Blenheim may have been launched in 1776 in Philadelphia as Britannia. By 1777 she was the Massachusetts-based privateer American Tartar and had taken several prizes. She had also participated in an inconclusive single-ship action with a British merchantman. The British Royal Navy captured American Tartar late in 1777 and she became HMS Hinchinbrook. The Royal Navy sold her in 1783 and she became the West IndiamanBlenheim. In 1785-86 she became a Greenland whaler and she continued in that trade until two French frigates captured and burnt her in 1806.
The vessel's exact origins are obscure. Lloyd's Register (LR) described her as originating in Philadelphia in 1776.[5] The Register of Shipping gave her origins simply as "BrPlant", i.e., British Plantations (British colonies), in 1777.[3]
Granville Hough stated that the vessel American Tartar had been Britannia, out of New York, but then had become a privateer with a letter of marque from Massachusetts.[6]
Commander John Grimes commissioned American Tartar on 29 November 1776. Her owners were Dean and Joseph Barrell, and other investors.[6]
On 21 May 1777, American Tartar sailed in company with two American frigates, USSBoston and Hancock for a cruise in the North Atlantic. American Tartar parted from the two frigates shortly thereafter and sailed for northern European waters.[6]
On her way, American Tartar captured the 150-ton (bm) brigantine Sally and sent her into Boston where she was libeled on 17 July.[6]
American Tartar encountered the British merchantman Pole, Maddock, master, on 12 July at 50°N20°W / 50°N 20°W / 50; -20 (or 56°N26°W / 56°N 26°W / 56; -26).[lower-alpha 1]Pole was sailing from New York to Liverpool with 40 crew and passengers. American Tartar approached and opened fire. Maddock so maneuvered Pole as to be able three times to clear American Tartar's forecastle. After almost three and a half hours, American Tartar withdrew. Pole, of sixteen 6-pounder guns, had sustained a passenger and two mates wounded.[8]
The next day American Tartar captured two brigs off the Shetland Islands. The first was carrying lumber and hides. The Americans took out her hides and tackle and furnishings, and then burnt her. The second brig was carrying tar. The Americans kept her with them.[6]
On the 15th, American Tartar captured Royal Bounty, of 300 tons (bm), William Kerr, master. She had been sailing from Greenland to Leith. Grimes put a prize crew aboard her, as well as the hides taken from the first brig captured the previous day, and 30 barrels of tar from the second brig. Grimes then released the second brig to her master and crew.
That same day American Tartar captured the ship Janet off the Shetland Islands. Five days later, she captured the ship Nautilus, George Corney, master, off Isle of Lewis. On 28 July American Tartar was off Norway where she captured the ships Peggy and Thomas and Elizabeth, and the brig Fanny.[6]
On about 4 August Grimes sent Royal Bounty to Boston. However, HMSDiamond's tender recaptured Royal Bounty on 22 September off Cape Ann and sent her into Halifax.[9][10] The tender was the American privateer schooner Buckram, John Cross, master, that Diamond had captured on 17 September in Boston Bay.[9]
Admiral John Montague purchased American Tartar at Newfoundland on 9 October 1777 and renamed her HMS Hinchinbrook (or Hinchinbroke).[2]
At some point between 1777-1788 Hinchinbrook briefly came under the command of Lieutenant Isaac Schomberg.[12]
Commander John Brudenel (or Bradenel) had commissioned Hinchinbrook in September, but she was not formally registered and renamed until 25 February 1778. In October she was still on the Newfoundland Station. Her captain was Commander John Wainwright.[2]
Hinchinbrook arrived at Woolwich on 18 January 1780. She was then moved to Sheerness on 5 March to undergo fitting. However, her refitting was cut short and she became a "slop ship",[2] that is, a ship serving to store clothes (slops) for seamen, circa July 1781, when Lieutenant James Screech recommissioned her.[2]
Disposal: The Navy sold Hinchinbrook at Sheerness on 21 March 1783 for £960.[2]
Mercantile career
Blenheim entered Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1783 with G.Kitson, master, E.Snerdon, owner, and trade London–Jamaica. She had undergone a thorough repair in 1783.[1] The entry in the 1784 volume of LR reproduced the same information. However, the entry also carried the annotation that Blenheim was the former man-of-war Hinchinbrook.[5]
Blenheim became a Greenland (Northern Whale) Fisheries whaler. In 1786 she appeared in LR with J. Metcalf, master, W. Walker, owner, and trade London–Greenland. She had undergone a good repair and a damage repair in 1786.[13]
In 1788–89 she fished in Davis Strait. On 20 July 1787 Lloyd's List reported that she was at Davis strait and had taken two "fish".[14] She underwent a repair in 1788 also. LR for 1797 showed Blenheim's master changing from J. Metcalf to R. Maxwell. LR for 1798 showed Blenheim with Maxwell, master, Blaydes, owner, and trade Hull–Davis Strait. She had undergone a good repair in 1796. A handwritten annotation gave the name of a replacement master. "Mitchenson".[4]
The data below are from a database of whaling voyages by Hull-based whalers.[15]
Year
Tuns whale oil
Year
Tuns whale oil
1797
62
1802
57
1798
110
1803
34
Another source gives Blenheim's catch for 1798 as 18 whales, that yielded 310 butts of oil and nine tons 13CWT of whalebone.[16]
The Blenheim affray: As Blenheim was passing through Whitebooth Roads On 30 July 1797, on her way into Hull, the guardships HMSNonsuch and Redoubt fired several shots as a signal for Blenheim to stop. She did not. Her crew, fearing the press gang, had locked her master, William Mitchenson, and the pilot in the cabin. The guardships then sent three boats to board Blenheim, but her crew resisted with their long lances and harpoons, preventing the navy men from boarding. Next Nautilus fired some 30 shots, to no avail, and sent a boat. Blenheim ran aground and the boats from the navy vessels surrounded her. As a boat from Nonsuch again tried to come alongside, the crew of Blenheim fired a swivel gun loaded with grapeshot, and again wielded their lances. Another account reports that Blenheim's crew pelted the navy men with spears, capstan bars, handspikes, other offensive weapons, and also several large iron shot. They succeeded in wounding the lieutenant commanding the boat, who survived, and two seamen, who died of their wounds. When the boats from the naval vessels withdrew, the crew aboard Blenheim slipped ashore and disappeared. The Admiralty offered a reward of £100 for the apprehension of the men who had killed the two seamen, but no one came forward.[17] The government also promised to pardon all of the members of the crew other than those that had actually murdered the two men from Nonsuch.[18] The reason the whalers resisted is that they wished to avoid impressment by the Royal Navy. The crew of out-bound merchantmen and whalers were generally exempt from the Press; the crew of returning vessels, however, were subject to impressment.
On 13 March 1800, the government charged Captain Mitchinson with murder for the deaths in 1798 of the two seamen. The government argued that the restraint the crew had put on Mitchinson were a sham. Witnesses testified that the restraints were real, and that there had been no collusion. Mitchinson was acquitted.[19]
Year
Tuns whale oil
Year
Tuns whale oil
1799
95
1804
89.5
1800
Note: undergoing rebuilding
1805
120
1801
34.5
1806
Note: captured and burnt
Another source shows that rather than being captured and burnt in 1801, Blenheim, Webster, master, had killed two whales that yielded 90 butts or 36 tons of whale oil, and one ton of whale bone.[20]
On 2 August 1806 Sirène, capitaine de frégate Le Duc, and Revanche, capitaine de frégate Lambert, captured the Greenland whalersHolderness, Swan, master, and Blenheim, Welburn, master, both of and for Hull. The French burnt their captures.[22][23]
Notes
↑ Pole, the former Caesar, had a burthen of 250 tons and had been launched at Liverpool in 1768. Her master was J. Maddock, her owner was J. Neilsen, and her trade Liverpool–New York.[7]
USS Delaware was a 24-gun sailing frigate of the United States Navy that had a short career in the American Revolutionary War as the British Royal Navy captured her in 1777. The Royal Navy took her in as an "armed ship", and later classed her a sixth rate. The Royal Navy sold her in 1783. British owners named her United States and then French interests purchased her and named her Dauphin. She spent some years as a whaler and then in March 1795 she was converted at Charleston, South Carolina, to French privateer. Her subsequent fate is unclear.
Four ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Hinchinbrook.
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.
The British Royal Navy purchased HMS Shark on the stocks in 1775. She was launched in 1776, and in 1778 converted to a fireship and renamed HMS Salamander. The Navy sold her in 1783. She then became the mercantile Salamander. In the 1780s she was in the northern whale fishery. In 1791 she transported convicts to Australia. She then became a whaling ship in the southern whale fishery for a number of years, before becoming a general transport and then a slave ship. In 1804 the French captured her, but the Royal Navy recaptured her. Although she is last listed in 1811, she does not appear in Lloyd's List (LL) ship arrival and departure (SAD) data after 1804.
A number of sailing ships have been named Blenheim:
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.
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.
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.
Parnassus was launched on the Thames in 1769. She first sailed as a West Indiaman. She twice encountered enemy privateers: the first time she repelled them, but the second time she was captured. A British privateer recaptured her. Parnassus became a whaler in the British northern whale fishery. In 1794 Parnassus was one of the transports at the Battle of Martinique. The troop transport Parnassus was lost at Corsica in late 1796 with heavy loss of life. She was last listed in 1796.
Gardiner and Joseph was launched at Hull in 1802. She made seven voyages as a whaler in the northern whale fishery until she was wrecked in November 1808.
Gardiner and Joseph was launched at Hull in 1810. She made 11 voyages to Greenland or Davis Strait as a whaler in the northern whale fishery. She then traded briefly between Hull and North America. She foundered on 9 October 1824.
HMS Harpy was launched at Liverpool in 1777, the British Royal Navy having purchased her on the stocks. The Navy sold her in 1783. As Harpy she made voyages to the northern whale fishery, and one voyage as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. The Sierra Leone Company then purchased her. A French naval squadron captured her in September 1794. The French Navy briefly took her into service as Harcourt, and then Harpie. She was struck in 1796.
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.
Several vessels have been named Tartar:
William and Ann was launched in 1781 at Whitby. From her launch until 1805 she alternated between being a transport and trading with the Baltic. In 1805 she became a whaler in the northern whale fishery. She wrecked in ice in 1830 in the Greenland fisheries on her 24th whaling voyage.
Several vessels have been named Olive Branch, for the olive branch:
HMS Spy was a Bonetta-class sloop launched at Rotherhithe in 1756 for the Royal Navy. The Navy sold her in 1773. From 1776, or perhaps earlier she was a transport. Then from 1780 to 1783, as Mars, she was first a privateer and then a slave ship, engaged in the triangular trade in enslaved persons. Between 1783 and 1787 her name was Tartar, and she traded with the Mediterranean. From 1787, as Southampton, she was a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She made at least four complete whaling voyages and was last listed in 1792.
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.
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.
Chaser was built in the East Indies in 1778. The Royal Navy purchased her in 1781 and commissioned her as HMS Chaser. A French frigate captured her in 1782 but the Royal Navy recaptured her in 1783 and took her back into service. She was present at a major battle and then sailed to England where the Navy sold her in 1784. As the mercantile Chaser she made five or six voyages as a whaler in the British northern whale fishery and then two to the southern whale fishery. On her way home from the second a French privateer captured her, but some of her crew recaptured her. Next, she began trading with Honduras but was wrecked in late 1795 as she was returning from there to London.
Lubbock, Basil (1937). Arctic Whalers. Glasgow: Brown, Son & Ferguson. Re Brunswick (1814S)
Williams, Gomer (1897). History of the Liverpool Privateers and Letters of Marque: With an Account of the Liverpool Slave Trade. W. Heinemann.
Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN978-1844157006.
Vice-Admiralty Court, Halifax (1911). American vessels captured by the British during the revolution and war of 1812. Salem, Mass.: Essex Institute.
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