HCS Aurora (1809)

Mahratta grabs and gallivats attacking the sloop Aurora of the Bombay Marine
History
Great Britain
Name:	Aurora
Owner:	British East India Company
Operator:	Bombay Marine
Builder:	Bombay Dockyard
Launched:	1809
Fate:	Last listed 1828
General characteristics
Type:	Sloop
Tons burthen:	217 or 247 (bm)
Sail plan:	sloop
Armament:	14 guns

HCS Aurora, the Honourable East India Company's Ship Aurora, was a sloop-of-war launched at Bombay for the Bombay Marine, the naval arm of the British East India Company (EIC), to protect the trade in the Indian Ocean from pirates. The French captured her in late September 1810, only to have the British recapture her in early December. She returned to the service of the Bombay Marine, assisting the British Government and the Royal Navy in various campaigns in the East Indies and the Persian Gulf. She was still listed on the rolls of the Bombay Marine on 1 January 1828.

Aurora went into active service shortly after she was launched. Under the command of Lieutenant Conyers, she participated the Persian Gulf campaign of 1809. The Royal Navy and the EIC sent a large force to the Persian Gulf to force the Al Qasimi (or Joasmi) to cease their raids on British ships, particularly on the Persian and Arab coasts of the Straits of Hormuz. The operation's success was limited as British were unable to suppress permanently the strong fleets of the Al Qasimi of Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah.

Aurora, under the command of Lieutenant Watkins, left Bombay on 16 August 1810 on a cruise. Lloyd's List reported that the French frigates Iphigenia and Astree had captured Aurora, of 10 guns and 100 men, in October. French records reveal that Iphigénie, under Acting Captain Bouvet, and Astrée captured Aurora, of 16-guns, on 20 September 1810. Both reports agree that her captors took her to Île de France. The French Navy then took Aurora into service as the corvette Aurore.

The British recaptured Aurora, and several other EIC vessels, as a consequence of their successful invasion of Isle de France in November–December 1810.Aurora then returned to Bombay and the EIC's service.