Britannia was launched in 1806 as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company. She made only one voyage for the company before a gale wrecked her in January 1809.
Captain Jonathan Birch received a letter of marque on 3 November 1806. He sailed Britannia from Portsmouth on 26 February 1807, bound for Bombay and China. He returned from that voyage on 1 July 1808.
Birch and Britannia were in the Downs on 24 January 1809, prior to setting out on a second voyage to the east, this time to Madras and China.
The next day, 25 January, a howling gale tore her from her moorings off Deal, Kent, and she wrecked on the Goodwin Sands off the South Foreland.The Times (№7581). London. 28 January 1809. col D, p. 3. Seven of her crew drowned.The Tradesman, (1809), Vol. 2, p.271. The EIC valued her cargo at £57,091; the total loss, vessel plus cargo, was £117,820.Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany. (July 1816, Vol. 2, p.38.
The gale also wrecked the Indiaman and the brig Apollo. Only one man of Apollos crew of 20 survived.Lloyd's List №4322. Boatmen from Deal were able to rescue almost the entire crew from Admiral Gardner. A few days later, Lloyd's List reported that all three wrecked vessels had gone to pieces.Lloyd's List №4324.
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