hercules was built at calcutta in 1814. she acquired british registry and traded between britain and india under a license from the british east india company (eic), before returning to calcutta registry. she then traded opium between india and china, and became an opium receiving ship for jardine matheson. in 1839 she was one of the vessels that surrendered her store of opium to be burned at the behest of chinese officials at canton. this incident was one of the proximate causes of the first opium war (1839–1842). her owners apparently sold her to american owners in 1839.