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Hi,
Thanks for your reply, like you said the Agincourt didn't become a prison ship until 1812 & I don't suppose that it took 6 years to convert, Chris says it only took 5 months to convert the Pompee, which means my relative died onboard years after it was converted.

He may have joined the Agincourt and been transferred to "the Hospital Ship" which hasn't been named, where he subsequently died.

Dennis

You have misunderstood...........

............the Agincourt did not become a prison ship until 1812...............please re-read the info I posted

Thanks all for your help, after spending a few days pondering over the few facts available my thoughts are:

He left home in 1806 to go on board the Agincourt ( a prison ship) but died on HMS Pompee (another prison ship) in 1815.

HMS Pompee was a dreaded prison ship for French prisoners who when not in chains would try & kill themselves. It was moored off Portsmouth.

Why was he buried on the Isle of Sheppey? because maybe he was working on the conversion before it moved to Portsmouth?

Was he a prisoner? shipwright? Member of the armed forces? Or a Jailer?
Still searching for these answers.

Thanks again Dennis

It looks like the Pompee was a Prison Hulk in 1816.

'She was fitted out for service as a prison hulk between September 1810 and January 1811. She was finally broken up at Woolwich in January 1817.'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Pomp%C3%A9e_(1791)

The Pompee doesn't appear in the ship list in Ancestry's database UK, Prison Hulk Registers and Letter Books, 1802-1849.

I would suggest the any surviving records for the ship (registers, pay books etc) for that time would be at the National Archives so a hunt in the online catalogue may be the next step....

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/default.htm

Good luck
Chris

Five ships of the Royal Navy have been called HMS Agincourt, named after the Battle of Agincourt of 1415, and construction of another was started but not completed.
HMS Agincourt (1796) was a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line bought from the East India Company, where she had been named Earl Talbot, in 1796. She became a prison ship in 1812 and was renamed HMS Bristol. She was sold in 1814.

etc...........................................

The wording of the Bible entry - as you have copied it - in no way suggests that the Agincourt was anything other than a normal naval vessel.

The ship mentioned here is the Pompee:

Parish Record Collection - Burial Record

Burial Day: 9
Burial Month: Nov
Burial Year: 1815
Forename(s): Thomas
Surname: Downing
Age: 23
Abode: Hms Pompee
Occupation:
Notes:
Dedication:
Place: Queenborough
County: Kent
Record Source: Queenborough burials 1719-1882
Record source: Kent Burials
Data provider: Kent Family History Society

The burial date is a few days out but seems a very big coincidence .....

Perhaps he went on the Agincourt when he first left home but was on the Pompee when he died?

Thanks for your help, his surname was Downing, I have spent an hour or so using Google, seems there were a few ships named Agincourt over the years, I learned that quarenteen ships were used for outbreaks of smallpox etc but haven't found an eppademic at that time.

Adding to Eringobragh1916's post....

She was decommissioned in 1809 and converted to a prison ship in 1812, before being broken up in 1814.

So it looks as if Thomas would have been on a different ship at the time of his death.

Chris

Agincourt
64 Guns
V. Ad. H. W. Waldegrave
Capt. J. Bligh

RN Ship commissioned abt 1799

I've asked poster to come back and give us the surname

Hello Dennis, do you have any idea what Thomas' surname would have been?

If we can place his death it might give us some clues.

1806 My son Thomas left home and went on board the Agincourt.
Died on board the Hospital ship and was buried at
Queenborough on Sunday 12 Nov 1815. Aged 22 years and 3
Months

This I'm told was an entry in my family Bible can anyone help? It seems to say that the son left home in 1805 & died in 1815.
Could the Agincourt have been a quarentine ship?