Aurora (1782 ship)

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Hull Greenland whaler Aurora.jpg
The Greenland whaler Aurora, of Hull; Robert Willoughby, Hull Maritime Museum
History
British-Red-Ensign-1707.svgGreat Britain
NameAurora
BuilderHull
Launched1782
FateWrecked 27 August 1821
General characteristics
Tons burthen366, [1] or 370, or 470, [2] or 500 [3] (bm)
Armament
  • 1782:4 × 3-pounder guns [3]
  • 1795:6 × 6-pounder guns [2]
  • 1800:8 × 6-pounder guns [1]
  • 1806:10 × 9-pounder guns

Aurora was launched at Kingston upon Hull. She traded with the Baltic until 1803 when she became a Greenland whaler. She was lost in 1821 on her 18th voyage to the northern whale fishery.

Contents

Merchantman

Aurora first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1782 with Robinson, master, Hall & Co., owners, and trade Hull–Riga, changing to London transport. [3]

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource & notes
1786J.Robinson
W. Proctor
F.Hall Narva–HullLR
1790S.LazenbyHall & Co.Narva–HullLR
1795T.Scofield
J.Hall
F.HallHull–PetersburgLR; [2] new deck 1792 & repairs 1793
1800CampionT.Hall & Co.Hull–PetersburgLR; damages repaired 1797 [1]

Lloyd's List (LL) reported on 20 December 1799, apparently erroneously, that Aurora, Campion, master, had been lost near Cronstadt while sailing from Petersburg to London. [4]

Greenland whaler

LR for 1803 showed Aurora with Campion, master, Hall & Co., owners, changing to Gilder, and trade Hull–Petersburg, changing to Hull–Greenland. [5] She underwent repairs for damages in 1803, and Sadler became her master.

The following whaling data is from Lloyd's List (master and grounds), and Coltish (whale oil): [6]

YearMasterWhereWhales Tuns whale oil
1803SadlerGreenland182
1804SadlerGreenland214
1805SadlerGreenland26244

By one account, in 1804, Captain Sadler took 44 whales that yielded only 190 butts. [7]

In 1805, Aurora rescued the crew of Maria, of Hull, Ross, master. Maria had been lost on the "Johns-a-Main". Two of Maria's crew died in an accident to one of Aurora's boats. [8] [lower-alpha 1] In addition to the 26 whales and 244 tons of oil, Aurora took nine tons of whale bone. [9]

YearMasterWhereWhales Tuns whale oil
1806SadlerGreenland12 [10] 160/400 butts
YearMasterOwnerTradeSource & notes
1806A. SadlerJ. GilderHull–GreenlandRegister of Shipping; thorough repair 1797, new wales 1803, & good repair 1805
1807SadlerGreenland28 [11] 230/570 butts [11]

LL reported in March 1808 that Aurora had had to put back into Hull. She had been bound for Greenland but had gotten on shore. [12] Despite the delay this caused, in 1808 Aurora had the most successful voyage of her career in terms of the amount of whale oil she gathered. It was also the ninth-best haul in the history of the Hull whaling fleet. [13]

YearMasterWhereWhales Tuns whale oil
1808SadlerGreenland38 [14] 263/700 butts [14]
1809SadlerGreenland180
1810SadlerGreenland13146/366 butts [15]

In the 1810 season, Aurora, Sadler, master, was the most successful whaler from Greenland. [15]

YearMasterWhereWhales Tuns whale oil
1811SadlerGreenland39250/630 butts [16]
1812SadlerGreenland22 or 24 [17] 156, or 210 [17]
1813SadlerGreenland220
1814SadlerGreenland24189

In 1813, Aurora, Sadler, master, had been beset by ice from the middle of April to early July. [18]

LL reported that Aurora, Sadler, master, had had to put into Aberdeen on 20 April 1815 leaky. She had been bound for Greenland and had gotten as far as latitude 63°N before she had had to put back. [19] She finally sailed at the end of April. [20]

YearMasterWhereWhales Tuns whale oil
1815SadlerGreenland669
1816SadlerGreenland1276
1817SadlerGreenland570

In 1818 Sadler became master of Jane, sailing her to Greenland.

YearMasterWhereWhales Tuns whale oil
1818GriswoodGreenland795
1819GriswoodGreenland119
1820ThomasGreenland980
1821Davis Strait9

The first week of June 1820, saw heavy ice. Aurora had to saw a dock in ice 12' thick. [21]

Fate

Aurora, of Hull, Thomas, master, was lost on 27 August 1821 at Davis Strait. At the time of her loss she had taken 10 fish. [22] Aurora was one of 11 ships sunk during the 1821 season. She was on her first voyage to Davis Strait. [23]

Note

  1. Maria, of Hull and of 204 tons (bm), was launched at Liverpool in 1766.

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 LR (1800), Seq.No.A634.
  2. 1 2 3 LR (1795), Seq.№A611.
  3. 1 2 3 LR (1782), Seq.№A463.
  4. LL No.4018.
  5. LR (1803), Seq.A1005.
  6. Coltish (c. 1842).
  7. Lubbock (1937), p. 165.
  8. Lubbock (1937), p. 168.
  9. Lubbock (1937), p. 169.
  10. Lubbock (1937), p. 178.
  11. 1 2 Lubbock (1937), p. 180.
  12. LL №4240.
  13. Munroe (1854), p. 39.
  14. 1 2 Lubbock (1937), p. 182.
  15. 1 2 Lubbock (1937), p. 186.
  16. Lubbock (1937), p. 188.
  17. 1 2 Lubbock (1937), p. 191.
  18. Lubbock (1937), p. 194.
  19. LL №4967.
  20. Lubbock (1937), p. 199.
  21. Lubbock (1937), p. 215.
  22. Lloyd's List №5636.
  23. Lubbock (1937), p. 227.

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<i>Jane</i> (1813 Hull ship) British merchantman and whaler 1818–1866

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Princess Charlotte was launched in 1814 at South Shields. She initially sailed as West Indiaman. Then between 1818 and 1819 she made a voyage to India and one to Ceylon, both under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). On her return in 1819, Princess Charlotte became a whaler in the northern whale fishery. She continued whale hunting until ice crushed her on 14 June 1856.

Fame was launched in India in 1786. She was sold to Portuguese owners. A French privateer captured but the Royal Navy recaptured her in 1794. She then became a West Indiaman, sailing from Liverpool. Between 1796 and 1804 she made three voyages as a slave ship. She then returned to the West Indies trade. From 1818 on she was a whaler in the Greenland whale fishery, sailing from Whitby and then Hull. She burnt in 1823 while outward bound on a whaling voyage.

<i>Isabella</i> (1813 ship) British merchantman and whaler 1813–1835

Isabella was launched in Kingston upon Hull in 1813. She initially sailed as a transport, and then as a merchantman trading with Canada. In 1817 the British Admiralty hired her as one of two vessels that would go on an expedition to search for a Northwest Passage. The expedition was unsuccessful. In 1820 she underwent two maritime mishaps, only one of which was substantive. From 1824 until she wrecked in the ice in June 1835 she was a whaler in the northern whale fishery.

Cumbrian was launched at Shields in 1811. Initially, during the last years of the Napoleonic Wars, Cumbrian was a transport. After the end of the war she became a West Indiaman. In 1817 she made one voyage to Bengal, sailing under a licence from the British East India Company (EIC). In 1819 she became a whaler, sailing from Kingston upon Hull to the northern whale fishery. From 1835 on she left whaling and started trading more widely, to North America, Bombay, and Africa. She was driven ashore in August 1844, refloated, and subsequently condemned.

Gibraltar was launched in 1776 in France, almost certainly under another name. Between 1787 and 1795, she was a whaler in the northern whale (Greenland) fishery. A French privateer captured her in February 1796 as she was on her way to the fishery, and burnt her. Her loss led the British government to increase the protection of the outward-bound whaling fleet.

Dwina was launched at Kingston upon Hull in 1792. She primarily traded between Hull and Baltic ports, though she did make some voyages to the Mediterranean. In 1802 she became a whaler in the northern whale fishery. She made two complete voyages; ice wrecked her in 1804 shortly after she arrived at Greenland on her third voyage.

References