English

The East Indiaman Warley by Robert Salmon, 1804

Noun

East Indiaman ‎(plural East Indiamen)

1. (obsolete or historical) Any ship operating under charter or licence to one of the East India Companies, which were each granted monopoly trading rights with the East Indies by one of several of the major trading powers of the 17th—19th centuries.
   • 1833, A History of Shipwrecks, and Disasters at Sea, from the Most Authentic Sources, Volume 2, Constable's Miscellany of Original and Selected Publications, Volume 79, page 183,

     Thb shipwreck of the Grovesnor^[sic]East Indiaman, in 1782, on her homeward-bound voyage from Ceylon, was attended with circumstances of more than common interest.

   • 1919, O. F. Mentzel, Life at the Cape in Mid-eighteenth Century, page 163,

     Even Dutch East Indiamen are not all the same size, but for the benefit of such of my readers as are curious after knowledge, and have never had an opportunity of seeing for themselves big, ocean-going vessels, I will try to describe the general type to which most Indiamen belong.

   • 2009, Femme S. Gaastra, Chapter 4: Soldiers and Merchants: Aspects of Migration from Europe to Asia in the Dutch East India Company in the Eighteenth Century, Wim Klooster (editor), Migration, Trade, and Slavery in an Expanding World, page 111,

     As the smaller chambers would then not have the opportunity to hire a junior merchant—because they built and equipped only East Indiamen of the second charter—the rule was adjusted in 1772.

Derived terms

• British East Indiaman
• Dutch East Indiaman
• English East Indiaman