| History | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Name: | British Tar |
| Owner: |
|
| Builder: | Temple shipbuilders, South Shields |
| Launched: | 1792 |
| Fate: | Lost 1818 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen: | 320, [1] or 326, [2] or 343 [3] (bm) |
| Armament: |
|
British Tar was launched at Shields in 1792 and made five voyages as a whaler and several as a West Indiaman. She then became a general trader. She was lost on 29 January 1818.
British Tar enters Lloyd's Register in 1792 with J. Fitch, master, Mangles, owner, and trade London–South Seas fisheries. [2]
For her first whale fishing voyage British Tar sailed to Peru under the command of Jedediah Fitch. On 8 February 1793 she was at St Helena, homeward bound, and she arrived in England with 219 tuns of sperm oil. [1]
On her second voyage she sailed in 1793 for Peru under the command of Blythe (or Thomas Bligh). She returned on 29 July 1794. [1]
Her third voyage was again under the command of Bligh (or Blythe, or Blight), [5] but this time he sailed her for the Pacific Ocean, where she was reported to be in August–September 1796. She returned to England on 8 May 1797. [1]
British Tar then spent several years sailing to the West Indies. John and James Mangles still owned her and she sailed to San Domingo, but more often to Jamaica. [1]
On 8 January 1802 Captain Innis sailed British Tar to the Galápagos Islands for her fourth whaling voyage. At some Point Captain Rowe replaced Innis. Homeward bound, she left St Helena on 4 May 1804, and arrived in England on 17 July.
Captain Charles Harrax (or Harrass, or Harrat, or Haddock), [6] left England on 12 November 1804 and returned on 15 April 1807. This is the last whaling voyage for British Tar's that has any details. [1] However, she may have continued whale hunting into 1810. [6]
The Register of Shipping for 1810, in its supplemental pages, shows British Tar with Anthony, master, J. Pirie, owner, and trade London–Guadeloupe. [4] In 1811 she underwent a large repair, and her trade became London–Newcastle. [7]
The Register of Shipping for 1818 showed British Tar with J. Pirie, owner and master, and trade London–Madeira. The entry has a line through it and the notation "Lost". [3]
Lloyd's List reported on 3 February 1818 that a gale on 29 January 1818 had caused the total loss of British Tar, John Pirie, master, between Lymington and Christchurch, Dorset. She was on her return voyage from Sierra Leone to London. [8] All on board, at least 14 people, were lost. [9]
The day after British Tar was lost, the body of a four-foot long African lizard was found on the beach by Hordle Cliff, near Milford. Apparently this animal was the largest of the kind ever brought to Europe. [10]
Citations
References
| Shipwrecks |
|
|---|---|
| Other incidents | |
Active was the French ship Alsace that the Royal Navy captured in 1803. William Bennett purchased her and named her Active, in place of a previous Active that had been lost in January 1803. She then made one whaling voyage for him. Bennett sold her to Robins & Co., and she sailed between London and Buenos Aires. She then sailed on a second sealing voyage. She was lost in 1810.
Cyrus was a whaler launched at Salem in 1800. She performed one whaling voyage for French owners before a British letter of marque captured her in 1803. From 1804 on, she performed 17 whaling voyages for British owners in the almost half a century between 1804 and 1853. The first five were for Samuel Enderby & Sons. Between 1 August 1834 and 2 June 1848 her captain was Richard Spratly, namesake of Spratly Island and the group of islands and reefs known as the Spratly Islands. She apparently made one last voyage in 1854, but then no longer traded. She was last listed in Lloyd's Register in 1856.
Kitty was a sailing ship that began her career as a West Indiaman. She then served the Royal Navy from 17 May 1804 to 17 January 1805 as a hired armed ship. Next she became a privateer. On her return from privateering she returned to mercantile service, particularly later trading with Russia. She underwent repairs in 1830 and a change in ownership to emerge as a whaler. After four whaling voyages between 1830 and 1846 she returned to mercantile service and was last listed in 1852.
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.
Albion was a full rigged whaler built at Deptford, England, and launched in 1798. She made five whaling voyages to the seas around New South Wales and New Zealand. The government chartered her in 1803 to transport stores and cattle, to Risdon Cove on the River Derwent, Tasmania.
Emma was a merchant vessel launched at Calcutta in 1809 that served as a government armed ship in the British invasion of Île de France in 1810. In 1811 she sailed to England where she was sold. She then became a transport and later a whaler. Between 1815 and 1853 she made 11 whaling voyages. She was then sold and became a merchantman on the England-Australia run. Between 1851 and 1853 she made one more whaling voyage to the South Seas fisheries. She then returned to the England-Australia trade. In 1857 her home port became Hull, and she became a Greenland whaler, though that role may have begun as early as 1855. She was converted in 1864 to a screw steamer but was lost in April while sealing.
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.
Cornwall was launched in 1794 as a West Indiaman. In a little more than three years later she had left on the first of three whaling voyages to the Southern Whale Fishery. On her first whaling voyage she captured a Spanish ship and fought off a French privateer. After her third whaling voyage Cornwall returned to the West Indies trade. Around 1817 new owners sent her to India where a Parsi merchant purchased her. She traded in the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, and also participated as a transport in a naval expedition to the Persian Gulf. She was last listed in 1824.
HMS Inspector was launched in 1801 at Mistley as the mercantile Amity. The Royal Navy purchased her in 1803 and laid her up in 1808 before selling her in 1810. She then returned to mercantile service. Between 1818 and 1825 she made four voyages as a whaler. She returned to mercantile service and was last listed in 1833 as being at Falmouth.
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.
Manchester Packet was built at New York in 1806. She immediately transferred to British registry and spent a number of years trading across the Atlantic. In 1814 she successfully repelled an attack by a U.S. privateer. In 1818 she returned to U.S. registry. She eventually became a whaler operating out of New London, Connecticut. In May 1828 she made the first of five whaling voyages; she was condemned in 1835 while on her sixth voyage.
Fonthill was built in France in 1781 and was probably taken in prize in 1782. She sailed as a West Indiaman between 1783 and 1791. She next became a Southern whaler and made four whaling voyages between 1791 and 1799. After refitting she became a Northern whaler. She was last listed, with stale data, in 1810.
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.
Hercules was launched at Georgia in 1771. She appeared in Lloyd's Register in 1778 and became a West Indiaman. Between 1792 and 1796 she made three voyages as a whaler in the Southern Whale Fishery. In 1797 the French captured Hercules as she was on her fourth voyage.
Swan was launched at Flensburg in 1806. By 1808 Samuel Enderby & Sons had acquired her. Between 1808 and 1810 she made one whaling voyage during which she rediscovered Bouvet Island. Enderby's sold her and from 1811 on she traded widely. Then in 1823 Enderbys repurchased her and she made two more whaling voyages for them. She then became a West Indiaman and was last listed in 1833.
Brook Watson was launched in 1796, probably in Holland but possibly in Denmark. She became a prize in 1801 and by 1802 was a whaler in the British Southern Whale Fishery. She made two whaling voyages between 1802 and 1806. She then became a West Indiaman and was last listed in 1809 or 1810.
Duchess of Portland was launched at Bristol in 1783. She was primarily a West Indiaman but made one voyage as a slave ship and two as a whaler in the British Southern Whale Fishery. The US Navy captured her in 1812 and burnt her.
Venus was launched at Deptford in 1788 and made 15 voyages as a whaler in the British Southern Whale Fishery. She was last listed in 1823.
Comet was launched in 1791 at Rotherhithe. At the outbreak of war with France, she briefly became a privateer before the British East India Company (EIC) chartered her for one voyage to bring back sugar, saltpeter, and other goods from Bengal. Between 1812 and 1821 she made three voyages as a whaler in the British Southern Whale Fishery. Then between 1823 and 1840 she became a whaler based in Hull, whaling in the British Northern Whale Fishery. She returned to trade in 1841 and was lost on 1 December 1843 homeward bound from Quebec.
