Earl of Abergavenny was built in Northfleet, Kent to carry cargo for the British East India Company (EIC).

She sank, with great loss of life, within days of leaving Portsmouth on the outward leg of her fifth voyage.

Frequently, vessels of the British Royal Navy escorted these convoys, though generally not past India nor before on the return voyage.

As with many East Indiamen during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Earl of Abergavenny sailed under letters of marque.

[2] Under the command of Captain John Wordsworth, Snr.,[a] she left Portsmouth on 18 March and reached Bombay on 5 July.

[4] Earl of Abergavenny, under the command of Captain John Wordsworth, Snr., left Portsmouth on 13 June 1799, reached Penang on 28 October, and Whampoa on 16 January 1800.

[4] While she was at Canton, Wordsworth became involved in the "Providence Affair" when British sailors brought a wounded Chinese aboard her for medical care.

[5][6] On her return trip Earl of Abergavenny crossed the Second Bar on 28 March and reached St Helena on 15 July.

She reached Santa Cruz on 31 July, Penang on 31 October, Malacca on 24 November, and Whampoa on 30 January 1802.

[4] The battle of Pulo Aura was a minor naval engagement fought on 14 February 1804, in which a fleet of East Indiamen, including Earl of Abergavenny, intimidated, drove off, and chased a powerful French naval squadron, although the French squadron was much stronger than they.

Commodore Nathaniel Dance's aggressive tactics persuaded Contre-Admiral Charles-Alexandre Durand Linois to retire after only a brief exchange of shot.

On 5 February Earl of Abergavenny struck on the Shambles off the Isle of Portland and then sank in Weymouth Bay with the loss of 263 lives, including Wordsworth, out of 402 people on board.

[12] In August 2024, the shipwreck was granted special protection by the Department for Culture Media and Sport on the advice of Historic England as a scheduled monument.