| History | |
|---|---|
 Great Britain | |
| Name | Beaver |
| Namesake | Beaver |
| Launched | 1793, Thames [1] |
| Captured | 1797 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen | 287 [1] (bm) |
| Armament |
|
Beaver was launched on the Thames in 1793. She traded between London and Canada but in 1796 she became a whaler in the Southern whale fishery. The Spanish captured her in 1797 off the south American coast, shortly after the outbreak of war between Spain and Britain.
Beaver first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1793. [1]
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1793 | J.Beatson | Illegible | London–Montreal | LR |
| 1795 | J.Beatson Boyd | M'Tavish | London–Quebec | LR |
| 1796 | Boyd B.Gardner | M'Tavish | London–Quebec London–South Seas | LR |
Alexander and Benjamin Champion acquired Beaver to sail her as a whaler in the Southern Whale Fishery. Captain Barnabas Gardner sailed from London on 8 April 1796, bound for Chile.
Beaver was near the Cape Verde Islands by 13 May. By December she was off the coast of Chile. Then on 8 March 1797 she was off Concepcion. [2]
Spain declared war on Great Britain on 7 October 1796. However, took some time for the news to reach the Pacific. Early in 1797 the Spanish captured Lydia, Betsey, and Levant. Following the capture of Commerce, Clark, master, at Pisco in April 1797, the Spanish captured a number of other British vessels in Talcahuano, Coquimbo, and Valparaiso. By 23 May, the Spanish had captured Beaver, Castor, Charmilly, Alderney, Jupiter, and Atlantic. [3]
Lloyd's List reported on 13 February 1798 that Beaver, Gardner, master, was one of several British whalers that the Spanish had captured off the coasts of Chile and Peru. The report included the other vessels listed above. [4]
Indispensable was a sailing ship built in France and launched in 1791. She was captured in 1793 at the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars and thus came into British hands, keeping her name. She performed two voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) between 1793 and 1797. During this period and later she made two voyages transporting convicts to New South Wales. Amongst her notable events were the discovery of Indispensable Strait (1794), the capture of a Spanish vessel (1798), and the rescue of some castaways (1814). She later went on serve as a whaler in the South Seas until autumn 1827. She ceased trading after this last voyage and was broken up by April 1830.
Vautour was a French privateer launched in 1797 at Nantes that made three privateering voyages. The Royal Navy captured her in 1800 during her fourth cruise. Private owners acquired her prior to late 1801 and employed her as the whaler Vulture in the South Seas whale fisheries between 1801 and 1809. A Spanish privateer captured her in 1809.
HMS Flirt was launched in 1782 but was completed too late to see any significant service in the American War of Independence. She then spent most of the years of peace in British waters. She sailed to Jamaica in 1791, but was laid up in Deptford in November 1792, and did not return to service before being sold in 1795. Daniel Bennett purchased her, had her almost rebuilt, and then employed her as a whaler in the Southern Whale Fishery. A French privateer captured her in 1803 as Flirt was returning to Britain from a whaling voyage.
Butterworth was launched in 1778 in France as the highly successful 32-gun privateer Américaine, of Granville. The British Royal Navy captured her early in 1781. She first appeared in a commercial role in 1784 as America, and was renamed in 1785 as Butterworth. She served primarily as a whaler in the Greenland whale fisheries. New owners purchased her in 1789. She underwent a great repair in 1791 that increased her size by almost 20%. She is most famous for her role in the "Butterworth Squadron", which took her and two ship's tenders on an exploration, sealing, otter fur, and whaling voyage to Alaska and the Pacific Coast of North America. She and her consorts are widely credited with being the first European vessels to enter, in 1794, what is now Honolulu harbour. After her return to England in 1795, Butterworth went on three more whaling voyages to the South Pacific, then Africa, and then the South Pacific again. In 1802 she was outward bound on her fourth of these voyage, this to the South Pacific, when she was lost.
HMS Alderney was a 10-gun Alderney-class sloop of the Royal Navy that saw active service during the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War. Launched in 1757, she was principally deployed in the North Sea to protect British fishing fleets and merchant trade. In this capacity she captured two American privateers, Hawk in 1779 and the 12-gun Lady Washington in 1780. She was removed from Navy service at the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War, and sold into private hands at Deptford Dockyard on 1 May 1783. She became the whaler Alderney that operated between 1784 and 1797, when the Spaniards captured her off Chile.
Renown was launched in 1794 at New Bedford, Massachusetts. She made four voyages from Nantucket as a whaler. In 1813, while she was on her fifth American whaling voyage, she became the first American whaler that British whalers captured in the South Seas. She was sold in London and under the name Adam became first a London-based transport and then a British Southern Whale Fishery whaler. She made four whaling voyages and was wrecked in 1825 at the outset of her fifth British whaling voyage.
Hector was a 19th-century ship that the British captured around 1809. She became a West Indiaman, making at least one voyage to Hayti. New owners in 1811 sent her off to the Pacific to engage in whale hunting. There the Spanish detained her, but then released her. Next, the United States Navy captured her in an engagement. Her captors took her into Valparaiso, where they burnt her in February 1814.
Commerce was launched at Liverpool in 1791. She was initially a West Indiaman. New owners in 1795 sent Commerce to the southern whale fishery in 1796. The Spanish captured her in 1797, but by 1799 she had returned to British ownership. She then traded generally until a French privateer captured her in 1805.
Hope was built at Liverpool in 1770, though it is not clear under what name. She first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1786 as a Greenlandman, a whaler in the British northern whale fishery. From 1789 on she was a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She then made five whaling voyages to Africa or the South Pacific. On the fifth she captured Haasje; this resulted in a court case over the distribution of prize money. Hope was last listed in 1798.
Morse was launched in 1747 for the British Royal Navy, but under another name. After 1775 she was John and Alice (1775), Potomack (1776–1779), Betsy (1780-1781), and then in 1782 Resolution. In 1784 S. Mellish purchased her and she became the whaler Morse. She initially engaged in whale hunting in the British northern whale fishery. Then from 1787 she made numerous voyages as a whaler primarily in the southern whale fishery, but with some returns to the northern fishery. There is no further mention of her in Lloyd's List Ship arrival and departure (SAD) data after August 1802.
Antelope was a French vessel launched in 1795 and captured circa 1798. She sailed primarily as a West Indiaman until circa 1804 when Daniel Bennett purchased her and sent her out as a privateer operating off South America, first in the Atlantic and then the Pacific. A Spanish armed merchantman captured her in 1805, in a single ship action that resulted in the death of Antelope's master. A Spanish merchant then sent Antelope to Spain.
Harriot was launched in Spain in 1794, almost surely under another name, and taken in prize in 1797. She made two voyages as a London-based slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. Under new ownership, she then made three voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. A privateer captured her as she was returning from her third whale-hunting voyage but the British Royal Navy recaptured her. After her recapture she became a merchantman. She was captured and condemned at Lima, Peru in March-April 1809 as a smuggler.
Nimble was built in Folkestone in 1781, possibly under another name. In 1786 Nimble was almost rebuilt and lengthened. Between 1786 and 1798 she made nine voyages as a whaler in the British Southern Whale Fishery. Between 1799 and 1804 she made four voyages from Liverpool as a slave ship. On her first voyage as to gather captives she detained a neutral vessel, an action that resulted in a court case. On her second voyage to gather captives, a French privateer captured her, but the Royal Navy recaptured her. She was sold in 1804 at St Thomas after she had delivered her captives.
Vigilant was built in Britain, but the date and place of her launching are obscure. Vigilant first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1802, having undergone a repair in that year, which suggests that she may have been launched some years earlier under another name. She made one complete voyage as a whaler to the British Southern Whale Fishery, and was captured in the Pacific on her second whaling voyage.
Necker was a whaler built and manned by Americans but operating out of Dunkirk and sailing with French papers and under the French flag. Her masters came primarily from Nantucket, drawn by a French government program to build a French whaling industry based there. She made three whaling voyages to Greenland, the coast of Brazil, and the Pacific. On the voyage to the Pacific she transited Cape Horn in company with the brigantine Hope, under the command of the sealer and explorer Joseph Ingraham. The Spanish authorities detained her on suspicion of smuggling, but then released her. A British privateer captured Necker in September 1793 after the outbreak of war with France while Necker was returning to Dunkirk from Brazil and her fourth voyage.
Sparrow was built in Bombay in 1777, possibly under another name. Between 1789 and 1798 Sparrow made several voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. In 1803 she was captured and recaptured. The French Navy captured and burnt her in 1806.
Castor & Pollux was launched at Teignmouth in 1790. Initially she traded with the Mediterranean, and on one voyage suffered a fire at sea. She then became a West Indiaman. In 1799 she commenced a voyage as a whaler. A Spanish privateer captured her in the Pacific circa 1801.
HMS Inspector was launched at Wivenhoe in 1782 as the only vessel built to her design. She participated in one campaign and also captured a handful of small merchant vessels before the Navy sold her in 1802. Most notably, her crew participated in the mutiny at the Nore. After her sale, she became the whaler Inspector. She made six complete voyages to the British southern whale fishery. A Chilean privateer captured her in May 1819. Eventually she was condemned as unseaworthy at Santander in 1821.
Chaser first appeared under that name in British records in 1786. She had been launched in 1771 at Philadelphia under another name, probably Lord North. Lord North became Cotton Planter, and then Planter, before she became Chaser. Between 1786 and 1790 Chaser made four voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She then became a merchantman. In 1794 a privateer captured her but the Spanish recaptured her. She became a Liverpool-based Slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. In 1796 she was condemned in West Africa on her first voyage in the triangular trade before she could embark any enslaved people.
Several ships have been named Lucy.