| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | City of Edinburgh |
| Namesake | Edinburgh |
| Acquired | 1807 by purchase of a prize |
| Fate | Foundered 6 April 1812 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen | 526 [1] (bm) |
City of Edinburgh was a Spanish vessel, built in France, that a British frigate brought into the Cape of Good Hope in 1807 as a prize. There investors purchased her to trade with the penal colony of Port Jackson. She foundered in 1812 near the Azores while en route from Lima to Cadiz.
Alexander Berry and Francis Shortt purchased a Spanish prize that they named City of Edinburgh. Their purpose was to carry provisions to New South Wales for sale there. On 4 September 1807 she left East London, South Africa with Pattison, master, and Berry, supercargo. She stopped at the Cape of Good Hope, Port Dalrymple, and Hobart, before she arrived at Port Jackson on 14 January 1808.
City of Edinburgh sailed for Norfolk Island on 25 May. [2] She sailed to Norfolk Island to participate in the evacuation of the colony and the transfer of its inhabitants to Van Diemen's Land. She arrived at Norfolk Island on 4 June. Frequent storms and other issues delayed her departure until 9 September, when she left with some 250 settlers and their families, and some convicts. She then arrived at Hobart Town on 2 October. [3] City of Edinburgh underwent some repairs at Hobart and then returned to Port Jackson on 18 November.
On 27 January 1809, City of Edinburgh sailed for Bay of Islands (New Zealand), Tongataboo Island (Tonga), Opuna (Vuna, Fiji), and then back to New Zealand. At Bay of Islands she underwent repairs while Berry arranged for the cutting of kauri trees for spars. She then sailed for Fiji. From Fiji City of Edinburgh sailed to Tonga. There, between July and August, she gathered sandalwood, before returning to Bay of Islands to retrieve the spars. [4]
While City of Edinburgh was loading cargo at Bay of Islands, news came through of the Boyd Massacre, a massacre by local Māori of the crew and passengers of the ship Boyd. Pattison and Berry sailed City of Edinburgh to Whangaroa. There they were able to rescue four survivors and regain Boyd's papers.
City of Edinburgh sailed from New Zealand on 26 January 1810, with kauri spars for the Cape. She attempted sailing via Cape Horn but she was almost wrecked. Pattison made for Valparaiso. She underwent repairs there and he decided to sail to Cadiz. [1] She was at Lima 15 October 1810.
City of Edinburgh, Pattison, master, foundered on 6 April 1812 in the Atlantic Ocean 46 leagues (138 nautical miles (256 km) off the Azores with the loss of seven of her 51 crew. Fame, Pringle, master, coming from Terceira, rescued the survivors and brought them into Fowey, where they arrived on 17 May. City of Edinburgh was on a voyage from Lima to Cádiz, Spain. [5] [6] [7]
Alexander Berry was a Scottish-born surgeon, merchant and explorer who was given in 1822 a land grant of 10,000 acres (40 km2) and 100 convicts to establish the first European settlement on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia.
The Boyd massacre occurred in December 1809 when Māori of Ngāti Pou from Whangaroa Harbour in northern New Zealand killed and ate between 66 and 70 European crew members from the British brigantine ship Boyd. This was the highest number of Europeans killed by Māori in a single event in New Zealand.
His Majesty's Armed Survey Vessel Lady Nelson was commissioned in 1799 to survey the coast of Australia. At the time large parts of the Australian coast were unmapped and Britain had claimed only part of the continent. The British Government were concerned that, in the event of settlers of another European power becoming established in Australia, any future conflict in Europe would lead to a widening of the conflict into the southern hemisphere to the detriment of the trade that Britain sought to develop. It was against this background that Lady Nelson was chosen to survey and establish sovereignty over strategic parts of the continent.
USS St. Louis was a sloop-of-war in the United States Navy through most of the 19th century.
With the outbreak of the War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain American whalers are forced to avoid Port Jackson. However they still operate at various points around New Zealand including the Kermadec Islands as do the colonial vessels. Sealers are still operating mainly at Macquarie and Campbell Islands. Occasionally there are Māori in the crew. Timber ships are also visiting New Zealand.
There is a drastic decline in the number of ships visiting New Zealand from the previous year. An economic depression starts in New South Wales as a result of the escalation of war in Europe and the consequent reduction in the number of convicts being transported. In March news of the Boyd massacre reaches Port Jackson and a punitive expedition is sent to New Zealand and bombards the village of the incorrectly blamed chief, Te Pahi. After this the few whaling ships that later head for New Zealand usually prefer to avoid landing, especially in the Bay of Islands.
Foveaux Strait is the centre of attention for sealing ships. Sealing gangs are dropped along the coast from southern Fiordland to Otago Harbour and on Stewart Island/Rakiura. The Bay of Islands is sometimes on the journey to or from Port Jackson. The Chatham Islands are also visited. A few whalers also operate around New Zealand; some also collect timber from Bay of Islands.
The first humans are thought to have arrived in New Zealand from Polynesia some time around 1300 AD. The people, who later became known as Māori, eventually travelled to almost every part of the country. Their arrival had a significant impact on the local fauna, particularly the flightless birds such as moa.
HMS Herald was an Atholl-class 28-gun sixth-rate corvette of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1822 as HMS Termagant, commissioned in 1824 as HMS Herald and converted to a survey ship in 1845. After serving as a chapel ship from 1861, she was sold for breaking in 1862.
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.
Boyd was a brigantine built in 1783 at Limehouse on the river Thames, England. She originally traded as a West Indiaman, sailing between London and Saint Kitts. Then between 1795 and 1797 she performed a voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). The French captured her as she was homeward bound, but her owners repurchased her in 1803. In 1804 the French captured her again, but the Royal Navy recaptured her and returned her to her owners. In 1809 she transported convicts to New South Wales for the British government. After delivering the convicts she sailed to New Zealand where Maori warriors attacked her, killing, and eating, almost her entire crew and passengers. They then burnt her.
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.
City of Edinburgh may refer to a number of ships, all named after the city of Edinburgh, Scotland:
Alexander was a 301-ton merchant vessel launched at Shields in 1801. She became a whaler and made a voyage to New Zealand and the South Seas whale fisheries for Hurry & Co. She was wrecked while outbound from Liverpool in October 1808.
James Pattison was a merchant sailing ship built in 1828 upon the River Thames, England. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC), and two transporting convicts to New South Wales. She also made several voyages carrying immigrants. She burnt to the waterline after her cargo ignited en route from Sydney to England in 1840.
Aurora was built at Chittagong in 1816. She made one voyage transporting convicts to New South Wales in 1833, and a second transporting convicts to Tasmania in 1835. In 1839 she carried immigrants to New Zealand for the New Zealand Company. She was wrecked in 1840.
Concord was launched at Dartmouth in 1807. From then until 1809 she traded widely. Between 1809 and 1812 two different histories emerged. The registers carried her as trading with North America. Other sources, however, have her sailing to the British Southern Whale Fishery as a sealer or whaler. She made three voyages between 1809 and 1816 in this capacity and then returned to trading. She was wrecked at the Cape of Good Hope in November 1816.
Spring Grove was a Spanish vessel, launched in 1801, that had been taken in prize in 1806 and that her new owners had renamed. She made six voyages as a Southern Whale Fishery whaler before she wrecked in 1824 on the outbound leg of what was to have been her seventh voyage.
Elizabeth Isabella Throsby was an Australian survivor of the 1809 Boyd massacre.
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.