British Tar (1797 ship)

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History
British-Red-Ensign-1707.svgGreat Britain
NameBritish Tar
OwnerPreston Edgar, Philip Masey, John Farquharson, James Curtis, John Oldham, and Thomas Wilmot (1805: all of Bristol) [1]
BuilderPlymouth (probably Massachusetts) [1]
Launched1797
FateCaptured 1805
Civil and Naval Ensign of France.svg France
NameRevanche
AcquiredJuly 1807 by purchase of a prize
CapturedDecember 1808
General characteristics
Tons burthen230, [2] or 232 [1] [3] (bm)
Complement
Armament
  • 1805:12 × 6-pounder guns [3]
  • 1807:1 × 12-pounder + 6 × 4-pounder guns [4]
  • 1808:6 × 12-pounder guns [4]

British Tar was built in 1797 in Plymouth (probably Plymouth, Massachusetts). She never enters Lloyd's Register under that name, suggesting that she may have been an American vessel that only came to Bristol, and was renamed, shortly before she sailed from Bristol in 1805. In 1805 she made a slave trading voyage during which the French captured her. She became the privateer Revanche, out of Guadeloupe. Revanche fought an inconclusive single-ship action in 1806 with HMS Curieux. The British captured Revanche in 1808.

Contents

Slaver

British Tar appears in the Bristol Presentments for 1805 and 1806, but not before or later. [1] Captain James Gordon received a letter of marque on 14 November 1805. [3]

British Tar, Gordon, master, sailed from Bristol on 30 December 1805, bound for West Africa. [5] She was reported "well" in the River Gambia on 13 May 1806 and was expected to leave in a few days. [6] A second report has her "all well" at Goree on 26 July, and expected to sail for the West Indies on 26 July. [7] However, the next report has a privateer of ten guns and 70 men capturing British Tar, of Bristol, on 18 July and taking her into Guadeloupe. [8]

French privateer Revanche

The French commissioned British Tar as the privateer Revanche in Guadeloupe in September 1807 under Captain Alexis Grassin. She made a second cruise between November 1807 and January 1808 under Captain Vidal. [4]

On 3 December 1807 Revanche encountered HMS Curieux. Rather than fleeing, Revanche, which was more heavily armed than Curieux (British records), or less heavily armed (French records), decided to give battle. The ensuing engagement was sanguinary but inconclusive. Revanche suffered two men killed and 13 wounded; Curieux seven killed and 14 wounded.

Fate

Revanche made a third cruise in 1808. [4] On 5 December 1808 HMS Belette captured Revanche, of six 12-pounder guns and 44 men, and described as a letter of marque brig. Revanche was taking provisions from Bordeaux to Guadeloupe when she encountered Belette. Captain Sanders described Revanche as having been "a very successful Privateer all this War, and was intended for a Cruizer in those Seas." [9] Belette sent Revanche into Antigua. [10]

British Tar was still listed in Lloyd's Register and the Register of Shipping until at least 1812, but with long stale data.

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 Farr (1950), p. 223.
  2. 1 2 Richardson (1996), p. 267.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Letter of Marque, p.54 - accessed 25 July 2017" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Demerliac (2003), p. 323, No.1760.
  5. Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Database – British Tar voyage #18269.
  6. Lloyd's List (LL) №4063.
  7. LL №4078.
  8. LL №4093.
  9. "No. 16217". The London Gazette . 31 January 1809. p. 147.
  10. LL №4325.

Related Research Articles

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Elizabeth was launched at Bermuda in 1786 or 1790. She first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR), in 1802. She then made four voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. During the second of these voyages a French privateer captured her. After the end of British participation in the trans-Atlantic trade in enslaved people, she spent a little over a year as a hired armed tender under contract to the British Royal Navy. She returned to mercantile service trading with Madeira or Africa, until another French privateer captured her in early 1810.

Byam was a snow launched at Oban, or possibly Padstow, in 1800. She made four voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. The French captured and burnt her in late 1807 or early 1808 as she was about to deliver the captives from her fifth voyage.

Horatio was launched in 1800 at Liverpool. She made four voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. During two of these voyages she was captured and recaptured. Shortly before the British slave trade ended she left the slave trade and sailed between Britain and South America and as a West Indiaman. She was wrecked in 1817.

Aurora was launched at Chester in 1793 as a West Indiaman. During her career first the French (twice) and then the United States' privateer captured her, but she returned to British hands. Between 1801 and 1808 she made four voyages from Liverpool as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. Afterwards, she continued to trade widely until 1831.

Goodrich was a schooner launched in Liverpool in 1799. Between 1799 and 1807, she made seven voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people, two of them while being owned by Americans. After the Slave Trade Act 1807 ended the British slave trade she became a merchantman sailing from Guernsey. A French privateer captured her in July 1808.

William Heathcote was launched in Liverpool in 1800. She made one voyage as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. Next, a French privateer captured her in a single-ship action, and the British Royal Navy recaptured her. She became a West Indiaman before she made an enslaving voyage, one of the last such legal voyages. zAfter British partiipation in the trans-Atlantic slave trade ended, she became a West Indiaman again; she sailed to Brazil and as a transport. She was wrecked in July 1816.

Backhouse was launched in 1798 at Dartmouth. In all, she made four voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. Between the second and the third, and after the fourth, she was a West Indiaman. A French privateer captured her early in 1810 as she was returning to Britain from Brazil.

Hector was launched at Bristol in 1781 as a West Indiaman. A new owner in 1802 sailed Hector as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She made one complete voyage transporting enslaved people before a French privateer captured her on her second such voyage after Hector had disembarked her captives.

Active was built in Bristol in 1799. She made one voyage as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved persons, and then two voyages trading between Bristol and Africa. A French privateer captured her but a Guernsey privateer recaptured her. She then became a West Indiaman. On 16 and 17 July 1808 she repelled a Spanish and a French privateer in two separate single-ship actions. In 1809 she underwent a maritime mishap. She was last listed in 1819.

References