthen 1200 (rated), 1273 (measured), 1337, 1337 ⁄94 (bm) Length 165 ft 11 ⁄2 in (50.584 m) (overall)
134 ft 1 ⁄8 in (40.9 m) (keel) | ||
Ocean was an East Indiaman, launched in 1800, that made four trips for the Honourable East India Company. She is most famous for her participation, in 1803, in the battle of Pulo Aura. She foundered in 1811 while on her fifth trip.
Career
Captain Andrew Patton sailed Ocean for Bombay and China. He had been captain of the company's previous Ocean, which had wrecked in 1797. Because the French Revolutionary Wars were still on going, Patton received a letter of marque, which was dated 10 December 1800.
Ocean left Portsmouth on 9 January 1801 and reached on 22 May. From there she sailed for China. She reached Whampoa on 6 October. On the return leg she crossed the Second Bar on 7 December. She arrived at Saint Helena on 12 April 1802, and The Downs on 10 June.
On Ocean's second voyage, Patton was again her captain and he left The Downs on 13 October 1802 for the Cape of Good Hope, Madras, Bombay and China. After the resumption of war with France in 1803, Patton posthumously received a new letter of marque dated 1 July 1803 for the same vessel, with a crew of 140 men and 36 guns. Patton died at Bombay in June 1803; Ocean's first lieutenant, John Christian Lochner, became captain and it was he that commanded her at the battle of Pulo Aura. Ocean reached Britain on 15 August 1804.
Captain John(s) James Williamson became captain of Ocean for this and her next two voyages. The change of captain required the issuing of a new letter of marque. This one was dated 17 December 1804.
On her third voyage she left Portsmouth on 8 March 1805, bound for Madras and China. She reached Madeira on 26 March, and Madras on 14 July. By 27 August she was at Penang, and then on 14 September she was at Malacca. She reached Whampoa on 22 December. On the return leg Ocean was "off Chumpee" (Chuenpee) in the Bocca Tigris, the estuary of the Pearl River, on 26 February 1806. She reached St Helena on 2 July, and The Downs on 3 September.
On Her fourth voyage, Ocean left Portsmouth on 5 March 1808, sailing for China. She reached the Cape of Good Hope on 31 May. From there she sailed to Madras, which she reached on 3 August. From there she sailed to Penang (22 August) and Malacca (3 September), before reaching Whampoa on 2 October. On the return leg she crossed the Second Bar on 2 February 1809. She reached St Helena on 7 July, and The Downs on 8 September.
Ocean was again under the command of Captain Williamson when she departed in January 1810 for St. Helena, Bencoolen, and China. Ocean apparently foundered off Puolo Sapate in 1811. Because she foundered, there is little further information.
The EIC valued the cargo lost on her at £21,202.