Transport vessels for the cancelled British invasion of Île de France (1794)
# Transport vessels for the cancelled British invasion of Île de France (1794)

In 1794, after the onset of the French Revolutionary Wars the British government contemplated an invasion of Île de France (Mauritius). To that end it detained at Portsmouth a large number of East Indiamen sailing for the British East India Company (EIC). The government cancelled the invasion and in May 1794 released the vessels it had detained. When it did so, it paid demurrage for having delayed the vessels' voyages to the Indies and China.

| Vessel | Demurrage (Days) | Demurrage (£sd) |
| - | - | - |
| Airly Castle | 72 | £1,500 |
| Albion | 71 | £1,479 3s 4d |
| Alfred | 9 | £241 17s 6d |
| Asia | 72 | £1,500 |
| Boddam | 71 | £1,479 3s 4d |
| Bridgewater | 71 | £1,479 3s 4d |
| Busbridge | 72 | £1,365 12s |
| Carnatic | 129 | £3,440 |
| Contractor | 1 | £18 19s 4d |
| Dublin | 72 | £1,500 |
| Duke of Montrose | 62 | £1,291 13s 4d |
| Dutton | 129 | £2,687 10s |
| Earl of Wycombe | 62 | £1,087 1s 4d |
| Essex | 72 | £1,500 |
| Europa | 42 | £875 |
| Ganges | 22 | £458 6s 8d |
| General Eliott | 71 | £1,346 12s 8d |
| General Goddard | 71 | £1,479 3s 4d |
| King George | 22 | £458 6s 8d |
| Lord Camden | 129 days | £2,687 10s |
| Lord Hawkesbury | 123 | £2,562 10s |
| Lord Macartney | 62 | £1,291 13s 4d |
| Manship | 123 | £2,562 10s |
| Melville Castle | 123 | £2,562 10s |
| Middlesex | 22 | £458 6s 8d |
| Nottingham | 22 | £586 13s 4d |
| Ocean | 22 | £586 13s 4d |
| Phoenix | 72 | £1,500 9d |
| Ponsborne | 39 | £812 10s |
| Queen | 71 | £1,479 3s 4d |
| Raymond | 22 | £456 6s 8d |
| Rockingham | 129 | £2,687 10s |
| Rose | 22 | £456 6s 8d |
| Sulivan | 22 | £456 6s 8d |
| Taunton Castle | 17 | £456 17s 6d |
| True Briton | 71 | £1,908 2s 6d |
| Valentine | 22 | £417 5s 4d |
| Woodford | 62 | £1,666 5s |

The British government finally invaded and captured Île de France (Mauritius) in 1810. This time the transport vessels the British government hired were mostly "country ships", vessels registered in ports of British India such as Bombay and Calcutta. It also hired a small number of EIC vessels that had already arrived at Madras or Calcutta.

## Citations

* ↑ Asiatic Annual Register, Or, A View of the History of Hindustan, and of the Politics, Commerce and Literature of Asia (1807), Vol. 7, p.38.
