Dodington

The final voyage

The Doddington (commonly rendered 'Dodington') sailed from the Downs on 23 April 1755 in company with several other East India Company ships, but soon outran them and continued independently around the Cape of Good Hope [1](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Annual_Register/1758/Extraordinary_Adventures/The_loss_of_the_Doddington_Indiaman). She struck Bird Island in Algoa Bay on 17 July 1755 and was wrecked. Documentary evidence gathered by South African heritage authorities links gold aboard the ship to Robert Clive, the future conqueror of Bengal, though Clive himself was not a passenger [2](https://worldarchaeologicalcongress.com/wac4/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2016/03/S032grb1.pdf).

A surviving officer's journal, published as 'An authentic narrative of the loss of the Doddington Indiaman,' recounts the wreck and the survivors' ordeal on the barren island until rescue. The exact numbers aboard and rescued vary between period and modern secondary accounts, and this report does not adopt an unverified precise tally.

What was aboard

Documentary evidence supports gold associated with Robert Clive aboard the ship, but South African heritage authorities report that very little gold has ever been officially recovered or legally exported, and no complete manifest has been published; a 1997 sale of 1,400 gold coins claimed as 'Clive's gold' was withdrawn from auction after legal challenge.

Gold associated with Clive: Documentary evidence supports a shipment connected to Robert Clive's fortune, though the full quantity was never officially tallied and export has remained legally contested.

East India Company trade goods: General EIC cargo consistent with an outbound Indiaman of the period.

Ship's ordnance: 26 guns, as recorded for the vessel's rig.

How to collect

Demand a South African export permit: Only a single permit for a small number of gold coins (21) has ever been issued by South African authorities; anything larger should be treated as a red flag.

Treat 'Clive's gold' claims skeptically: The 1997 case shows that sensational attribution to Clive personally has previously been used to inflate value; verify against the documentary record, not the seller's story.

Check chain of custody since 1977: Legitimate material should be traceable to a specific, licensed expedition, not simply described as 'from Bird Island.'

Understand the legal risk: Coins removed and exported without permit have been the subject of international repatriation proceedings; buying such material carries real legal exposure.