HMS Ceylon taken by Vénus
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History | |
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UK | |
Name: | Bombay |
Namesake: | Bombay |
Builder: | Bombay Dockyard |
Launched: | 1793 |
Fate: | Sold to the Royal Navy in 1805 |
United Kingdom | |
Name: | HMS Bombay |
Acquired: | April 1805 |
Renamed: | HMS Ceylon, 1 July 1808 |
Fate: | Sold on 4 July 1857; broken up 1861 |
General characteristics | |
Type: | 38-gun frigate |
Tons burthen: | 639, or 671 83⁄94, or 693 (bm) |
Length: |
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Beam: | 34 ft 8 1⁄2 in (10.6 m) |
Depth of hold: | 11 ft 8 in (3.6 m) |
Complement: |
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Armament: |
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HCS Bombay, later HMS Bombay and HMS Ceylon, was a teak-built fifth rate, 38-gun wooden warship built in the Bombay Dockyard for the Honourable East India Company (HEIC) and launched in 1793. The Royal Navy purchased her in 1805 and renamed her HMS Bombay. She served with the Royal Navy under that name until 1 July 1808, when she became HMS Ceylon. She was sold at Malta in 1857 and broken up in 1861.
A newspaper announced on Saturday 7 December 1793 that a " 32-gun frigate The Bombay has been built by the Bombay Presidency for the Company’s service. It will be commanded by Capt Pruin." She was built in the Bombay Dockyard and fitted out by public subscription. "She is a testament to Indian carpentry skill." By1 April 1794 she was patrolling off Ceylon.
In July 1803 the HEIC appointed John Hayes captain. Taking his family aboard, he sailed her from Bombay to Calcutta, where they arrived on 11 August, and where his family established themselves. On the resumption of war with France the HEIC appointed Hayes commodore of a small squadron consisting of Bombay, Mornington (22 guns), Teignmouth (16), and the armed vessel Castlereagh (16), and charged him with protecting the trade routes in the Bay of Bengal and adjacent waters.
At some point, Hayes and Bombay sailed to Muckie, Sumatra, and captured the fort there. It had belonged to the HEIC, but had been lost due to the "treachery of the Malays". After three days of bombardment by Bombay and Castlereagh, Hayes landed at the head of a party of seamen and took the fort and adjacent batteries, which the British dismantled. They also took off 67 guns and a quantity of stores.
Admiral Sir Edward Pellew bought Bombay in April 1805. Captain Hayes apparently initially remained in command of Bombay when she came into the Royal Navy as he was listed as her captain in June 1805, but he then left her almost immediately. In April 1807 Captain William Jones Lye took command.
On 10 July 1807 she captured the French navy brig Jaseur some eight leagues off Little Andaman, after a chase of nine hours. Jaseur was armed with 12 guns and had a crew of 55 men under the command of a lieutenant de vaisseau. She had left Île de France on 15 April and had made no captures. The last distribution of the proceeds of the capture was made in August 1817.