Career
Backhouse entered Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1799. [3]
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source |
|---|
| 1799 | Roberts
Wishman | Backhouse | Hull–Jamaica | LR |
| 1800 | T.Roberts
J.Redman | Backhouse | Hull–Jamaica | LR. [1] |
| 1801 | T.Roberts | Backhouse | Liverpool–Jamaica | LR [4] |
|
Captain Thomas Roberts received a letter of marque for Backhouse on 18 December 1800. [2] She then made two whaling voyages for Mather & Co. Although ownership of Backhouse apparently changed to Mather & Co. in 1801, this did not appear in Lloyd's Register until 1803.
Whaling voyage #1 (1801–1803):Backhhouse sailed in 1801 with Hugh Wyer (or Weyer), master. At some point Captain Tristram Bunker replaced Wyer. She returned to Britain on 4 January 1803. Her owner was Mather & Co. [5]
Whaling voyage #2 (1803–1805):Backhouse, Tristram Bunker, master, left Britain on 1 February 1803, bound for the Galapagos Islands. She reached at Cape Verde on 7 March. [5] She and Coldstream were well off the coast of "Chili" in July and August. [6] She, Coldstream, and Wilding were next reported "all well" at the "Gallipagos" by 4 October. [7] In May 1804 she was off the coast of Peru. On 5 August she was reported around Cape Horn. She returned to Britain on 11 July 1805. [5]
Lloyd's Register for 1805 showed Backhouse changing hands again, and undergoing repairs. Her owner became Captain & Co., her master was Kelly, and her trade was now London-West Indies instead of London-Chilli. [8] The Register of Shipping showed her master changing to Kelly, her owner to Cox & Co., and her trade changing from London–Southern Fishery to London–Demerara.
The ship that became Mary Ann was built in 1772 in France and the British captured her c. 1778. Her name may have been Ariadne until 1786 when she started to engage in whaling. Next, as Mary Ann, she made one voyage transporting convicts to New South Wales from England. In 1794 the French captured her, but by 1797 she was back in her owners' hands. She then made a slave trading voyage. Next, she became a West Indiaman, trading between London or Liverpool to Demerara. It was on one of those voyages in November 1801 that a French privateer captured her.
Speedy was a whaler launched on the Thames in 1779. She also made voyages to New South Wales, transporting female convicts in 1799. She made two voyages transporting slaves in 1805 and 1806, and was captured in January 1807 on her way into London after having delivered her slaves to Antigua in 1806.
Charming Kitty was a ship captured from the Spanish. She first appears in the Protection Lists for whalers in 1799. She conducted four whaling voyages between 1799 and 1808 before becoming a West Indiaman, trading with the Caribbean. She was wrecked in October 1813.
The British East India Company (EIC) had Whim built for use as a fast dispatch vessel. She was sold in 1802 and became a whaler that a French privateer captured and released, and then a merchant vessel. She is no longer listed after 1822.
Tobago was a ship launched in 1790. She came into British hands in 1793 and was probably a prize taken immediately after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in early 1793. She traded with Tobago for several years before new owners purchased her for whaling. She made two whaling voyages to the East Coast of Africa before her owners sold her to new owners. She then made two voyages as a slave ship. She was abandoned or condemned in 1802.
Mather & Co. were three brothers that began in commerce and contracting for the British Royal Navy. They became owners of whalers and between them at one or another time were owners or part-owners of up to 29 vessels that engaged in the British Southern Whale Fishery between 1775 and 1815.
DuBuc was a vessel captured in 1797 and sold that year for mercantile use. She initially became a West Indiaman, but then the whaling company Mather & Co. purchased her. She made four voyages for them, being condemned at Hobart in October 1808.
Nutwell was launched at Great Yarmouth in 1800. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). On her return she became a West Indiaman, trading with Jamaica, until the 1806 Great Coastal hurricane overturned her.
Crescent was launched at Rotherhithe in 1790. She initially traded with the Levant, particularly Smyrna. After the outbreak of war with France she may have tried her hand as a privateer. In 1796–1798 she made a voyage to the East Indies, almost surely on behalf of the British East India Company (EIC). A French privateer captured her but the British Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. In 1802-1804 she made one voyage as a slave ship carrying slaves from West Africa to Jamaica. In 1805 she became a whaler. She was lost in 1807 off Patagonia while homeward bound from her first whaling voyage.
Eliza was built in Spain in 1794 under another name and taken as a prize circa 1800. She then made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). On her return she made one voyage to Timor as a whaler. She next became a West Indiaman. In 1810 she apparently was sold to Portuguese interests and who continued to sail her under the name Courier de Londres. She is last listed in 1814.
Eliza was a French prize that made nine voyages as a whaler between 1802 and 1822. She is last listed in 1824.
Wilding was launched at Liverpool in 1788 and spent much of her career as a West Indiaman, sailing between Liverpool and Jamaica. During this time, in November 1794, she participated in a single-ship action during which her opponent, a French privateer, blew up. In 1798 after a series of captures and recaptures she briefly became a transport for the French Navy, but a final recapture returned her to British hands. Later, she made one voyage to the South Pacific as a whaler, and one voyage to the Cape of Good Hope as a victualler for the 1795-1796 invasion of the Cape. She traded with the West Indies, Africa, the United States, and Russia. Her crew abandoned her in September 1824, dismasted and in a sinking state.
Kingston was launched at Bristol in 1780 as a West Indiaman. From 1798 she made ten voyages as a whaler. She then briefly sailed between England and Quebec, and is last listed in 1819.
Allison was launched in France in 1776, almost certainly under another name. The British captured her in 1795. Between 1796 and 1799 she made two whaling voyages to the Southern Whale Fishery. Then between 1799 and 1807 she made three voyages as a slave ship. Between the first and the second a French privateer captured her, but British letters of marque recaptured her. The British slave trade was abolished in 1807 and thereafter Allison traded primarily as a coaster. After about 1840 she began to trade to America and Africa. She was lost c.1846.
Charlton, was built in America. She first appeared in British-origin online records in 1803. She made three complete voyages as a whaler. She was on her fourth voyage when the U.S. Navy captured her. After her captors released her she returned to England and then disappears from easily accessible online records.
Caerwent was built at Rotherhithe and launched in 1799. She was a West Indiaman that the French captured in 1803 and the British Royal Navy recaptured shortly thereafter. She made one voyage as a whaler, but then returned to the West Indies trade. She was lost at Jackmel, Hayti, in May 1810.
Coldstream was launched at Shields in 1788. She first appeared under the Coldstream name in Lloyd's Register in 1800; her earlier history is currently obscure. Between 1801 and 1805 she made two voyages to the Southern Whale Fishery. A French privateer captured her in 1805 during the second.
Minerva was taken in prize from the Spanish, and may have been built in America. She made six voyages as a slave ship. She is last listed in 1813 but with data stale since her last slave voyage in 1807.
Aurora was launched at Whitby in 1789. Between 1799 and 1806 she made four voyages as a whaler to the British Southern Whale Fishery. She was last listed in 1809 with stale data since her whaling voyages.
Earl Fauconberg was launched at Whitby in 1765. From 1784 on she made numerous voyages as a Greenland whaler. She was lost there in 1821.
