Atlas (1801 ship)

Last updated

History
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameAtlas
Owner
  • Simon Temple, [1] South Shields (for own account) [2]
  • 1803:G. Clay
  • 1818: Hills & Co. [3]
  • 1820:Bullcott
Builder Temple shipbuilders, South Shields [4]
Launched18 June 1801 [4]
FateWrecked 9 May 1820
General characteristics
Tons burthen435, [1] or 43549⁄94, [4] or 437, [5] or 444 [2] (bm)
PropulsionSail
Complement34 [6]
Armament
  • 1801:12 x 6-pounder guns [6]
  • 1804:16 guns [7]
  • 1815:8 × 6-pounder guns + 2 × 6-pounder carronades

Atlas was built in Souths Shields by Temple and launched in 1801 for Temple. She made two voyages transporting convicts from Ireland or England to Port Jackson. On the first voyage she carried cargo for the British East India Company (EIC). On the second she sailed to Bengal after delivering her convicts to New South Wales and was wrecked off India in 1820 while on her way back to Britain.

Contents

Career

Lloyd's Register for 1802 gives the name of her master as G. Pilmore. [2] However, Richard Brooks received a letter of marque already on 17 August 1801. [6]

First convict and EIC voyage (1801–1803)

Under Brooks's command, between 1801 and 1803 Atlas sailed for the East India Company on a voyage that first had her carrying convicts from Ireland to Port Jackson, and then going on to China, before returning to England.

Atlas left Deptford on 16 July 1801, and Blackwall on 20 August. She reached Waterford on 19 September and Cork four days later. [8]

She sailed from Ireland on 29 November 1801. She arrived at Rio de Janeiro on 2 February 1802, [8] and also stopped at the Cape. Atlas arrived at Port Jackson on 7 July 1802. [9] [5]

Atlas embarked 151 male and 63 female convicts. Twenty-eight male and two female convicts died on the voyage; [10] others died just after disembarkation. Governor Philip Gidley King censured Brooks for this high death rate, which was the result of his negligence and the overcrowding that his transport of his personal cargo caused. Thomas Jamison, Atlas's surgeon, charged Brooks with assault in a civil action, and the transport commissioners threatened to prosecute him, but Brooks escaped punishment. [11]

Atlas left Port Jackson on 7 October 1802 bound for China. [9] She reached Whampoa on 14 December. By 18 April 1803 she was at St Helena, and on 18 June she finally reached Deptford. [8]

Armed ship

Following the resumption of war with France in early 1803, concern developed in Britain about Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom. The British government's response took many forms including the reactivation of Fencible regiments and the Sea Fencibles, a program of the construction of Martello Towers along the coasts of Britain and Ireland, and the commissioning of a number of armed defense ships.

The British East India Company in November voted to underwrite 10,000 tons (bm) of armed transports to protect Great Britain's coasts. The vessels were existing, but not EIC, merchantmen that would receive an upgrade in armament and that would receive a naval officer as captain. The vessels were: Albion, Anacreon, Atlas, Aurora, Chapman, Diadem, Duckenfield, Helder, Indefatigable, Lord Forbes, Lord Nelson, Norfolk, Paragon, Perseus, Robert, Sir Alexander Mitchell, Suffolk, and Triton. [7]

On 21 November 1803 Atlas, of 435 tons (bm) and 16 guns, was ready but had not yet been appointed to a station. On 29 August 1804 the armed ship Atlas and HMS Orestes departed the Downs for off Boulogne. [7]

Transport

Around late 1804 or in 1805 the Navy returned the armed defense ships to their owners. In the fall of 1805 a small naval squadron under the orders of Commodore Sir Home Popham escorted a fleet of transports, including Atlas, and East Indiamen carrying some 5000 soldiers under the command of Major-general Sir David Baird to attack the Dutch at the Cape of Good Hope. The fleet assembled at Madeira and touched at St. Salvador to replenish supplies. The expedition sailed again on the 26 November, and on 4 January 1806, in the evening, anchored to the west of Robben Island, preparatory to taking the Dutch colony.

After the invasion, on 13 March Atlas sailed as a cartel with the crews of Atalanta and Napoleon. [lower-alpha 1]

Merchantman

Lloyd's Register for 1806 still showed Atlas with G. Pilmore, master, and Temple & Co., owner, with her trade as London–Botany Bay. [16] As late as 1808, Lloyd's Register still showed Pilmore as master of Atlas and her trade as Botany Bay. Clearly, her owners had not bothered to provide updated information. She then disappeared from both Lloyd's Register and the Register of Shipping (RS), not returning to the registers until 1814.

The registers were only as accurate as owners choose to keep them. Also, they published at different times of the year. Thus discrepancies between them do appear.

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource & notesMasterOwnerTradeSource & notes
1814TurnbullBullcottLondon transportLR; good repair 1813 [17] RS
1816TurnbullBullcottLondon transportLR; thorough repair 1813Turnbull
Short		BullcottLondon transport
London–India		RS; good repair 1813; small repair 1816
1818J. ShortHillsLondon–IndiaLR; thorough repair 1813 & 1816ShortBullcottLondon–IndiaRS; small repairs 1816
1820J. ShortHillsLondon–New South WalesLR; thorough repair 1813 & 1816ShortBullcottLondon–IndiaRS; small repairs 1816

In 1813 the EIC lost its monopoly on the trade between India and Britain. British ships were then free to sail under a license from the EIC to India, the Indian Ocean, or the East Indies. [18]

On 25 June 1816, Atlas, Short, master, was at 35°40′S22°29′E / 35.667°S 22.483°E / -35.667; 22.483 while sailing from London to Batavia. [19]

Capture of a slaver

In February 1818 Atlas, Joseph Short, master, was sailing from Dundee when she encountered a Portuguese brig with 360 slaves from Mozambique. Atlas sent the brig into the Cape of Good Hope where HMS Eurydice detained the brig. [20]

Second convict voyage (1819–1820)

Atlas sailed from Gravesend, England on 10 June 1819, under the command of Joseph Short. She arrived at Port Jackson on 19 October. [21] She embarked with 156 male convicts. One male convict died on the voyage. [22] Atlas left Port Jackson on 10 January 1820 bound for Calcutta.

Fate

Atlas grounded on a shoal outside Poulicat, India, on 9 May 1820, during a terrible gale and was wrecked after splitting in two on the sands. Five crew members lost their lives. [23] [lower-alpha 2] The wreckage was sold for "760 pagodas". [24] [lower-alpha 3]

Notes

  1. ↑ The French frigate Atalante had been wrecked on 3 November 1805 in Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope. She was repaired but Commodore Home Riggs Popham's squadron drove her ashore on 10 January 1801 in Table Bay where her crew burnt her to prevent the British from capturing her. [12] Napoleon was a corvette that HMS Narcissus ran onshore on 25 December 1805 as Napoléon was coming from Table Bay. [13] [14] Napoléon's crew managed to escape. Napoléon, ex-Bonaparte, was a three-masted privateer from Saint-Malo built in 1803 and 1804, and commissioned at Saint-Servan in January 1805. Her draft was 3.35 metres empty, and 4.87 metres when fully loaded; she was of 400 tons (French; "of load"). She was armed with 28 guns (four 8-pounders, six 6-pounders, sixteen 32-pounder carronades, and two 36-pounder obusiers. She sailed to Isle de France (Mauritius) under Malo-Jean Le Nouvel with 147 to 180 men. She then made two more cruises from Île de France with 180 to 250 men, and 32 guns. French sources give the date and place of her loss as 23 November 1806 at Hood Bay. [15]
  2. ↑ Another account states that only three crew members lost their lives, but it is not clear whether the discrepancy in casualty numbers is due to two missing natives having been found alive, or simply not being counted. [24]
  3. ↑ These were presumably EIC "star pagodas", worth about 8 shillings each, making the value of the wreck only £264.

Citations

  1. 1 2 Tyne Built Ships – accessed 15 February 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 Lloyd's Register (1802), seq. no. A883.
  3. ↑ Lloyd's Register (1818), seq. no. A126.
  4. 1 2 3 Hackman (2001), p. 223.
  5. 1 2 Bateson (1959), pp. 288–9.
  6. 1 2 3 "Letter of Marque, p.51 – accessed 25 July 2017" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 "Naval Database". Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  8. 1 2 3 British Library: Atlas (2).
  9. 1 2 "Arrival of Vessels at Port Jackson, and their Departure". Australian Town and Country Journal, Saturday 3 January 1891, p.16. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
  10. ↑ Bateson (1959), p. 326.
  11. ↑ Parsons (1966).
  12. ↑ Winfield & Roberts (2015), p. 141.
  13. ↑ "No. 15894". The London Gazette . 25 February 1806. pp. 261–262.
  14. ↑ Naval Chronicle, Vol. 16, p.80.
  15. ↑ Demerliac (2003), p. 265, n°2031.
  16. ↑ Lloyd's Register (1806), Seq.№A1154.
  17. ↑ LR (1814), Supple. pages "A", Seq.№A76.
  18. ↑ Hackman (2001), p. 247.
  19. ↑ Lloyd's List №5118.
  20. ↑ Lloyd's List, 15 May 1818, n° 5280.
  21. ↑ Bateson 1959, pp. 292–3.
  22. ↑ Bateson 1959, p. 328.
  23. ↑ "Wreck of the Atlas". The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, Saturday 23 December 1820, p.3. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
  24. 1 2 Lloyd's List, 17 October 1820, n° 5534.

Related Research Articles

<i>Scarborough</i> (1782 ship)

Scarborough was a double-decked, three-masted, ship-rigged, copper-sheathed, barque that participated in the First Fleet, assigned to transport convicts for the European colonisation of Australia in 1788. Also, the British East India company (EIC) chartered Scarborough to take a cargo of tea back to Britain after her two voyages transporting convicts. She spent much of her career as a West Indiaman, trading between London and the West Indies, but did perform a third voyage in 1801–02 to Bengal for the EIC. In January 1805 she repelled a French privateer of superior force in a single-ship action, before foundering in April.

Tellicherry was a two-decker ship built on the Thames in 1796 in England for John St Barbe, a wealthy merchant and ship owner. She made four voyages as an "extra ship" for the East India Company. Later, she made one trip to Australia transporting convicts. She was wrecked in 1806 in the Philippines.

Bellona was a three-decker merchantman launched in 1782 at Limehouse by Woolcombe for Boyd & Co. She then traded for a decade before, in 1792, commencing a series of four voyages for the British East India Company as an "extra ship", that is, on a charter contract. During the first of these voyages she transported convicts from Britain to New South Wales. French privateers captured her and the British Royal Navy recaptured her, the Royal Navy seized her once, and then finally a French privateer captured her in February 1810 and scuttled her.

Minerva was a merchantman launched in 1773 in the East Indies. She traded there for more than 20 years before she made three voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). The first EIC voyage was from 1796 to 1798. In 1799 she transported convicts from Ireland to Australia while under charter to the EIC. From Australia she sailed to Bengal, and then back to Britain. She underwent repairs in 1802 and then traveled to St Helena and Bengal for the EIC. She was lost in 1805 or 1806 under circumstances that are currently unclear.

Canada was a merchant ship launched at Shields in 1800. She made five trips transporting convicts to Australia. On two of those trips she was also under charter to the British East India Company (EIC). When she was not transporting convicts Canada traded with the West Indies, and with Canada until c.1832.

Perseus was a sailing ship built in 1799 at Stockton-on-Tees, England. She made one voyage transporting convicts to New South Wales, returning to England via Canton. In 1803-1804 she served as an "armed defense ship". Thereafter she served as a transport. She is last listed in 1844.

Hercules was a sailing ship built in 1801 at South Shields, England. She made one trip transporting convicts to Port Jackson. She made two trips for the British East India Company (EIC), and was homeward bound from the second of these when the French privateer Napoleon captured her off the Cape of Good Hope.

Coromandel was the French prize Modeste, captured in 1793 and refitted at Chittagong, British India. She made two voyages transporting convicts to Port Jackson, the first for the British East India Company (EIC). A French privateer captured her in 1805, but she had returned to British hands before 1809. An American privateer captured her in 1814, but this time the British Royal Navy recaptured her within days. She foundered in Indian waters on 6 February 1821.

Minorca was a merchant ship launched in 1799 at Newcastle upon Tyne, England. She made one voyage in 1801 transporting convicts to New South Wales. For her return voyage to Britain she was under contract to the British East India Company (EIC).

Experiment was launched in 1798 at Stockton-on-Tees, England. Between late 1800 and 1802 she made a voyage to India for the British East India Company (EIC). In 1803 she transported convicts to Port Jackson. In 1805, on her way home the French captured her, but the British recaptured her. In 1808 she became a West Indiaman. Still, in 1818 or so she sailed out to India. Experiment was condemned at Batavia in 1818 and sold there in 1819 for breaking up.

Warren Hastings was built in 1789 at Calcutta, India. Her registry was transferred to Great Britain in 1796. In 1805 she was sold and her new owners renamed her Speke. She made three voyages transporting convicts from Britain to New South Wales. After her first convict voyage she engaged in whaling.

City of Edinburgh was a merchant ship built at Bengal in 1813. She transferred to British registry and sailed between Britain and India. She made two voyages transporting convicts from Ireland to Australia. Later, she made a whaling voyage to New Zealand. She was wrecked in 1840.

Eliza was a merchant ship built in British India, probably in 1804. Between 1819 and 1831 she made five voyages transporting convicts from England and Ireland to Australia. In between, she also made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). Her crew abandoned her at sea in 1836 as she was leaking uncontrollably.

Ocean was launched in 1802 at Quebec. She made five voyages under charter to the British East India Company (EIC) between 1804 and 1814. Her owners then sold her and she continued to sail between Britain and India under a license issued by the EIC. In 1815–1816 she made one voyage transporting convicts to Australia. She was last listed in 1825.

Nutwell was launched at Great Yarmouth in 1800. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC), bringing back rice from Bengal at the behest of the British government. On her return she became a West Indiaman, trading with Jamaica, until the 1806 Great Coastal hurricane overturned her.

Peggy was built at Calcutta in 1793 and initially sailed in the Indian coastal and Far East trade. In 1801 she assumed British registry and her name was changed to Juliana. Her owners sold her to the Transport Board but in 1804 the government resold her and she was sailing as a West Indiaman between London and Antigua. She then made two voyages for the British East India Company (EIC), and one voyage to Hobart, Van Dieman's Land, transporting convicts. On her return from this voyage she wrecked in 1821 on the English coast.

<i>Minerva</i> (1805 ship) British merchant and convict vessel (1805–1826)

Minerva was launched at Lancaster, Lancashire, in 1805. Following trading with Central and South America, she made two voyages under charter to the British East India Company (EIC) between 1811 and 1814. She also made four voyages transporting convicts to Australia between 1818 and 1824, one to Van Diemen's Land and three voyages to New South Wales. She was broken up in 1826.

General Stuart was launched in 1801 as an East Indiaman. She made seven voyages as an "extra ship" for the British East India Company (EIC) between 1801 and 1814. She then sailed between England and India under a license from the EIC. In 1819 she transported convicts from England to New South Wales. She continued to trade with Australia and was last listed in 1825.

Paragon was launched at Whitby in 1800. Between 1803 and 1805 she served as an armed defense ship protecting Britain's coasts and convoys. She then served as a transport on the 1805 naval expedition to capture the Cape of Good Hope. Next, she returned to mercantile service and in 1814 a French privateer captured her, but the British Royal Navy recaptured her the next day. She sailed to India in 1818 under a license from the British East India Company (EIC), and was wrecked in March 1819 while inbound to Calcutta.

Lord Wellington was launched in 1810 at Rochester, or equally, Chatham, as a West Indiaman. She made at least one voyage to India under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She then made a voyage to New South Wales transporting female convicts from England and Ireland. She was lost in December 1822 off Denmark while sailing from Saint Petersburg to London.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.