Exeter (1792 Indiaman)
| History | |
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.svg){kind=small} .svg){kind=small} United Kingdom
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| Name: | Exeter |
| Owner: |
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| Builder: | Perry, Blackwall |
| Launched: | 31 October 1792 |
| Fate: | Sold for breaking up 1811 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen: | 1265, 1,265 88⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: | 165 ft 7 in (50.5 m) (overall), 133 ft 10 1⁄4 in (40.8 m) (keel) |
| Beam: | 42 ft 2 in (12.9 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 17 ft 0 in (5.2 m) |
| Sail plan: | Full rigged ship |
| Complement: |
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| Armament: |
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Exeter was a three-decker East Indiaman built by Perry and launched in 1792. She made eight voyages to the East Indies for the East India Company (EIC). More unusually, on separate voyages she captured a French frigate and participated in the Battle of Pulo Aura. She was sold for breaking up in 1811.
East Indiamen traveled in convoys as much as they could. Frequently these convoys had as escorts vessels of the British Royal Navy, though generally not past India, or before on the return leg. Even so, the Indiamen were heavily armed so that they could dissuade Malay pirates and even large privateers. They were not designed, however, to fight naval ships as their ports were small and so the guns could only fire directly out. Furthermore, even the largest guns were smaller than those that naval vessels commonly carried. Still, from their appearance in the distance, or in the dark, it was possible to mistake them for ships of the line, as Exeter's own history proved. Like many other East Indiamen during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Exeter sailed under letters of marque. This gave her the right to capture enemy vessels, civilian and military, even when not engaging in self-defense. For her first six voyages her principal managing owner was Richard Lewin, who was a former commander for the EIC and a member of the United Company of merchants of England trading to the East-Indies. For her last two it was Andrew Timbrell. He too was a former commander for the EIC.
Captain Lestock Wilson sailed Exeter on her first voyage, this to Bombay and China. She sailed under a letter of marque issued on 1 March 1793. and left Portsmouth on 5 April. She reached Bombay on 10 August, and Whampoa, an island lying 12 miles east of Canton, on 3 January 1794. On the return leg she crossed Second Bar on 15 February, reaching St Helena on 18 June and the Downs on 7 September. Wilson’s Chief Mate on this voyage and the two after it was Henry Meriton, who would go on to command Exeter on her fourth through seventh voyages.
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