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Royal Admiral, which Sir Richard Hotham, by leave of the Court 
of Directors, had just built. He sailed out with that vessel on the 
27th April, 1778, for Bombay, as chief officer. She put into 
Portsmouth on the outward voyage, where the captain died, and 
Mr. Huddart was appointed to the command. 
Altogether, Captain Huddart was fifteen years in the Com- 
pany’s service, ten of which he served as commander in the 
Royal Admiral. During this period he devoted much of his leisure 
to hydrographical and astronomical pursuits. Here again we see 
the early tastes of the boy matured in the man. 
ss By the eclipse of Jupiter’s Satellites he is said to have ascertained (amongst 
other astronomical observations which he made) the longitude of Bombay with 
greater precision than had been done by any former geographer. Together 
with other surveys, he completed one of the whole peninsula from Bombay to 
Coringo; also one of the river Tigris, and one from Canton to the Island of 
Sankeet, for which last in particular, and for his exertions in improving the 
navigation to and from the Kast Indies and China, he received the thanks of the 
Court of Directors.”—( Huddart’s Memoir. ) 
His connection, however, with the East India Company had 
not by any means been so profitable as might be supposed. 
During a portion of his career his ship, the Royal Admiral, was 
put under orders, and he was engaged, whilst acting with the 
British fleet, in the reduction of Jaggniaultporam and Negapatam, 
and otherwise employed for a time in the King’s Service. By 
reason of war and bad voyages his pecuniary resources were, 
certainly up to 1783, but little augmented. Sir Henry Fletcher, 
however, who was then Chairman of the East India Company, 
exercised his privilege of nomination by spontaneously appointing 
Captain Huddart to a Bombay and China voyage (then regarded 
as one of the best). This voyage proved a highly successful one 
to Captain Huddart, who sailed upon it from the Downs on the 
27th March, 1784, and returned to England in April, 1786. The 
succeeding voyage was his last one, and it, too, was a prosperous 
one to him. It was to Madras and China. He set sail on the 
2oth January, 1787, and got back to England in July, 1788. 
It will be interesting to know that Sir Henry Fletcher was 
likewise a Cumbrian. His father was John Fletcher, Esq., of Clea 
