Earl Spencer (1795 EIC ship)
Sailing ship; East Indiaman
Earl Spencer was an East Indiaman, launched in 1795 for the British East India Company (EIC). She made seven voyages for the EIC until in 1811-12 the government took her up to transport convicts to Australia in 1813. On her return voyage from Australia she sailed via China, where she carried a cargo back to England for the EIC.
EIC voyages
As most of her voyages took place during wartime, Earl Spencer frequently sailed under a letter of marque that authorized her to engage in offensive actions against the French, not just defensive. When the vessel changed masters, a new letter was issued. The outbreak of war after a period of peace also required a new letter.
EIC voyage #1 (1795-96)
Captain Thomas Denton left The Downs on 26 September 1795, bound for Bengal. His letter of marque had been issued on 5 September. On 20 Feb 1796 Earl Spencer reached Kedgeree. Homeward bound, she was at Saugor on 3 April, reached False Bay on 12 August and the Cape on 4 September. She arrived at Crookhaven on 27 November and Long Reach on 16 December.
The public source identifies “Earl Spencer (1795 EIC ship)” as sailing ship; East Indiaman. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Earl, Spencer and ship.
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This entry incorporates text from “Earl Spencer (1795 EIC ship)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.