Sugarcane

Sugarcane, or sugar cane, is one of the several species of tall perennial true grasses of the genus Saccharum, tribe Andropogoneae, native to the warm temperate to tropical regions of South Asia and Melanesia, and used for sugar production. It has stout jointed fibrous stalks that are rich in the sugar sucrose, which accumulates in the stalk internodes. The plant is two to six metres (6 to 19 feet) tall. All sugar cane species interbreed and the major commercial cultivars are complex hybrids. Sugarcane belongs to the grass family Poaceae, an economically important seed plant family that includes maize, wheat, rice, and sorghum and many forage crops.

Sucrose, extracted and purified in specialized mill factories, is used as raw material in human food industries or is fermented to produce ethanol. Ethanol is produced on a large scale by the Brazilian sugarcane industry. Sugarcane is the world's largest crop by production quantity. In 2012, The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates it was cultivated on about 26.0 million hectares, in more than 90 countries, with a worldwide harvest of 1.83 billion tons. Brazil was the largest producer of sugar cane in the world. The next five major producers, in decreasing amounts of production, were India, China, Thailand, Pakistan and Mexico.

Sugar Cane (1786 ship)

Sugar Cane, was a three-decker merchantman and convict ship. In 1792 she transported convicts from Ireland to Australia. On her return trip she sailed from Bengal to Britain under contract to the British East India Company. During the French Revolutionary Wars she sailed under a letter of marque. In 1796 or 1797 she captured a French ship, but shortly thereafter was herself captured. The British Royal Navy recaptured her and she apparently was returned to service.

Career

She was launched in 1786 upon the Thames River. In 1789 Lloyd's Register showed her master as W. Seaton, her owners as Turner and Co., and her trade as London-St Vincent.

Under the command of Thomas Musgrave, she sailed from Portsmouth for Ireland, on 9 March 1793. Having embarked with 110 male and 50 female convicts, she left Cork, Ireland, on 12 April 1792. A sergeant's party from the New South Wales Corps provided the guards for the convicts.

On 25 May the Government's agent had a prisoner executed. The man had managed to get out of his irons and another prisoner had accused the man of planning a mutiny.Sugar Cane arrived at Rio de Janeiro in late June and left on 13 July.