Brunswick (1814 ship)

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History
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameBrunswick
Owner
  • 1814:James Shrapnell Bowden & Benjamin Wright [1]
  • 1824:James Bowden and William Wright [1]
BuilderThomas Steemson, Paull, Hull [2]
Launched7 February 1814 [2]
FateWrecked 7 April 1842
NotesHackman conflates this Brunswick with Brunswick. [2]
General characteristics
Tons burthen357, [3] or 3578⁄94 [2] (bm)
Armament2 × 9-pounder guns + 10 × 9-pounder carronades

Brunswick was launched at Hull and initially was a Greenland whaler. Her owner withdrew her from the northern whale fishery in 1836 and then deployed her sailing to New York and Sierra Leone. She was apparently on a voyage to India when she was wrecked on 7 April 1842.

Contents

Career

Brunswick first appeared in Lloyd's Register in 1814 with W. Blythe (or Blyth), master, Wright & Co., owner, and trade Hull–Davis Strait. [3] Blythe would be her master from 1814–1816, and again from 1818–1814, when she left whaling. [1] The whaling data below is primarily from Coltish, [4] augmented with data from Lubbock. [5]

YearMasterOwnerTradeNotes and source
1815W. BlytheWright & Co.Hull–Davis StraitLloyd's Register (LR)
1820W. BlytheWright & Co.Hull–Davis StraitRepairs 1819; LR
YearMasterGroundsWhales Tuns whale oil
1814BlytheGreenland12164
1815BlythDavis strait1057
1816BlythGreenland16228 (580 butts)
1817ThomponGreenland692
1818BlytheDavis Strait11146
1819BlytheDavis Strait19 (or 19)224 ("best fished" Hull ship of the season [6] )
1820BlytheDavis Strait15221 (or 18; 530 butts)
1821BlytheGreenland24268 (or 269, plus 14 tons of bone)
1822BlytheDavis Strait453

In 1823, at the end on May, a strike by a whale fluke killed one seaman and injured three others. [7]

Brunswick left the ice at the whale fishing grounds on 16 August 1822. She arrived at Hull on 18 September with 50 tons of oil. She reported that conditions on the fishing grounds were very bad. Seven ships had been sunk, several had been beset by ice, and the rest had not killed more than an average of four fish each. [8] Laetitia, Clark, master, arrived at Aberdeen and reported a more complete accounting of how many whales each vessel had taken, and which were beset by ice.

A fuller account of Brunswick's survival exists. By this account, also, she left for England on 27 August and arrived in the Humber on 10 September. The 13 days transit from Davis Straits was a record. [9]

YearMasterOwnerTradeNotes and source
1825W. BlytheWright & Co.Hull–Davis StraitRepairs 1821, 1822, 1823; LR
1830J. BlythWright & Co.Hull–Davis StraitRepairs 1821, 1822, 1823; LR
1835W. BlythWright & Co.Hull–Northern FisheryLR


YearMasterGroundsWhales Tuns whale oil
1823BlytheDavis Strait36283 (or 281½, +317CWT of bone)
1824BlytheDavis Strait10150½
1825BlytheDavis Strait20270
1826BlytheDavis Strait7 (or 6, incl. one found dead [10] )97
1827BlytheDavis Strait12210

On 22 May 1825, Brunswick was close to Estridge, of Dundee, when she sank. Brunswick took on board seven of Estridge's crew. [11] In 1825, Brunswick was the best fished ship of the Davis Strait fleet. [12]

On 7 June 1827, a harpooned whale struck one of Brunswick's boats, overturning it. Two men drowned. An hour later, another of her boats killed a whale, which turned out to be the whale that had overturned the first boat. On 16 June Brunswick and Zephyr came across the wreck of Mercury. Brunswick was able to salve 34 butts of blubber. [13]

YearMasterGroundsWhales Tuns whale oil
1828BlytheDavis Strait17238
1829BlytheDavis Strait14214
1830BlythDavis Strait689

Eighteen-thirty was the most disastrous year in the history of British northern whaling. Brunswick was among the vessels most seriously damaged, though she was not lost. [14]

YearMasterGroundsWhales Tuns whale oil
1831BlytheDavis Strait7100
1832BlytheDavis Strait24225
1833BlytheDavis Strait23186
1834BlytheDavis Strait577

In 1834 Wright & Co. withdrew Brunswick from whaling and put her into general trade.

YearMasterOwnerTradeNotes and source
1836SmithWright & Co.Hull–Quebec
Hull		Damage and small repairs in 1837; LR
1839T.PorterWright & Co.Hull–New York
Hull–Sierra Leone		Large repair 1839; LR
1840T.PorterWright & Co.Hull–Sierra Leone
London		Large repair 1839; LR
1841T.PorterWright & Co.London
Hull–East India		Large repair 1839; LR

Fate

Brunswick, Porter, master, was wrecked on 7 April 1842 on the Sunk Sand, in the North Sea off the coast of Suffolk. The smack Good Agreement, Brown, master, rescued the crew and brought them into Wivenhoe. Brunswick was on a voyage from Hull to London. [15] [16]

The entry for Brunswick in Lloyd's Register for 1841 bears the annotation "Wrecked". [17]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 Laing (2003), p. 73.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Hackman (2001), p. 257.
  3. 1 2 Lloyd's Register (1814), Supple. pages "B", Seq. №B13.
  4. ↑ Coltish (1842).
  5. ↑ Lubbock (1937).
  6. ↑ Lubbock (1937), p. 214.
  7. ↑ Lubbock (1937), p. 243.
  8. ↑ Lloyd's List №5733.
  9. ↑ Lubbock (1937), pp. 248–249.
  10. ↑ Lubbock (1937), p. 262.
  11. ↑ Lubbock (1937), p. 258.
  12. ↑ Lubbock (1937), p. 260.
  13. ↑ Lubbock (1937), p. 272.
  14. ↑ Lubbock (1937), p. 278.
  15. ↑ "Ship News". The Standard. No. 5538. London. 8 April 1842.
  16. ↑ "Shipping Intelligence". The Hull Packet. No. 2991. Hull. 15 April 1842.
  17. ↑ Lloyd's Register (1841), Se.№B553.

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References

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