The Sierra Leone Company was the corporate body involved in founding the second British colony in Africa on 11 March 1792 through the resettlement of Black Loyalists who had initially been settled in Nova Scotia after the American Revolutionary War. The company came about because of the work of the ardent abolitionists Granville Sharp, Thomas Clarkson, Henry Thornton, and Thomas's brother John Clarkson, who is considered one of the founding fathers of Sierra Leone. The company was the successor to the St. George Bay Company, a corporate body established in 1790 that re-established Granville Town in 1791 for the 60 remaining Old Settlers.
Britannia may refer to any one of a large number of ships:
Numerous ships have sailed under the name Antelope. Notable ones include:
Mohawk was a ship launched at Beverly, Massachusetts in 1781. She became a privateer, making two voyages. In 1782 the Royal Navy captured her and briefly took her into service under her existing name before selling her in 1783. She then became a merchantman until some investors in Bristol bought her in 1796 and turned her into a privateer again. In 1799 she became a letter of marque, but the French Navy captured her in 1801. She then served in the French Navy, capturing a British privateer in 1805, and was sold in 1814.
Alexander, was built in France in 1791, possibly under a different name. She was taken as a prize and her new owners renamed her Alexander. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC), and then became a slave ship, making four voyages between 1798 and 1807 in the triangular trade in enslaved people. After 1807 she sailed between Liverpool and Demerara. She is last listed in 1811.
Britannia, was a vessel launched in 1783 at Saltcoats, possibly under another name. She made four voyages from Liverpool as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She grounded at Liverpool in 1793 after the first. A French privateer captured her in 1795 during the second, and took her to Guadeloupe where the Republican Government almost certainly freed the captives. She returned to British ownership and made two more voyages as a slave ship. A French privateer captured her during her fourth voyage.
Barton was launched in Bermuda, probably in 1799, and built of Bermuda cedar. She first appeared in registers under the Barton name in 1801 as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. The French captured her in 1803 before she had delivered the captives she had purchased for her second voyage. She returned to British ownership but her whereabouts between 1804 and 1810 are obscure. In 1811, she was again captured by a French privateer, which however gave her up. She grounded on 27 April 1819 at the entrance to the Sierra Leone River and was wrecked.
Hannah was built in Liverpool in 1795. She made four voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade of enslaved people. She was lost in 1801 as she was returning home after having delivered her captives on her fourth voyage.
African Queen's origins are uncertain. She was a foreign vessel, launched in 1789 or 1790, presumably under another name. She was taken in prize in 1796 and by 1797 she was sailing out of Bristol. She made one voyage to Africa during which she was captured and recaptured and then became a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She made one voyage to the West Indies as a merchant ship, and one voyage as a whaler, but was damaged in 1801 as she returned home from that whaling voyage and apparently never sailed again.
Falmouth was built in America and entered Lloyd's Register in 1796. She became a Liverpool-based slave ship that a privateer captured during Falmouth's first voyage in the triangular trade in enslaved people.
Duke of Buccleugh, was launched at Yarmouth in 1783. In 1789 she became a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She made five complete enslaving voyages. On her fifth she had to repel an attack by a French privateer in a single ship action. A French privateer captured her in September 1797 after she had delivered her captives on her sixth voyage.
Baron de Binder was launched in 1782. She made two voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. Then in 1793, she became the privateer Duguay-Trouin. After one cruise, the French Navy requisitioned her, and she served as a corvette for almost three years. The navy returned her to her owners, who sailed her as a privateer again. In 1798. the British Royal Navy captured her.
Harriot was launched in Liverpool in 1786. For many years she was a West Indiaman, sailing between Liverpool and Barbados. In 1796 a French frigate captured her, but the British Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. She became a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. At the beginning of her of her first slave trading voyage a French privateer captured her, and again the Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. She made five slave trading voyages in all. Thereafter she traded with South America. She was last listed in 1814 with stale data.
Agreeable was launched at Bermuda in 1786, probably under a different name. French owners acquired her at some point and sailed her as Agréable. In 1793 the British captured her. Subsequently, between 1793 and 1808, she made six voyages as a slave ship, alternating between the triangular trade in enslaved people, and sailing as a regular West Indiaman. French privateers captured her between the second and third voyages, and the third and fourth voyages, but each time the British Royal Navy recaptured her. In the case of the second capture she was in French hands long enough for them to send her out as a privateer. She herself captured an American vessel in 1808 as she was returning to Liverpool from her last enslaving voyage. After the end of British participation in trans-Atlantic enslaving trade, Agreeable traded more widely, particularly to South America. She was condemned at Buenos Aires in 1814 after running aground in the River Plate. She was repaired and continue to sail to Brazil until she returned to Liverpool in June 1819.
Ellis was a French prize, captured in 1797, and possibly built in that year also. Liverpool merchants purchased her. She made five complete voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade carrying enslaved people from West Africa to the British West Indies. She was lost at sea on 23 April 1806, on her sixth voyage before she could take on any captives.
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.
Ranger was built in the Netherlands, reportedly for the Dutch East India Company, and almost certainly under another name. She was take in prize in 1796. She made one voyage as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She then traded to the West Indies and the Mediterranean before becoming a transport. French frigates captured her in 1810. The Royal Navy recaptured her almost immediately and used her to transport prisoners from Isle de France (Mauritius) to France. She then disappears from online records.
Ocean was a sloop launched in 1790 at Plymouth. Circa 1792 the Sierra Leone Company purchased her and sailed her in support of their colony. In 1793, the Company sent her on a voyage along the coast to trade for African commodities that she brought back to Freetown for re-export. The Company judged the experiment a success and the next year it sent several more vessels to do the same. The French captured Ocean in August 1796; the Royal Navy recaptured her in January 1798. As of May 2024, her subsequent fate is obscure.
Oiseau was a privateer brig from Nantes, commissioned in May 1797. She had a short, but highly successful career. In her three to four months of cruising, before the Royal Navy captured her, Oiseau's captured eight prizes, seven of which were not recaptured. Her first prize required a single ship action. Her prizes had a cumulative value of Livres 1,168,150.
