{{Short description|British merchant ship (1810–1825)}} {{other ships|Caesar (ship)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}} {{Infobox ship |section1={{Infobox ship/image | image = | image_caption = }}
|section2={{Infobox ship/career | hide_header=title | country=United Kingdom | flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|civil}} | name = ''Caesar'' | namesake = [[Julius Caesar]] | owner =*1810: H. Turner,<ref name=HSW/> or Fowler & Co. *1816:Taylor | yard_number= 145<ref name=HSW/> | ordered = | builder = Wells, Wigram & Green at Blackwall. | original_cost = Cost [[£sd|£]]23 per ton = £13,908 + £32 extra<ref name=HSW/> | laid_down = | launched = 1 September 1810{{sfnp|Hackman|2001|p=75}} | acquired = | commissioned = | decommissioned = | in_service = | out_of_service = | renamed = | struck = | reinstated = | honours = | honors = | captured = | fate = Last listed in 1825{{efn|Two sources conflate this ''Caesar'' with {{ship||Caesar|1825 ship}}.<ref name=HSW/>{{sfnp|Hackman|2001|p=75}}}} | notes = }}
|section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics | hide_header = | header_caption = | class = | tons_burthen= {{frac|604|67|94}},<ref name=HSW>[http://www.historic-shipping.co.uk/robwigram/caesar%2010.html ''Historic Shipping Website'': ''Caesar''; accessed 12 February 2018.]</ref> 626,<ref name=LoM>{{Cite web |url=http://www.1812privateers.org/Great%20Britain/marque1793-1815.pdf# |title=Letter of Marque, p.54 - accessed 25 July 2017. |access-date=13 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161020052005/http://www.1812privateers.org/Great%20Britain/marque1793-1815.pdf# |archive-date=20 October 2016 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> or {{frac|626|41|94}},{{sfnp|Hackman|2001|p=75}} or 627,<ref name=LR1810/> or 637<ref name=LR1825>[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015005691889?urlappend=%3Bseq=105 ''Lloyd's Register'' (1825), Seq.№C12.]</ref> ([[Builder's Old Measurement|bm]]) | length = | beam = | draught = | draft = | hold_depth = | propulsion = | sail_plan = | complement =*1810:40<ref name=LoM/> *1812:50<ref name=LoM/> | armament =*1810:20 × 18&12-pounder [[carronades]]<ref name=LoM/> *1810:18 × 18-pounder [[carronades]] + 2 × 9-pounder guns<ref name=LR1810/> *1812:20 × 18&12-pounder carronades<ref name=LoM/> | notes = }} }}
'''''Caesar''''' was launched in 1810 on the Thames River. She sailed first as a [[West Indiaman]], and then after 1814 to the East Indies under a license from the British [[East India Company]] (EIC). In 1817 she repatriated from Batavia to London Lord [[William Amherst, 1st Earl Amherst|William Amherst]] and the officers and crew of {{HMS|Alceste|1806|6}}. ''Caesar'' was last listed in 1825.
==Career== ''Caesar'' enters ''[[Lloyd's Register]]'' in 1810 with J. Fowler, master, Fowler & Co., owner, and trade London–Jamaica.<ref name=LR1810>[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015005676393?urlappend=%3Bseq=568 ''Lloyd's Register'' (1810), "C" Supple. pages, Seq.№C153.]</ref> Captain Jonathon Fowler acquired a [[letter of marque]] on 10 November 1810.<ref name=LoM/>
On 13 October 1812 Captain James Shand acquired a letter of marque.<ref name=LoM/>{{efn|He had been master of {{ship||Caesar|1800 ship|2}}, also a West Indiaman, when she wrecked off the [[South Foreland]] in late 1810.}} ''Lloyd's Register'' for 1813 shows ''Caesar''{{'}}s master changing from Fowler to Shand.<ref>[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015005689347?urlappend=%3Bseq=99 ''Lloyd's Register'' (1814), Seq.№C7.]</ref> In 1814 M. Fowler replaced J. Shand.
The ''Register of Shipping'' for 1816 shows ''Caesar''{{'}}s master changing from Shand to Taylor, her owner from Fowlgen to C.H. Turner, and her trade from London–Jamaica to Bombay.<ref>[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015024214267?urlappend=%3Bseq=121 ''Register of Shipping'' (1816), Seq.№C11.]</ref> The EIC had lost its monopoly on the trade between England and India and ''Caesar'' acquired a licence from the EIC to trade with India. Captain J. Taylor sailed from England in December 1816, bound for [[Fort William, India]].<ref>[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015005686806?urlappend=%3Bseq=643 ''Lloyd's Register'' "Licensed and Country Ships".]</ref>
In 1817 Lord Amherst was returning on {{HMS|Alceste|1806|6}} from his [[Amherst Embassy|embassy to China]]. On 18 February ''Alceste'' grounded on one of the many hidden reefs in the [[Java Sea]]. She was wrecked, and first Lord Amherst and his party, and then the rest of ''Alceste''{{'}}s officers and crew reached [[Batavia (Dutch East Indies)|Batavia]]. Lord Amherst then engaged ''Caesar'', which was at Batavia, to take all the survivors back to England.
''Caesar'' sailed on 17 April with Lord Amherst, his party, and the officers and men of ''Alceste''. Several events marked the voyage. (Different sources give inconsistent dates for arrival and departure dates for ''Caesar''{{'}}s stops on her way home.)
On 5 May, while ''Caesar'' was about 200 miles south of Mauritius a fire broke out in the spirit room. ''Aceste''{{'}}s men. especially her gunner, were instrumental in putting it out. ''Caesar'' arrived at [[Simon's Bay]] on 27 May.{{sfnp|Abel|1818|pp=283-4}}
''Caesar'' sailed again in company with {{HMS|Conqueror|1801|6}} for [[Saint Helena|St Helena]] on 11 June. Before leaving Batavia, ''Caesar'' had also loaded two unusual passengers, an [[orangutan]] and a [[Python (genus)|python]]. Several accounts of the voyage mention the feeding of the python, and its dissection after its death on the way to St Helena.{{sfnp|M'Leod|1818|pp=201-2}} The orangutan eventually had free run of the ship and arrived safely in England.{{sfnp|Abel|1818|pp=318-330}}
''Caesar'' arrived at St Helena on 27 June. On 28 June Lord Amherst, Captain Maxwell of ''Alceste'', and Mr. Lynn, her surgeon, met with [[Napoleon Bonaparte]]. They reported an amicable discussion.{{sfnp|Abel|1818|pp=316-7}}{{efn|Another account puts the date of the meeting as 3 July.<ref>''Naval Chronicle'', Vol. 38, (Jul-Dec 1817), pp.186-7.</ref>}}
On 29 June,{{sfnp|Abel|1818|p=318}} or 3 July,{{sfnp|M'Leod|1818|p=209}} ''Caesar'' left St Helena. She arrived at [[Ascension Island]] on 7 July. She stayed less than a day, stopping only long enough to load eight large turtles. ''Caesar'' arrived at Spithead on 16 August.{{sfnp|Abel|1818|p=330}}
==Fate== ''Caesar'' continued to trade with the East Indies on her return from repatriating Lord Amherst and the crew of ''Alceste''. She was last listed in the ''Register of Shipping'' in 1824, and in ''Lloyd's Register'' in 1825 with J. Taylor, master, Taylor, owner, and trade London–Bengal.<ref name=LR1825/>
It is highly likely that in 1826 she became {{ship||Borodino|1826 ship|2}}.
==Notes== {{Notelist}}
==Citations== {{reflist|30em}}
==References== * {{cite book |last1=Abel |first1=Clarke |year=1818 |title=Narrative of a Journey in the Interior of China: And of a Voyage to and from that Country, in the Years 1816 and 1817 : Containing an Account of the Most Interesting Transactions of Lord Amherst's Embassy to the Court of Pekin and Observations on the Countries which it Visited |publisher=Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown}} * {{cite book |last=Hackman |first=Rowan |date=2001 |title=Ships of the East India Company |location=Gravesend, Kent |publisher=World Ship Society |isbn=0-905617-96-7 }} * {{cite book |last1=M'Leod |first1=John |year=1818 |title=Narrative of a Voyage, in His Majesty's Late Ship Alceste to the Yellow Sea, Along the Coast of Corea, and Through Its Numerous Hitherto Undiscovered Islands, to the Island of Lewchew |publisher=M. Carey and Son}}
{{1817 shipwrecks}}
[[Category:1810 ships]] [[Category:Age of Sail merchant ships of England]] [[Category:Maritime incidents in 1817]]