Built on the yard of Randall at Rotherhite, U.K. for Sir Robert Preston.
09 May 1796 launched under the name CUFFNELLS.
Tonnage 1429.52/94 tons, dim. 143.8 x 43.3 x 17.7ft.
Ship rigged.
Chartered by the British East India Company on 27 June 1796 for a voyage direct to China under command of Capt. Charles Bowland Cotton, out of charter 21 March 1798.
2) Chartered again on 14 Sept. 1798 for a voyage to Bombay and China, out of charter on 16 April 1801.
3) Chartered again on 30 April 1802 for a voyage to China direct, out of charter on 05 August 1803.
4) Chartered on 09 June 1804 for a voyage to China direct, under command of Capt. Henry Halkett, out of charter on 12 Sept. 1805.
5) Charted on 26 Feb. 1807 for a voyage to the Coromandel Coast and China under command of Capt. Robert Wellbank, out of charter on 01 July 1808.
After arrival sold to Francis R. Martin.
6) Chartered by the EIC again on 24 Feb. 1809 for a voyage to St Helena, Bencoolen and China, out of charter on 13 August 1811.
07) Chartered on 01 March 1812 for a voyage for Madras and China, out of charter 08 June 1813.
08) Chartered on 29 August 1814 for a voyage to Bengal, Madras and China, out of charter 05 May 1816.
1816 Sold for breaking up.
William or John Mariner sailed on the PORT AU PRINCE (she is on the same sets of stamps) from the U.K as a seaman, the PORT AU PRINCE by some given as a privateer, arrived in 1806 at Tonga where the crew mutinied, and were massacred by the natives. Only Mariner survived and came under the protection of the King, and lived on the island for some time before he escaped.
He joined the CUFFNELLS in Macau, when she was homeward bound. He arrived at Gravesend in June 1811. The CUFFNELIS is showed on the Tonga stamp with her sails aback while only a few yards from shore.
Mariner disembarked at Gravesend, but was grabbed by a Royal Navy press gang before he reached his home. He spent more as a week in a prison hulk before his father obtained his release.
His quest for adventure satisfied, William became a bookkeeper, then a stockbroker.
He drowned in the River Thames in 1853 as a result of a boating accident.
Tonga 1985 2p50 sg909B, scott606
Sources: E.J.Hogan. Australian Stamp News July 1985. Watercraft Philately. Log Book. Ships of the East India Company by Rowan Hackman.