Calder (1821 ship)

Last updated

Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameCalder
Owner
BuilderJ. Vigneron & Co., Howrah [2]
Launched31 October 1821 [2]
FateWrecked 1825
Naval Jack of Chile.svg Chile
NameIndefatigable
OwnerJames Duncan
AcquiredBy purchase of a wreck
FateMutiny 1828
Flag of Spain (1785-1873 and 1875-1931).svg Spain
AcquiredBy purchase of a prize
FateLost in a typhoon
General characteristics
Tons burthen190 [2] (bm)

Calder was a brig launched in 1821 at Calcutta. A new owner in 1822 sailed her to Australia and she then traded in the Pacific until in 1825 she sailed to Chile and was wrecked at Valparaiso. There a new owner salvaged her and returned her to sailing under the name Indefatigable. On Indefatigable's first voyage the Chilean members of her crew mutinied, killing her captain. The mutineers sailed to Guam where the authorities took Indefatigable in prize. She was later lost in a typhoon in the China Sea.

Contents

As Calder

Peter Dillon purchased Calder in 1822. In July he sailed her to Hobart Town via Acheh with cargo and four prisoners, and arriving on 28 September. Then on 22 November she stopped at Port Jackson, where she landed her four prisoners.

Grounding: In January 1823 Dillon sent Calder to Coal River under the command of his Chief Mate, William Worth, to bring back logs. On 24 January Calder was driven ran aground on a reef off Nobbys Island. Dillon sailed to her assistance in the brig Fame. [3] Lloyd's List reported that part of her cargo was saved, [4] though apparently she was in ballast. A few days later she was gotten off with some damage. [5]

In August 1823 Dillon and Calder were at new Zealand. [6]

Calder, again visited Sandal Wood Bay (Bua Bay) in late December 1824, searching for sandalwood, only to find the area had been stripped of it two years earlier, and he was able to gather only about 500 pounds. Before he sailed away, Dillon left David Whippey with Vunivalu (Chief) Naulivou at Bau. Whippey was to gather beche de mer for Calder's return; Calder then sailed in January 1825, never to return. [7] Dillon sailed via Resolution Bay at Tanna, in the New Hebrides. [8]

Loss:Calder arrived back at Port Jackson on 25 February 1825. Dillon sailed Calder on 19 March for Chile and arrived at Valparaiso on 3 or 4 May. About a month later a gale developed that drove both the Chilean frigate Valdivia (ex-Esmeralda) and the Chilean merchantman Valparaiso on shore. As Valparaiso was blown towards shore, her anchor hooked and broke Calder's chains, with the result that Calder too wrecked on shore. [9] Lloyd's List reported that Calder and Valparaiso had wrecked on 10 June 1825 at Valparaiso. [10] Calder's hulk was then auctioned off to the highest bidder. [lower-alpha 1]

Indefatigable & mutiny

By 1828 the vessel that had been Calder was under the ownership of John Duncan, an English merchant at Valparaiso, He named her Indefatigable and appointed Joseph Hunter as her master. On 11 June she sailed from Concepción, Chile, for Australia with 2500 fanegas (Spanish bushels) of wheat, 60 fanegas of walnuts, and three "donkie_". The crew, in addition to the captain, consisted of two European officers and two or three seamen, and a Bengali steward who had sailed with the captain for many years, and half a dozen or more Chilenos recruited shortly before Indefatigable left harbour. Reportedly, the Chilenos resented the discipline on the ship and within a week of her departure were plotting mutiny. [12]

On 22 July 1828 was at 17°13′S127°51′E / 17.217°S 127.850°E / -17.217; 127.850 , [13] about 600 miles from the Paumotu Group. During the mutiny the mutineers killed the captain and wounded the two mates and the steward. They kept Loftgreen (or Loftgren; the First Mate), to navigate Indefatigable and put Mr. Todd (the Second Mate), the carpenter, a Swedish sailor, and the steward in the ship's long boat that they provisioned with food and water for two weeks, and sent her off. Loftgreen had communicated to Todd that Todd should steer for Tahiti while he made for Manila, which he believed was the mutineer's destination, and possibly recapture the vessel with the help of the cook and another seaman, should the opportunity arise. [12]

The Second Mate and the three other men reached Tawere Island in the Archipleago on 7 August. They stayed there for about 24 hours and were able to reprovision. On 15 August a sudden squall cost them their compass and damaged the boat and mast. Still, that evening they reached Anaa. They stayed there two days and on the 20th they reached Tahiti. The locals imprisoned them, believing that they were escaped convicts that had recently visited the islands and conducted depredations after having been treated hospitably. Fortuitously the ship Tiger, Captain Richards, was in port. Tiger and Indefatigable had been at Concepción at the same time and the officers had met. Richards vouched for the men and the natives released them. [12] Tiger brought the crew members she had rescued to Port Jackson around 24 September. [14]

The mutineers ordered Loftgreen to steer to Guam, not realizing that Spain had actually occupied the island. The mutineers' naive plan was to sell Indefatigable to the islanders and then settle on some Pacific island where they would live "eating, drinking, sleeping, and keeping an extensive harem". [12] Indefatigable arrived at Guam on 12 December. Throughout the voyage Loftgreen, who understood Spanish, had to listen to the mutineers debating if and when they should kill him. [12]

When the mutineers arrived at Guam the Spanish governor arrested them. The British frigate HMS Rainbow happened to arrive at San Luis d'Apra shortly thereafter. She took Loftgreen and the mutineers to Manila, where they arrived on 9 or 19 January 1829. [12]

The trial in Manila lasted from end-January to end-March as the court only convened for two hours a day, with frequent 2-3 day adjournments. The court found all six mutineers guilty of murder. [13] They were then garrotted, [12] or hanged. [15] Eventually Loftgreen was able to secure passage to Macao, and from there to Sydney on board Nimrod. [13]

Fate

The Spanish government condemned Indefatigable as a prize to the government. [15] She was later lost in a typhoon in the China Sea.

Notes

  1. ↑ George Bayly, who shipped on board Calder, has an autobiographical account of the voyage to Valparaiso, and her loss. [11]

Citations

Related Research Articles

Peter Dillon was a ship's captain engaged in the merchant trade, explorer and writer. Dillon discovered in 1826–27 the fate of the La Pérouse expedition.

Phoenix was a vessel launched in France in 1809. After the frigate HMS Aigle captured her she was sold and her new owners employed her as whaler. She visited the Galapagos islands in July 1823. In 1824, while under the command of John Palmer, she discovered Phoenix Island, later known as Rawaki Island. She is last listed in 1829.

Spanish frigate <i>Esmeralda</i> 44-gun frigate

Esmeralda was a 44-gun frigate built in Port Mahón, Balearic Islands in 1791 for the Spanish Navy. The First Chilean Navy Squadron, under the command of Thomas Cochrane, captured her on the night of 5 November 1820. She was renamed Valdivia in Chilean service. She was beached at Valparaíso in June 1825.

Providence was a merchant ship launched at Lynn in 1812. She sailed to Bengal and also made two voyages transporting convicts to Australia. She was wrecked in 1828 homeward bound from St Petersburg, Russia.

Chilean brigantine <i>Aquiles</i> (1825)

Aquiles was a brigantine, originally Spanish, that later served in the Chilean Navy. Sunk off Valparaíso on 24 July 1839.

HMS <i>Briton</i> (1812) 38-gun fifth-rate frigate of the British Royal Navys Leda class

HMS Briton was a 38-gun fifth-rate frigate of the British Royal Navy's Leda class. She was ordered on 28 September 1808 and her keel laid down at Chatham Dockyard in February 1810. Navy veteran Sir Thomas Staines was appointed her first captain on 7 May 1812 but did not join the ship until 17 June 1813 owing to his being at sea aboard HMS Hamadryad. After a period of cruising in the Bay of Biscay, the vessel set sail for South America where during the course of several missions she unexpectedly encountered the last member of the crew that had seized HMS Bounty from its captain Lieutenant William Bligh during the 1789 mutiny aboard the ship. With the coming of the Pax Britannica in 1815, Briton undertook various voyages before she was broken up in 1860.

HMS <i>Fawn</i> (1807) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Fawn was a Cormorant-class ship-sloop of the British Royal Navy, launched in 1807. Before she was sold in 1818 she captured one privateer and destroyed another, and participated in three campaigns. In all, her crew qualified for three clasps to the Naval General Service medal (NGSM). After the Royal Navy sold her in 1818 she became a whaler. She then made seven whaling voyages to the Pacific, and especially to the waters off New Zealand, between 1820 and 1844. She was broken up on her return from her last voyage.

Norfolk was built at Littlehampton, England in 1814. She was originally a West Indiaman, and then sailed to India and Quebec. She made four voyages transporting convicts from England to Australia, one voyage from Ireland to Australia and one from Madras and Mauritius to Australia. She was wrecked on 7 July 1837.

HMS Saracen was launched in 1812 at Portsmouth for the British Royal Navy. She had an active, though brief, naval career during which she captured a number of enemy-held islands and enemy vessels. The navy sold her in 1819 and new owners employed her as a whaler for two voyages between 1819 and 1826. She was apparently wrecked in 1828 off the coast of Chile, but with little or no loss of life.

Serpent was a French navy brig of the Palinure class, launched in 1807 at Paimbeouf (Nantes) as Rivolli, but renamed. HMS Acasta captured her in 1808 in the Caribbean and the British Royal Navy took her into service there as HMS Pert but renamed her Asp. The navy disposed of her in 1814. She then made five voyages as a whaler, and wrecked in December 1828 on her sixth voyage.

<i>Cyprus</i> (1816 ship) UK merchant ship 1816–1829

Cyprus was a brig launched at Sunderland in 1816. The colonial government in Van Diemen's Land purchased her in 1826. In 1829 as she was transporting convicts from Hobart Town to Macquarie Harbour Penal Station, some of the convicts seized Cyprus. They sailed her via Japan to Canton, where they scuttled her.

Admiral Cockburn was a ship launched in New York in 1808 or Philadelphia in 1809, almost certainly under a different name. The British captured the American ship in 1814 and she was sold as a prize. Corney & Co. purchased and renamed her; originally she served as a London-based transport. In 1829 she became a whaler in the southern whale fishery. She was wrecked at Muizenberg Beach, False Bay, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa in July 1839 while returning to London from her third whaling voyage.

Tiger was launched in America in 1813 and apparently captured on her maiden voyage. Captain Lewellyn purchased her in prize and initially she sailed between England and the Mediterranean. Under new ownership in the early-1820s, she started trading with New South Wales and India under a license from the British East India Company (EIC). She is last listed in 1833.

HMS <i>Conway</i> (1814)

HMS Conway was a Royal Navy sixth-rate post ship launched in 1814 as the lead ship of her class. The Royal Navy sold her in 1825 and she became the merchantman Toward Castle, and then a whaler. She was lost in 1838 off Baja California while well into her third whaling voyage.

Sesostris was launched at Hull in 1818. She traded with India, the Baltic, and Russia, carried troops for a Chilean military expedition against Peru, and transported convicts to New South Wales. She was broken up in 1843.

HMS Esk was a Cyrus-class ship-sloop launched at Ipswich in 1813. During the War of 1812 she captured one United States privateer, and fought an inconclusive action with another. Between 1825 and 1827 Esk was part of the West Africa Squadron, engaged in suppressing the trans-Atlantic slave trade, during which period she captured a number of slave ships. A prize she had taken also engaged in a notable single ship action. The Royal Navy sold Esk in 1829. Green, Wigram, and Green purchased her and between 1829 and 1845 she made four voyages in the British southern whale fishery as the whaler Matilda.

Harriet was launched in Massachusetts in 1809. The British captured her and on 13 January 1813 a prize court condemned her. New owners retained her name. She became a West Indiaman, and made one voyage to New South Wales. Between 1818 and 1832 she made four complete voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She was lost in October 1833 in the Seychelles on her fifth whaling voyage.

Zephyr was a vessel built in the United States that the Royal Navy captured in late 1813. Between 1814 and 1840, when she was lost, she made eight voyages as a whaler in the southern whale fishery.

HMS Inspector was launched at Wivenhoe in 1782 as the only vessel built to her design. She participated in one campaign and also captured a handful of small merchant vessels before the Navy sold her in 1802. Most notably, her crew participated in the mutiny at the Nore. After her sale, she became the whaler Inspector. She made six complete voyages to the British southern whale fishery. A Chilean privateer captured her in May 1819. Eventually she was condemned as unseaworthy at Santander in 1821.

Sir George Osborne was acquired in 1814 by British owners purchasing a prize. They initially sailed her as a West Indiaman. Then in 1820 she carried immigrants to South Africa under the auspices of a settler scheme. She then made one voyage as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. Under new owners she then made a highly unusual voyage to the Pacific. Her new owners were the founders of the Pacific Pearl Fishery Company, and they sailed her on a voyage that was part commercial venture and part scientific exploration, complete with a resident scientist. After her return new owners sent her whaling to the Seychelles, where she was wrecked and abandoned in April 1829.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.