Alexander (1806 ship)

Last updated

History
Flag of the United States.svg United States
Launched1801
FateSold? 1806
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
Acquired1806
FateLast listed 1816
General characteristics
Tons burthen313, [1] or 314, or 317 [2] [1] (bm)
Complement
Armament
  • 1806:4 × 6-pounder guns + 2 × 18-pounder carronades + 10 × 12-pounder carronades
  • 1808:4 × 6-pounder guns + 2 × 18-pounder + 10 × 12-pounder carronades
  • 1809: 16 × 9&6-pounder cannons
  • 1811:8 × 6-pounder guns

Alexander was launched in 1801 in the United States, possibly under another name. She became a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people, sailing from Liverpool. A French privateer captured her after she had landed her captives at Berbice. Alexander returned to British ownership and became a West Indiaman, and then a transport. She was last listed in 1816 but may have been sold or broken up in 1815.

Contents

Career

Alexander first appeared in Lloyd's Register in 1806. [2]

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource & notes
1806R.PrincePickup & Co.Liverpool–AfricaLR

Although LR gave Alexander's master's name as Prince, it was actually Pince. Captain Robert Pince acquired a letter of marque on 6 May 1806. [1]

Captain Robert Pince sailed from Liverpool on 10 June 1806 to acquire captives in West Africa. Alexander arrived at Berbice on 20 December with 347 captives. She had left Liverpool with 42 crew members and she had suffered eight crew deaths on the voyage. She sailed for Liverpool on 17 February 1807. [3]

The French privateer Alert, of 20 guns and 150–200 men, captured, Alexander, Pince, master, and Ann, Strahan, master, both of Liverpool, and took them into Guadeloupe. Alert also captured Harriet, Thompson, master, of Lancaster, but HMS Mosambique recaptured Harriet. [4] In the engagement with Alerte at 26°15′N58°10′W / 26.250°N 58.167°W / 26.250; -58.167 , Alexander suffered four men killed and Captain Pince and four men wounded before Alexander struck. After she captured Alexander, Alerte captured Harriet. Alerte was the former Otway. [5]

By one study, in 1807, twelve British vessels involved in transporting enslaved people were lost, with none being lost while homeward bound. [6] This study obviously missed Alexander, perhaps because Lloyd's List did not describe Alexander as a homeward-bound Guineaman. During the period 1793 to 1807, war, rather than maritime hazards or resistance by the captives, was the greatest cause of vessel losses among British enslaving vessels. [7]

Alexander quickly returned to British ownership, though it is not entirely clear how. She may have been the "English Ship Alexander, laden with Indigo, Cotton, Copper, and Dry Wood" that the Royal Navy captured in the harbour on 21 December 1807 when the Danish island of Saint Thomas capitulated to the forces under Rear-Admiral the Honourable Sir Alexander Cochrane. [8]

Captain Josiah Perrin acquired a letter of marque on 23 September 1808. [1]

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource & notes
1808R.Prince
Perrin		Pickup & Co.Liverpool–AfricaLR
1809J.PerrinLancasterLiverpool–BrazilLR
1810T.PerrinLancasterLiverpool–West IndiesRS; small repairs 1808

In the middle of March 1810, an Alexander was on shore near Rio Grande. She was on her way from Liverpool to Pernambuco. [9] Earlier, on 11 October 1809, Alexander, of Liverpool, Pince [sic], master, had arrived at Rio de Janeiro from Liverpool. [10]

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource
1811Perrin
Surflen		LancasterLiverpool–Martinique
London transport		LR;
1816SurflinDoddLondon TransportLR

Alexander, Surflen, master, last appeared in Lloyd's List 's ship arrival and departure data as sailing from Cork on 18 January 1815, bound for Bermuda together with a number of other vessels. Alexander was last listed in 1816.

By early 1816 Captain Surflen was master of a different Alexander, sailing to India.

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Letter of Marque, p.49 - accessed 25 July 2017" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  2. 1 2 LR (1806), Supple. pages "A", Seq.No.A57.
  3. ↑ Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – Alexander voyage #80158.
  4. ↑ Caledonian Mercury (Edinburgh, Scotland), 23 May 1807; Issue 13321.
  5. ↑ "LIVERPOOL, MAY 21". Lancaster Gazette and General Advertiser, for Lancashire, Westmorland, &c. (Lancaster, England), 23 May 1807; Issue 310.
  6. ↑ Inikori (1996), p. 62.
  7. ↑ Inikori (1996), p. 58.
  8. ↑ "No. 16116". The London Gazette . 9 February 1808. p. 199.
  9. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4459. 18 May 1810. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735024.
  10. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4424. 19 January 1810. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735024.

Related Research Articles

Otway was a French or Spanish vessel built in 1799 that became a Liverpool-based slave ship in 1800. She made four voyages in the triangular trade in enslaved people, delivering captives from West Africa to the West Indies before the French Navy captured her in 1806. She became the Guadeloupe-based privateer Alerte and captured a number of British merchantmen before the Royal Navy captured her i October 1807.

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Alexander was launched in France or Spain in 1797, probably under another name, and taken in prize circa 1799, when she was lengthened and raised. She was registered at Liverpool in 1801 and proceeded to make six voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She then sailed to Brazil and the West Indies and was last listed in 1809.

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References

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