For context, go here first to check out the customs officer drama that happened on board the St. George in 1712.
Now this is how I found out a little bit more about the ship and its crew:
DISCLAIMER: I am not a maritime historian. I know nothing about ships. So information below is just me chasing something down a pointless research rabbit hole.
Anytime, I want to find out about a British East India Company ship, I start here.
From 1600-1834, there were four ships registered with the title St.George. Of the four, one was active from 1709 to 1719 or thereabouts, right at the time of the above-mentioned customs drama. It is recorded as a 459 ton ship.
So that means… the St. George was likely an “East Indiaman,” a type of ship that the East India Companies used as merchant vessels, like the one shown below.
An East Indiaman ship
Given the time period, and the ship weighing 459 tons would be a medium-sized merchant vessel. It would carry about 30 cannons and about 90 crew members. We don’t know how many people were aboard St. George but a similar ship in weight and plying that route around that time, Cadogan (1718), had 30/32 guns, 90/92 crew.
This crew would include officers like the captain, mates, and a surgeon, as well as specialists like the boatswain, gunner, carpenter, and cook. There would also be seamen (including Lascars), servants, and others employed on these ships.
Now what I really do know about this ship is that one of its doors got unsympathetically broken down in 1712 by a zealous customs officer.