History | |
---|---|
Great Britain | |
Name | Biscayneer |
Launched | 1779 |
Renamed | Retreat (1783) |
Fate | Last listed 1784 |
General characteristics | |
Tons burthen | 80 (bm) |
Complement | 30 (as privateer) |
Armament | 8 × 4-pounder guns (1779-1783) |
Notes | One mast |
Biscayneer was a cutter launched in 1779. From at least 1781 on she was a privateer based in Dartmouth, Devon. She captured or recaptured several vessels before her owner-captain sold her in 1783 after the end of the American War of Independence. New owners renamed her Retreat. She was last listed in 1784.
Biscyneir first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1782. [1]
Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source |
---|---|---|---|---|
1782 | Crowte | Captain & Co. | Dartmouth privateer | LR |
Captain William Croute had acquired a letter of marque on 17 April 1781. Biscayneer's owner was listed as Robert Newman & Co. This was a letter of marque against France. He had earlier acquired letters of marque against the United States, Spain, and Holland. [lower-alpha 1]
Lloyd's List reported in June 1781 that the Dartmouth privateer Biscayneer, Crowte, master, had taken and sent into Dartmouth a French brig carrying a cargo of wine, brandy and bale goods. [3] Prize money was awarded on 6 December 1781 for the French vessel Valiant.
A year or so later, in July 1782, Lloyd's List reported that the privateer Biscayneer had recaptured Saville , Ray, master, one of the Newfoundland fleet, and brought her into Dartmouth. [4] Biscayneer would have been entitled to salvage for the recapture.
Later in July, Biscayneer, Crowte, master, captured and sent into Dartmouth Modeste, which had been sailing from Ferrol in ballast. [5] The Spanish-built snow of 70 tons (bm), was sold on 19 August.
Vessel | Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source & notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Biscayneer | 1783 | Crowte | Captain & Co. | Dartmouth privateer | LR |
Retreat | 1783 | Robert West | P.Ogier | Dartmouth–Newfoundland | LR |
Retreat was last listed in 1784.
HMS Leith, also known as HM hired armed ship Leith, was launched in 1744 or 1746 in the British "Plantations", more specifically, the colony of Maryland. From 1764 to 1777 she was a Greenlandman, that is a whaler, in the waters east of Greenland. Between 1777 and 1782 she served the Royal Navy as a transport and hired armed naval ship. She was last listed in 1783.
HMS Polecat was the Pennsylvania privateer Navarro, Captain William Keeler, which HMS Orpheus captured in March 1782. Between her commissioning on 18 July 1781 under Captain Woolman Sutton and her capture, Navarro captured two British vessels and recaptured one American vessel. One vessel that Navarro captured was Rebecca, M'Fadzean, master, which was sailing from Jamaica to London when Navarro captured Rebecca at 44°00′N26°50′W, north of the Azores.
John Bull was a French vessel that from 1800 to circa 1805 sailed as a British privateer operating out of Jersey. Her master was plaintiff in a notable case involving the law of salvage. She returned to mercantile trading and was wrecked in 1810.
Tartar was built in France in 1778, almost surely under another name. She was taken in prize and appears under British ownership in 1780. After a short career as a privateer, she made a voyage between 1781 and 1783 as an extra East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She then became a whaler in the northern whale fishery. After whaling she traded with the Baltic and then served as a London-based transport. She was probably lost in 1799, and was last listed in 1801. If Tartar is the vessel lost in 1799, in 1796 French warships captured her, but the Royal Navy quickly recaptured her.
Harriot (or Harriott}was launched in Liverpool in 1786. For many years she was a West Indiaman, sailing between Liverpool and Barbados. In 1796 a French frigate captured her, but the British Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. She became a slave ship. At the beginning of her of her first slave trading voyage a French privateer captured her, and again the Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. She made five slave trading voyages in all. Thereafter she traded with South America. She was last listed in 1814 with stale data.
Dick was a French vessel built in Spain, almost certainly sailing under another name, that the British captured circa 1798. She made a voyage to the West Indies during which she repelled two attacks, and captured three prizes. She then became a slave ship that made three slave-trading voyages. Her first voyage was cut short when a French privateer captured her and the Royal Navy recaptured her. She then made two complete voyages. After her return in 1803 from her third voyage she became a West Indiaman. She grounded in 1804 after another vessel had run into her. She was last listed in 1809.
Sappho was launched in France circa 1803, probably under another name, and captured in 1804. She became a West Indiaman and then privateer that the French Navy recaptured and destroyed in March 1808.
Little Joe was launched in 1784 in Liverpool as a slave ship. She made six complete voyages from Liverpool in the Atlantic triangular slave trade. On her seventh voyage a French privateer captured her, but a British letter of marque recaptured her. She did not return to the slave trade and was last listed in 1795.
Two Sisters was launched in 1797 in Nova Scotia and in 1804 shifted her registry to the United Kingdom. A French privateer captured her in 1804 but members of her crew were able to recapture her. She became a coaster and was last listed in 1813.
HMS Bustler was the mercantile Shillelagh, which the Admiralty purchased in January 1782. She was sold in 1788 and returned to mercantile service. In 1793 she became a privateer and made one notable capture. She then became a West Indiaman that the French captured in 1795.
Carnatic, launched in 1770, was an East Indiaman belonging to the French East India Company. A British letter of marque captured her in 1778. She became a transport. She was wrecked in 1781.
Mentor was launched in 1778 at Chester as a West Indiaman. She captured three vessels, including a valuable East Indiaman belonging to the French East India Company. She had an inconclusive single ship action with a French warship in 1779. She was wrecked in 1782.
Morgan Rattler was probably a French vessel launched under another name and taken in prize early in 1793 after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars. She became a Liverpool privateer, but was quickly captured. A few years later she became a French privateer. She captured several British merchantmen before a British naval brig captured her and her prizes.
Tartar was built in France in 1779, probably under another name, and taken in prize. She was in 1781 briefly a Bristol-based privateer. A French privateer captured her, but a British privateer recaptured her. She then became the merchantman Friends, and traded between Bristol and North America, primarily Newfoundland. Friends was last listed in 1793.
Two vessels have been named Biscayneer, which generally means a sailor or a ship from Biscay:
Molly was launched at Liverpool in 1770. Between 1777 and 1779 she made three voyages to the British northern whale fishery. Afterwards, she sailed as a West Indiaman. From 1779 she sailed under a letter of marque, and captured one prize. Around the end of 1781 she engaged in a single ship action in which her captain was killed. She was captured but her captor gave her up. She was last listed in 1783.
Badger was launched in Liverpool in 1775. She made one voyage as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. New owners renamed her Molly in 1778 and sailed her as a West Indian. In 1779 she repelled an American privateer in a sanguinary single ship action. Her owners renamed her Lydia. While trading with Tortola she captured one or two prizes. Lydia was herself captured in 1782.
Hercules was launched at Bristol in 1796 as a West Indiaman. In 1815 A United States privateer captured her but the Royal Navy recaptured her. Because the recapture occurred after 1 March 1815, she was returned to the United States.
Woolton, was launched at King's Lynn in 1773 as Narr. By 1775 she was sailing between London and Liverpool as Woolton. A French privateer captured and ransomed her in September 1779. In 1781 she sailed briefly as a privateer and made one notable capture that involved a single ship action. After the war Woolton continued to trade primarily between London and Liverpool until she was wrecked in 1785.
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 slaver. In 1796 she was condemned in West Africa on her first voyage in the triangular trade before she could embark any enslaved people.