Barwell Details as recorded by the East India Company Ship Database (EIC Ship ID 841)

Built: 1782    Rig: Ship    Type: Reg    Tons: 797    EIC Service Period: 1782-1799    EIC Voyages: 7    

Crew: ?    Guns: ?    Shipbuilder: Wells    Where Built: London    Date of Launch: 23 Sep 1782

Dimensions & Construction: 3 decks, 4in bottom, length 145ft 7in, keel 118ft 4in, breadth 35ft 7in, hold 14ft 9in, wing transom 23ft 7¾in, port cell 26ft 4in, waist 1ft 2¾in, between decks 6ft & 6ft 5in, roundhouse 6ft 4in, ports 13 middle & upper

Ship History

1782    Launched by Wells at Deptford, London, for Sir Richard Neave

1782    Taken up for East India Company Service

1799    Left Est India Company Service

1804    Sold to Fletcher & Co., London

1804    Placed on a regular run to Lisbon

1811    Reported to have been run away with by her master, Captain John Poole

East India Company Voyages and Captains

Voyage    Started    Ended   Captain's Name

1            1783        1784    Robert Carr

2            1785        1786    Robert Carr

3            1787        1789    Thomas Welladvice

4            1790        1791    Thomas Welladvice

5            1793        1794    Thomas Welladvice

6            1795        1796    Thomas Welladvice

7            1797        1799    John Cameron

Ship Owners

• Richard Neave 1782-1804
• Fletcher & Co 1804-

Bibliographic Sources

• Anthony J farrington, Catalogue of East India Company Ships' Journals and Logs 1600-1834 (1999, British Library, 0712346465) pp.48-49
• Rowan Hackman, Ships of the East India Company (2001, World Ship Society, 0905617967) p.65
• Jean Sutton, Lords of the East: The east India Company and its Ships 1600-1874 (2000, Conway Maritime Press, 0851777864) p.153

Source: East India Company Ships (Ship Barwell) https://www.eicships.info/ships/shipdetail.asp?sid=841

 

Source: Jen Willetts Site (Convict Ship Barwell 1798) https://www.jenwilletts.com/convict_ship_barwell_1798.htm

Wikipedia Entry: Barwell (built 1782)

The Barwell was a 796 ton merchantman and convict ship that was dispatched in 1797 from England to Australia.

Launched on 23 September 1782 from the yard of John & William Wells, Deptford. She was employed for the services of the East India Company between 1782 and 1799.^[1]

Under the command of John Cameron, she sailed from Portsmouth, England on 7 November 1797, with 296 male convicts. While sailing to Australia, a mutiny on board the ship was put down. She arrived at Port Jackson on 18 May 1798. Nine convicts died on the voyage. Barwell left Port Jackson on 17 August bound for China.

Barwell was sold to Fletcher & Company, London in 1804 and plyed the Lisbon run. She was reportedly stolen by her master, Captain John Poole in 1811. 

Source: Wikipedia Entry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barwell_(1782)

Notes: ^[1] ^ "Barwell". East India Company Ships. Retrieved 3 February 2012.

References: Bateson, Charles, The Convict Ships, 1787-1868, Sydney, 1974. ISBN 0-85174-195-9

 A Pencil and Watercolour Drawing of the BARWELL was sold at Christie's Auctions in New York in 1986

This image is not available online at this stage. We are trying to locate the original's current whereabouts or perhaps locate an image of the the drawing.

Title: HMS BARWELL firing a salute and other men-o-war off a rocky coast

Creator: Dominic Serres, (1722—1793) British, French

Date Created: 1783

Details of last known Sale: Lot 230 - Christie's, New York (February 26, 1986) 

Purchase Price: $ 1,100 USD (£ 738 GBP)

Original Currency of Sale: $ 1,100 USD Hammer

Materials: pencil and watercolor laid on canvas

Measurements: 14.00 in. (35.56 cm.) (height) by 21.00 in. (53.34 cm.) (width)

Description: s.d.1783 pencil W/C

Markings: signed, dated

Source: Blouin Art Sales Index https://artsalesindex.artinfo.com/asi/lots/1331490

Source: Artnet https://www.artnet.com/artists/dominic-serres/h-m-s-barwell-firing-a-salute-and-other-men-o-war-K6z6NDf7APT41aqgDMJ8Fg2

Biography: Dominic Serres (1722-1793)

Dominic Serres (born in 1719 in Auch in Gascony, died in 1793 in Marylebone (London)), also known as Dominic Serres the Elder, a painter was strongly associated with the English school of painting, and more particularly to naval or maritime themes. Its links with the world of English art were such that he became a founding member of the Royal Academy in 17681, and then was briefly a librarian (from 1792 until his death). His family hoped he would become a priest but he preferred to travel to Spain, became captain of the ship and sailed to Cuba. He was taken prisoner by the British Navy in the late 1740s. Presumably he moved to London around 1758 to undergo training as a painter in Northamptonshire, and later in London under Charles Brooking. Most of his paintings are related to the maritime world. Working for a publisher, he documented the events of the Seven Years War (1756-1763). He painted a series of tables with decision-Belle-Ile (1761) and the taking of Havana (1762). He also painted the events of the American War of Independence (1776-1783). In 1780 he was appointed painter to the Navy by King George III. Greenhouses was buried in the old church of St. Marylebone. His eldest son John Thomas Serres (1759-1825) also became a prolific artist of the marine world.

Source: Budapest Auction https://budapestauction.com/dominic-serres/painter

 

The Original Designs for the BARWELL are held at The BRITISH MUSEUM

This image is not available online at this stage, as the original documents have not been photographed. A Restricted Distribution or Usage Rights License is also required.

Object type: Drawing

Barwell Research posted on World Ship Society Forum Page by Chris Hughes 

2013-005.  I wonder if you could help us please?

I have been helping a friend with his family research, and we have established that he had a relative that was sent to Australia (Port Jackson, Sydney) as part of his sentence. 'Richard Haycocks' at 18 years of age was sentenced to hang for stealing 1 ewe and 1 lambs - this was commuted to transportation.
 
We have established that he went on 'The Barwell' which sailed for NSW in 1797. The following is all we have established so far:-
'We have also ascertained that The Barwell was a three decked, three masted East Indianman fast sailer built at Deptford in 1782 for Mr Richard Neave.

The Barwell was built by Wells & Co, and we contacted Mr Wells with regard to further information on The Barwell. He unfortunately had no more information than we did and would be grateful for any further information we can obtain.

Our query is this:- In 1804 it was sold to Fletcher & Co and placed on the regular run to Lisbon. The Barwell was stolen by her Captain John Poole in 1811 from Lisbon, Portugal, after her last voyage and never heard of again. I have today received information off the present Sir Henry Aubrey Fletcher that at some point it left the ownership of 'Fletcher & Co' and became the ownership of Scott & Co. He states that The Barwell was sold ?mid 1860s.

Our question is this? Was she actually stolen - because other information seems to cast doubt on that story? and Where did she end her life - what happened to her?  Please respond directly to johnchris.hughes@btinternet.com

Source: Researched by Chris Hughes https://www.worldshipsociety.org/6488.html