Active
Active was a French-built merchant vessel launched in 1793, later acquired as a prize by British interests and used in East India Company service and London-based trade.
Last updated August 25, 2026
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Overview
Active was a historical sailing vessel rather than a modern consumer or corporate brand. The ship was built in France and launched in 1793. Around 1799 she came into British hands as a prize, after which Peter Everitt Mestaer acquired her and gave her the name Active. Her subsequent career was connected first with the British East India Company and then with general merchant shipping operating from London. In late 1800, Captain John Greitin Smyth obtained a letter of marque for Active. The vessel was tendered to the British East India Company for a voyage intended to bring rice from Bengal. At the time, the East India Company held a legal monopoly over British trade with India and China, and Active was one of 28 vessels dispatched on the rice-related mission between December 1800 and February 1801. The exact date of Active’s departure for India is not established in the available account, but the ship returned to Portsmouth on 10 November 1801. Her recorded return itinerary indicates that she left Madras on 5 July and Saint Helena on 19 September. After the India voyage, Active entered London-based commercial service. Her trade was initially recorded as London–Hamburg, with the port often rendered as Hambro in period registers. This Hamburg connection continued through the 1807 Lloyd’s Register. The surviving register information identifies P. Mestaer as owner and J. L. Smith, or alternatively J. Smith, as master in the early part of the vessel’s documented British career. Active was absent from Lloyd’s Register in 1808, although the online availability of registers for that period is incomplete. She reappeared in the Register of Shipping in 1809, when J. Welch was listed as master, P. Mestaer remained the owner, and the ship’s trade was described as London transport. The vessel continued to be recorded in the Register of Shipping through 1815. The final listing names J. Welsh as master, P. Mestaer as owner, and London transport as the trade. The available historical material does not establish what happened to the ship after that final listing. Active should therefore be understood as the specifically identified 1793 French-built vessel, not as a Hungarian food brand or another commercial entity sharing the name.
History
Active was launched in France in 1793. The surviving historical account does not provide the vessel’s original builder, dimensions, rig, or first owner. Around 1799 she was taken into British hands as a prize. Peter Everitt Mestaer subsequently purchased the vessel and renamed her Active. The ship entered British records at a time when merchant vessels could combine ordinary commercial activity with government-authorized wartime functions. On 6 December 1800, Captain John Greitin Smyth obtained a letter of marque for Active. The vessel was also tendered to the British East India Company for a rice-importing voyage from Bengal. Because the East India Company held the British monopoly over trade with India and China, voyages of this kind operated within a regulated chartered-company framework. Active formed part of a group of 28 vessels that sailed on the mission between December 1800 and February 1801. The precise date of departure is uncertain. Active returned to Portsmouth on 10 November 1801 after departing Madras on 5 July and Saint Helena on 19 September. Following the India voyage, she was used as a London-based merchant ship. Her initial post-voyage trade was recorded as London to Hamburg, a route maintained in Lloyd’s Register through 1807. Early register entries listed P. Mestaer as owner and J. L. Smith or J. Smith as master. Active was not listed in Lloyd’s Register in 1808, although the absence may partly reflect gaps in the accessible register series. She appeared again in the Register of Shipping in 1809. That entry recorded J. Welch as master, P. Mestaer as owner, and London transport as the vessel’s trade. The final known Register of Shipping entry was in 1815, with J. Welsh as master and the same owner and general trade description. No reliable account in the supplied material records a later voyage, sale, wreck, or dismantling. The vessel’s ultimate fate therefore remains undocumented here.
- 1815
Last known register listing
[1]Active was last listed in the Register of Shipping, with J. Welsh as master and P. Mestaer as owner.
- 1809
Recorded as a London transport vessel
[1]The Register of Shipping listed J. Welch as master, P. Mestaer as owner, and London transport as the trade.
- 1802
Began London-based merchant service
[1]After the India voyage, the ship entered commercial service from London, initially trading with Hamburg.
- 1801
Returned from the Bengal rice mission
[1]Active returned to Portsmouth on 10 November after a voyage involving Madras and Saint Helena under an East India Company-related assignment.
- 1800
Letter of marque issued
[1]Captain John Greitin Smyth obtained a letter of marque for Active on 6 December.
- 1799
Entered British hands
[1]Around this time the French-built vessel was acquired by British interests as a prize and later purchased by Peter Everitt Mestaer.
- 1793
Launched in France
[1]The vessel that later became Active was launched in France.
Products and positioning
A merchant vessel used for long-distance East India Company-related transport and later London-centered commercial shipping.
Recent events
Reported
Active+ managing director Gill Webb announces she will step down[2]
Active+ managing director Gill Webb announced that she will step down at the end of June after 30 years at the helm. This is an announced future departure, not a completed departure.
Reported
Active+ appoints Mike Bignall as CEO[2]
Active+ appointed Mike Bignall as CEO. He will lead the design and delivery of strategic and operational priorities for Active Physio Ltd and Active Ltd.
Sources2 sources
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