Existing comment:
East Indiamen:
From 1600 until its demise in the 1850s, The Honourable East India Company ruled a vast empire in the Far East, with armed outposts (factories) located throughout India, China, and the East Indies. These were visited regularly by specially designed ships known as East Indiamen.
Although they outwardly resembled Navy warships, British East Indiamen were in fact armed merchant ships whose primary mission was not to fight battles, but rather to carry precious cargoes of spices and other exotic goods such as tea, silk, and porcelain from the Orient back to England. Their impressive-looking armament provided adequate defense against pirates and privateers, but their small crews and light guns made them no match against enemy men-of-war. |