| History | |
|---|---|
 Great Britain | |
| Name | Commerce |
| Builder | Liverpool |
| Launched | 1791 |
| Captured |
|
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen | 208, [1] or 210 [1] [2] (bm) |
| Complement | |
| Armament |
|
Commerce was launched at Liverpool in 1791. She was initially a West Indiaman. New owners in 1795 sent Commerce to the southern whale fishery in 1796. The Spanish captured her in 1797, but by 1799 she had returned to British ownership. She then traded generally until a French privateer captured her in 1805.
Commerce first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1791 with J.Conning, master, G. Slater, owner, and trade Liverpool–St Vincent. [3] After the outbreak of war with France in 1793, Captain William Bosworth acquired a letter of marque on 24 October 1794. [1]
In 1795 ownership of Commerce changed to Bolton & Co., and her new owners employed her as a whaler, sending her to the Pacific. Captain Welham Clarke acquired a letter of marque on 17 June 1796. [1] Captain Clarke sailed from London on 27 June 1796, bound for Chile. [4] [a] Commerce sailed for the Southern Fishery from Gravesend on 11 August 1796. [6] On her way to the Pacific she stopped at Rio de Janeiro for water, refreshment, and calefaction. [7]
Lloyd's List reported on 13 February 1798 that Commerce, Clark, master, was one of several British whalers that the Spanish had captured off the coasts of Chile and Peru. [8] Spanish records have Commerce being taken at Pisco, Peru. [9]
In a process that currently is obscure, Commerce had returned to British ownership by late 1798 or early 1799. [2] She then traded between Britain and North America, the West Indies, Portugal, and Ireland. On 14 January 1804, sailing from Jamaica to London, Commerce was assisted (for unknown cause) in mid-Atlantic at 42°N39°W / 42°N 39°W by HMS Andromache, which believed she would put into Fayal, Azores. [10] Later, Commerce lost her rudder in bad weather and was, with difficulty, assisted into Cove of Cork about 29 February by HMS Trompeuse, eventually reaching London on 2 April 1804. [11] [12]
Lloyd's List reported on 5 April 1805 that Commerce, Whitaker, master, had been taken while sailing from Cork to London and taken into Calais, where she arrived before 26 March. [13] Lloyd's Register for 1806 carried the annotation "capt." by her name. [14] Her captor was the French privateer Glâneur. [15] [b]
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source and notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1791 | J.Conning | Slater & Co. | Liverpool–St Vincent | LR |
| 1793 | J.Conning W.Bosworth | Slater & Co. Js. Bolton | Liverpool–St Vincent Liverpool–Dominica | LR |
| 1796 | Bosworth W.Clark | Bolton & Co. P. Hurry | Liverpool–Dominica London–South Seas | LR; repaired 1795 |
| 1799 | Frizall | Bainbridge | London–Halifax, Nova Scotia | LR |
| 1803 | T.Wake Whitaker | Bainbridge | London–Halifax | LR; damages repaired 1792, repairs 1795, good repair 1801, thorough repair 1802 |
| 1806 | Whitaker | Bainridge | London–Lisbon | LR; damages repaired 1792, repairs 1795, good repair 1801, thorough repair 1802, damages repaired 1804; Annotated "capt." |
The British Royal Navy purchased HMS Shark on the stocks in 1775. She was launched in 1776, and in 1778 converted to a fireship and renamed HMS Salamander. The Navy sold her in 1783. She then became the mercantile Salamander. In the 1780s she was in the northern whale fishery. In 1791 she transported convicts to Australia. She then became a whaling ship in the southern whale fishery for a number of years, before becoming a general transport and then a slave ship. In 1804 the French captured her, but the Royal Navy recaptured her. Although she is last listed in 1811, she does not appear in Lloyd's List (LL) ship arrival and departure (SAD) data after 1804.
Speedy was a whaler launched on the Thames in 1779. She also made voyages to New South Wales, transporting female convicts in 1799. She made two voyages transporting enslaved people in 1805 and 1806, and was captured in January 1807, on her way into London after having delivered her captives to Antigua in 1806.
Robert was a 16-gun French privateer corvette launched in 1793 at Nantes. The British captured her in 1793 and named her HMS Espion. The French recaptured her in 1794 and took her into service as Espion. The British recaptured her in 1795, but there being another Espion in service by then, the British renamed their capture HMS Spy. She served under that name until the Navy sold her in 1801. Spy then became a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people, a merchantman to South America, and privateer again. The French captured her in mid-1805 and sent her into Guadeloupe.
Vautour was a French privateer launched in 1797 at Nantes that made three privateering voyages. The Royal Navy captured her in 1800 during her fourth cruise. Private owners acquired her prior to late 1801 and employed her as the whaler Vulture in the South Seas whale fisheries between 1801 and 1809. A Spanish privateer captured her in 1809.
Butterworth was launched in 1778 in France as the highly successful 32-gun privateer Américaine, of Granville. The British Royal Navy captured her early in 1781. She first appeared in a commercial role in 1784 as America, and was renamed in 1785 as Butterworth. She served primarily as a whaler in the Greenland whale fisheries. New owners purchased her in 1789. She underwent a great repair in 1791 that increased her size by almost 20%. She is most famous for her role in the "Butterworth Squadron", which took her and two ship's tenders on an exploration, sealing, otter fur, and whaling voyage to Alaska and the Pacific Coast of North America. She and her consorts are widely credited with being the first European vessels to enter, in 1794, what is now Honolulu harbour. After her return to England in 1795, Butterworth went on three more whaling voyages to the South Pacific, then Africa, and then the South Pacific again. In 1802 she was outward bound on her fourth of these voyage, this to the South Pacific, when she was lost.
The vessel that would become Young William was built in 1791 at Nantes. The British captured her in 1794 and Daniel Bennett purchased her that year. She then went on to make 10 voyages for him. French privateers captured her twice, but on the first occasion the British Royal Navy recaptured her, and on the second her captor did not keep her. Still, the French Navy captured and burnt her in 1810 on her eleventh voyage.
Georgiana was launched in 1791. She served as a merchantman, packet ship for the British East India Company (EIC), a whaler, a warship of the navy of the United States of America, and a merchant vessel again. She was sold after being condemned in 1818 as leaky.
Elliott was launched at Liverpool in 1783. She made ten voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade, carrying enslaved people from West Africa to the West Indies. Next, she made one voyage as a whaler. She then became a merchantman, sailing between England and South America. In November 1807 French privateers captured her.
Crescent was launched at Rotherhithe in 1790. She initially traded with the Levant, particularly Smyrna. After the outbreak of war with France she may have tried her hand as a privateer. In 1796–1798 she made a voyage to the East Indies, almost surely on behalf of the British East India Company (EIC). A French privateer captured her but the British Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. In 1802-1804 she made one voyage as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. In 1805 she became a whaler. She was lost in 1807 off Patagonia while homeward bound from her first whaling voyage.
Wilding was launched at Liverpool in 1788 and spent much of her career as a West Indiaman, sailing between Liverpool and Jamaica. During this time, in November 1794, she participated in a single-ship action during which her opponent, a French privateer, blew up. In 1798 after a series of captures and recaptures she briefly became a transport for the French Navy, but a final recapture returned her to British hands. Later, she made one voyage to the South Pacific as a whaler, and one voyage to the Cape of Good Hope as a victualler for the 1795-1796 invasion of the Cape. She traded with the West Indies, Africa, the United States, and Russia. Her crew abandoned her in September 1824, dismasted and in a sinking state.
Commerce was launched at Bermuda in 1786. She initially sailed between London and North America, and later between London and the West Indies. In 1803 new owners dispatched her on a whaling voyage. She may have been lost in late 1806 as she was returning from her voyage; she was last listed in 1806.
Brook Watson was launched in 1796, probably in Holland but possibly in Denmark. She became a prize in 1801 and by 1802 was a whaler in the British Southern Whale Fishery. She made two whaling voyages between 1802 and 1806. She then became a West Indiaman and was last listed in 1809 or 1810.
Minerva was the French letter of marque Minerve, a former privateer from Bordeaux, that the Royal Navy captured in September 1804. Samuel Enderby & Sons purchased her c.1805 for use as a whaler. She was taken off the coast of Peru circa August 1805 after a crewman had killed her captain and her crew had mutinied.
Greenwich was launched on the Thames in 1800. Between 1800 and 1813 Samuel Enderby & Sons employed her as a whaler in the British Southern Whale Fishery, and she made four whaling voyages for them. In 1813 the United States Navy captured her in the Pacific and for about a year she served there as USS Greenwich. Her captors scuttled her in 1814.
Argo was launched in 1802 in France, possibly under another name, and captured c. 1804. She became a privateer and then a whaler. She made two complete whale hunting voyages in the British southern whale fishery. A US Navy frigate captured her on her third whaling voyage.
Resolution was launched at Liverpool in 1776 as the West Indiaman Thomas Hall; she was renamed in 1779. She sailed briefly as a privateer. Then between 1791 and 1804 Revolution made some six voyages as a whaler. On one voyage, in 1793, a French frigate captured her, but Resolution was re-captured. In 1804 a new owner returned her to the West Indies trade. She does not appear to have sailed after early 1805.
Antelope was a French vessel launched in 1795 that the British captured circa 1798. She sailed primarily as a West Indiaman until circa 1804 when Daniel Bennett purchased her and sent her out as a privateer operating off South America, first in the Atlantic and then the Pacific. A Spanish armed merchantman captured her in 1805, in a single ship action that resulted in the death of Antelope's master. A Spanish merchant then sent Antelope to Spain.
Nimble was built in Folkestone in 1781, possibly under another name. In 1786 Nimble was almost rebuilt and lengthened. Between 1786 and 1798 she made nine voyages as a whaler in the British Southern Whale Fishery. Between 1799 and 1804 she made four voyages from Liverpool as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. On her first voyage as to gather captives she detained a neutral vessel, an action that resulted in a court case. On her second voyage to gather captives, a French privateer captured her, but the Royal Navy recaptured her. She was wrecked in 1804 or so after she had delivered her captives to St Thomas.
Several vessels have been named Venus for the planet Venus or the Roman goddess Venus:
Several ships have been named Lucy.