The East India Company
4th August 1782
The Shipwreck of the ‘Grosvenor‘
Captain John Coxon
THE GROSVENOR, is said to be the richest British East Indiaman ship ever lost and was wrecked then sank on 4th August 1782 on a reef about 700 miles northeast of Cape Town, South Africa.
The loss included 2,600,000 gold coins, 1,400 gold ingots and nineteen chests of emeralds, rubies and sapphires. There were 132 crew and 18 passengers (12 adults and 6 children) on the ship. The passengers and most of the crew were either lost on the sea or more controversially later on the land.
The master of the ship was Captain John Coxon.
The official report by the East India Company published in 1783 said that the disaster which befell the ship is “not at all imputed to any bad behaviour by Captain Coxon”. Some books published much later took a different view of his role.
Scale Model of 'Grosvenor' by D.McNarry & A.S.Cussons
The East India Company began as a private venture by enterprising Elizabethan merchants. It was given a monopoly of trade with the east by Elizabeth I and flourished. In the territories of the east it had its own governors, own army and its own navy.
The merchant ships did not usually belong to the East India Company but were chartered from private owners. They were generally regarded as worn out after four return voyages to the east.
East India Company Headquarters, Leadenhall Street, London
Commander's uniform, East India Company
The commander of an Indiaman was no ordinary individual. He had to be an excellent seaman and the company insisted on a severe apprenticeship involving at least three voyages. The first as either fifth or sixth mate; the second voyage as third or fourth mate and the third voyage as chief or second in command. Only after this could he aspire to be a commander. Since each return voyage to India took about two years this was an arduous apprenticeship. In addition to seamanship the commander had to be ready to defend his ship from attack and was trained in naval warfare with skills in gunnery, musket and cutlass. The Grosvenor carried 26 guns and was an effective fighting ship. Artillery practise was the same as in the Royal Navy.
Captain John Coxon completed this training between 1765 and 1778 before being given his first command. (see Appendix).
The commander of an Indiaman was a highly respected member of society. On landing at one of the East India Company settlements a commander was received with a salute of thirteen guns. On shore he was a Member of Council. On board, the passengers at the captain’s table usually ate three courses and dessert with wine or beer. Champagne was served twice a week. The passengers ate fresh meat as an Indiaman carried large numbers of live poultry, sheep and pigs.
Coat of Arms of The East India Company
Well's Shipyard, Deptford London.
Grosvenor was launched in 1770 from the Well’s shipyard in Deptford, London and was the second East Indiaman with that name and was built on the keel of its predecessor.
Indiamen were built of oak and designed similar to the frigates of the Royal Navy except they were much fuller bodied to carry cargo.
Grosvenor was a three-masted, square-rigged frigate with a length of 138 feet, three decks and carried 26 guns.
Since being built Grosvenor had made three successful return voyages to India and China. This would probably have been her last voyage since the East India Company would not allow a merchantman to sail more than four voyages.
The fourth voyage left Portsmouth on 3 June 1780 and Grosvenor arrived in Bengal early October 1781 having being delayed in Madras for nearly nine months due to local fighting and war with the French.
Grosvenor left Bengal on 3 January 1782 to return home and arrived in Madras on 15 January 1782. Delayed again in Madras, it was 30 March 1782 when she sailed to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in a fleet of ships guarded by the Royal Navy.
On 13 June 1782 they left Ceylon alone and set sail for England on a journey around the Cape. The weather was very bad for the entire voyage from India to Africa and the Grosvenor mainmast had to be repaired during this stage of the voyage and was being constantly watched. Exact navigation observations could not be taken and the charts of the South Africa coastline were old and unreliable.
At 1.00 am on 4 August 1782 and fifty-two days out from Ceylon, Grosvenor was sailing west near the Cape coast of South Africa and they were in a gale.
The crew noticed lights to the west, but dismissed them as something like the northern lights when they gradually disappeared. The lights however were grass fires burning on a headland directly on their course and their sudden disappearance was due to being hidden by the brow of a hill.
At 4.00 am, one of the crew reported that he could see land, but the officer of the watch ignored him.
Everyone on board was certain that they were at least 200 miles (320 km) out to sea. (Later publications criticise Captain Coxon for this navigational judgement but there was no criticism in the official enquiry. It was discovered that the charts he had been given when he left were out of date and seriously inaccurate))
The quartermaster after some further hesitation alerted Captain Coxon who instantly came on deck. He attempted to drop one of its anchors to turn the ship abruptly but this failed, and the vessel ran aground on the rocks.
With a change in the wind direction, Captain Coxon felt that they could refloat the Grosvenor and run her aground in some more convenient place; this judgement was correct .
Most of the passengers were trapped in the stern section of the ship and the refloat allowed Grosvenor to be hauled stern first into a sheltered inlet.
They attempted to reach the shore but the small boats smashed upon the rocks from the heavy seas and sixteen crew died in these attempts.
Eventually the ship split itself in two and the rear part drifted into shallower water. One passenger and forty-one of the crew were lost in the shipwreck. Seventeen passengers and ninety-three crew made it to the shore.
On the morning of the 7 August 1782, Captain Coxon mustered the passengers and crew on the shore, retrieving what supplies they could from the wreckage of the ship. They were all delivered to Captain Coxon who served them out to everyone in a fair share.
Coxon then gathered all the survivors together and said that he was the commander on board but he hoped that now they would allow him to continue his command. The reply was unanimously answered as ‘By all means’.
Coxon and his officers knew that they were a considerable distance from the nearest European settlements – the Dutch Cape Colony to the south and Portuguese colony of Delagoa Bay to the north.
He informed the survivors that by his best calculations they were 15 or 16 days away from the Dutch Cape Colony. This was a serious miscalculation, because the distance to the Cape was 400 miles, rather than the 250 that he believed. In fact Delagoa Bay was closer.
Encouraged by this hope they set off on the 27 August to walk. It was some twenty days after the shipwreck. They decided to walk along the coast because they were afraid of the local natives and also of the elephants and lions which they saw and heard.
The group existed on shellfish and any carcass they could find. There were many rivers to cross and if they were too deep they had to build rafts. Some became sick when they ate inedible berries.
Almost all died on that walk and only eighteen of the crew and no passengers reached the Cape. The survivors went to London to be witnesses to the official enquiry.
Waterfall Bluff, Pondoland. The survivors had to walk along the top of the cliff.
Unzimvuba River. The survivors could not cross the river and had to climb the slopes in right foreground and then trek several miles inland to a ford and then back again.
The reports the witnesses gave to the enquiry said that Coxon died on the eighth day of the trek.
It was on the basis of the survivors testimony that the enquiry apportioned no blame to Captain Coxon for the loss of the ship.
This was Captain John Coxon’s second voyage as commander of the Grosvenor and he was an experienced seaman. (later critical publications of the Grosvenor story said he was an inexperienced mariner who bought his captaincy)
Captain John Coxon
John Coxon went to sea at the age of 17 as a midshipman. This was old for a midshipman who were usually between 13 years and a maximum of 18 years. A midshipman had to make at least one voyage to and from India or China and had to be over 20 years before he could become a fourth mate. Coxon was Purser on the Pacific that made a voyage to India in 1765 and this was likely his qualifying voyage.
At the age of 28 years, he joined a ship also named Grosvenor as 4th Mate. This was the predecessor of the wrecked ship and he made voyages in 1767/8.
At 35 years old, he was promoted to 1st mate on the new Grosvenor that had just been launched. He was 1st mate for voyages in 1770/1 and 1774/5.
John Coxon must have accumulated wealth from these earlier voyages. To be a Captain or Mate with the East India Company required the person to be experienced and to have spent time on East India Company ships. They also needed to be wealthy to become a Captain.
To gain command the person had to pay up to £10,000 to the owners depending on the age of the vessel. The investment was lucrative because it was possible to amass considerable fortunes in a short time by being the Captain or Mate of an East Indiaman.
The East India Company allowed the officers a free tonnage allowance in the cargo which varied according to rank. In the case of the Captain this was 38 tons, a considerable amount of high value cargo to sell at the destination.
At 38 years old, John Coxon became Captain of the Grosvenor and made voyages in 1777/78 and 1779/80 and then the fateful voyage in 1782.
“Captain John Coxon was undoubtedly a thoroughly competent and experienced seaman, as is clearly revealed by the three logs of the Grosvenor for which he is responsible and which have been preserved.” – Professor Percival R Kirby, academic authority of the ‘Grosvenor’ tragedy.
He was also a disciplinarian on board as his log entry for 23 January 1777 recorded ‘Punished George Taylor, one of the Company’s recruits, with a Dozen Lashes for cutting William Muir (another recruit) across his Arm with a Knife.’
During the voyage of 1777/78 he married Harriett Sherburne in Calcutta, India on the 1 August 1778. This must have been his second marriage since a married daughter and son-in-law are named in his Will. Harriett sailed from India on her husband’s ship and a child (Joseph) was born at sea on 3 August 1779. It is likely that he first met Harriett on previous voyages since her father was an employee of the East India Company.
In 1780, before he left London on the voyage to Madras and Bengal he made and signed his Will.
Last Will and Testament signed by Captain John Coxon
“In the Name of God Amen. I John Coxon at this time Commander of the Ship Grosvenor in the service of the Honourable East India Company and now outward bound on a voyage to Madras and Bengal being at this present writing and of sound mind and memory ……..”
In his Will he bequeathed his estate to his wife Harriet Coxon, to his only son Joseph Coxon (when he attains 20 years) and to his Daughter Susanna Cornish. His son-in-law, Thomas Cornish, is the Executor. The Will also states that Captain John Coxon and his family lived in Southampton Street, Bloomsbury, London.
After the Grosvenor disaster Harriett Coxon remained a widow until 1787 when her husband’s will was proved and his death accepted legally. She married a clergyman and had three more sons.
Captain John Coxon, Commander of the Grosvenor: born circa 1739; died 1782 aged 43 years.
Acknowledgements and References
Official Report of the East India Company on the loss of the Grosvenor Indiaman. 1783, Percival R Kirby Book on ‘The Wreck of the Grosvenor’ 1953 and 1960, John Hynes, Grosvenor Survivor narrative, The Asian and African Studies Collection of the British Library, The National Maritime Museum, The National Archives, Barnett Maritime Studies, Aquatint Painting of the Loss of the Grosvenor by Thomas Tegg, 1808, South Africa Post Office, Wrecksite.eu, Google Images.
APPENDIX
The Voyages of Captain John Coxon
14th April 1765 – Pacific: 499 Tons, 1 Voyage
COAST AND BAY OF BENGAL
Sailed Portsmouth 14th April 1765. Arrive Downs 17th December 1776
▪Owner John Hyde Esq
▪Captain Charles Barklay
▪1st Mate Emerson Tidy
▪2nd Mate Richard Pierce
▪3rd Mate Charles William Richards
▪4th Mate Edmund Fryer
▪Surgeon Griffith Thomas
▪Purser John Coxon
31st December 1767 – Grosvenor: 499 Tons, 3 Voyage,
COAST AND CHINA
Sailed Downs 31st December 1767. Arrive Downs 28th May 1769
▪Owner David Mitchell Esq.
▪Captain David Saunders
▪1st Mate James Wood
▪2nd Mate William Fraser
▪3rd Mate David Drummond
▪4th Mate John Coxon
▪Surgeon Alexander Kincaid
▪Purser Alexander Mitchell
6th February 1771 – Grosvenor: 499 Tons, 1 Voyage
COAST AND CHINA
Sailed Portsmouth 6th February 1771. Arrive Downs 30th August 1772
▪Owner David Mitchell Esq.
▪Captain David Saunders
▪1st Mate John Coxen (sic)
▪2nd Mate Thomas Ward
▪3rd Mate David Drummond
▪4th Mate James Harris
▪Surgeon William Thompson
▪Purser Alexander Mitchell
18th January 1775 – Grosvenor: 729 Tons, 2 Voyage,
COAST AND CHINA.
Sailed Downs 18th January 1775. Arrive Downs 18th August 1776
▪Owner David Mitchell Esq
▪Captain David Saunders
▪1st Mate John Coxen (sic)
▪2nd Mate James Duthy
▪3rd Mate David Drummond
▪4th Mate Alexander Logie
▪Surgeon Griffith Thomas
▪Purser Alexander Mitchell
9th February 1778 – Grosvenor: 729 Tons. 3 Voyage,
COAST AND BAY OF BENGAL
Sailed Plymouth 9th February 1778. Arrive: Downs 16th November 1779
▪Owner David Mitchell Esq.
▪Captain John Coxen (sic)
▪1st Mate David Drummond
▪2nd Mate Peter Marshall
▪3rd Mate Alexander Logie
▪4th Mate Thomas Beal
▪Surgeon Griffith Thomas
▪Purser William Calaghan
3rd June 1780 – Grosvenor: 729 Tons. 4 Voyage,
COAST AND BAY OF BENGAL
Sailed Portsmouth 3rd June 1780. Lost off Coast of Africa 4th August 1782
▪Owner David Mitchell Esq.
▪Captain John Coxon
▪1st Mate Alexander Logie
▪2nd Mate William Shaw
▪3rd Mate Thomas Beale
▪4th Mate John Trotter
▪Surgeon Patrick Bowie
▪Purser Jame Hay