History | |
---|---|
Launched | 1797, South America [1] |
Captured | c.1806 |
United Kingdom | |
Name | Dart |
Owner |
|
Acquired | c.1806 as purchase of a prize |
Fate | 1813 condemned as unseaworthy |
General characteristics | |
Type | Fully rigged ship |
Tons burthen | 189, [2] or 191, [3] [4] (bm) |
Propulsion | Sail |
Complement | 30 [2] |
Armament |
|
Dart was a ship launched in South America under a different name. She was taken in prize circa 1806. Once under British ownership she performed one voyage as a whaler in the southern whale fishery. She then traded as a merchantman before in 1810 receiving a letter of marque. As a privateer she did something quite unusual: she made a voyage to Africa where she captured five slave ships. After this Dart returned to normal trading, this time with South America. In 1813 as she was returning to London from Buenos Aires she stopped at Pernambuco, where she was condemned as unseaworthy.
Dart left Britain on 6 November 1806 under the command of Captain Richard Smith, with destination the South Seas. [4] Dart entered Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1807 with R. Smith, master, Howlett, owner, and trade London-South Seas. [3] She returned on 13 September 1808, [4] after having engaged in whaling and sealing off Australia. [5]
Lloyd's Register for 1809 shows Dart's trade changing to London-New Orleans. [6]
Captain James Wilkins received a letter of marque on 4 April 1810. [2] LR for 1810 showed J. Wilkins replacing R. Smith as master, and Dart's trade or voyage changing from London-New Orleans to "Africa". [7]
During her time off Sierra Leone Dart detained five slave trading vessels, all of which she sent into Freetown where the Vice admiralty court condemned them. [8]
Date | Name | Nationality | Slaves landed |
---|---|---|---|
17 July 1810 | San Antonio Almos | Portuguese | 8 |
17 July 1810 | Flor Deoclerim | Portuguese | 8 (w/San Antonio Almos) |
August 1810 | Cirilla | 0 | |
4 August 1810 | Hermosa Rita | 77 | |
30 December 1810 | Mariana | Portuguese | 10 |
All Dart's captures were anomalous. The court at Freetown condemned Cirilla because the slavers exhibited contempt of court and "contumaciousness". Hermosa Rita was a case of a British vessel flying a false flag (see the Donna Marianna case). However, within a day of her capture, Hermosa Rita's crew had recaptured her and were back on their way to Cuba. It took four days before the prize crew Dart had put on board was able to reassert their control. Although Mariana, Santo Antonio Almos, and Flor Deoclerim were Portuguese vessels, on 19 February 1810, under diplomatic pressure, Portugal signed a treaty of friendship and alliance that allowed British ships to police Portuguese shipping, meaning Portugal could only trade in slaves from its own African possessions. The treaty gave the court jurisdiction and the three Portuguese vessels became the first vessels it adjudicated and condemned under the treaty. Of Dart's five prizes, the court condemned all except Cirilla to the King. Dart sailed for England in May 1811 and never returned to pursuing slavers. [9]
In 1811 Thevetts replaced Howlett as owner of Dart. [1] The next year Crossett became master, and her trade become London–Buenos Aires. [10]
Lloyd's Register for 1813 showed Dart with a new owner, Boyce & Co., and R. Crosset, master. However, in April 1813, Lloyd's List reported that "The Dart, Crossett, from Buenos Ayres to London", had been condemned at Pernambuco as unseaworthy. [11]
The ship that became Mary Ann was built in 1772 in France and the British captured her c. 1778. Her name may have been Ariadne until 1786 when she started to engage in whaling. Next, as Mary Ann, she made one voyage transporting convicts to New South Wales from England. In 1794 the French captured her, but by 1797 she was back in her owners' hands. She then made a slave trading voyage. Next, she became a West Indiaman, trading between London or Liverpool to Demerara. It was on one of those voyages in November 1801 that a French privateer captured her.
Archduke Charles was built in Newcastle, England in 1809. She was sheathed in copper in 1810 and partially resheathed with copper in 1812. She made one voyage transporting convicts from Ireland to New South Wales, and on her return voyage to Britain she carried a cargo from China for the British East India Company (EIC). She was wrecked in 1816 while carrying troops from Quebec to Nova Scotia.
HMS Kangaroo was an 18-gun sloop of the Royal Navy launched in 1805. The Navy sold her in 1815 and she became the whaler Countess of Morley. After three whaling voyages she became a merchantman. She may have been condemned c.1827; she was last listed in 1833.
Tobago was a ship launched in 1790. She came into British hands in 1793 and was probably a prize taken immediately after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in early 1793. She traded with Tobago for several years before new owners purchased her for whaling. She made two whaling voyages to the East Coast of Africa before her owners sold her to new owners. She then made two voyages as a slave ship. She was abandoned or condemned in 1802 after having delivered her captives on her second such voyage.
Dart was a brig or snow built at Ostend in 1792. She entered British records in 1801 and then made two whaling voyages to the southern whale fishery, but was captured during the second. However, she remained in her master's hands and continued to sail in the South Seas, being last listed in 1811.
Kitty was a French vessel taken in prize c. 1810. She became a West Indiaman and then, following a change of ownership, a privateer. She was one of only two British privateers to target slave traders. She captured three off Sierra Leone before one of her targets captured her in 1814, killing her master, enslaving some of her crew, and setting fire to her.
Rolla was a French brig launched in 1801 or 1803, that came into British hands in 1804. She became a privateer and then a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people, but before she was able to embark any captives the French Navy captured her. The British Royal Navy recaptured her and took her into service as HMS Rolla. She served in Sir Home Riggs Popham's attack on Buenos Aires. She returned to Britain in December 1807 and was laid up. The Admiralty sold her in 1810 and she became a merchant vessel. She was last listed in 1826, and may have been lost on the coast of Brazil in 1825.
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.
Royal Edward was launched in 1782 in France as Alexandre. The British captured her c.1796, and new owners changed her name. She then sailed for a few years as a West Indiaman before completing four voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She returned to the West India trade after leaving enslaving, and then traded more generally. She was condemned as unseaworthy and broken up in Bengal in 1815.
Iris was launched in France in 1794 and came into British hands in 1803, probably by purchase. She became a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. In 1805 she made an unsuccessful attack on a Batavian vessel. Iris was condemned as unseaworthy in late 1805 on her way home after her first voyage as a whaler.
Hannah was built at Liverpool in 1797. She made three voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She then made one voyage as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. Next, she became a West Indiaman and was lost in 1811.
HMS Bonetta was launched in 1798 as the merchantman Adamant. The Royal Navy purchased her in 1803. She had a relatively unremarkable career escorting convoys in the North Sea and Channel before she was laid up in 1807 and sold in 1810. Her new owners in 1810 returned her name to Adamant. In 1816 she carried the first free settlers to Hobart in Van Diemen's Land. From there she sailed to engage in whaling. She was last reported at Timor in 1818.
Glenmore was launched as a West Indiaman in 1806 at Elgin. She made one voyage to Bengal in 1813–14, then became a Greenland whaler in 1818, and made four full whaling voyages. She was lost in the White Sea in 1822.
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.
Duchess of Portland was launched at Bristol in 1783. She was primarily a West Indiaman. However, she made one voyage as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people, and two as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She then became a transport. The US Navy captured her in 1812. She was in ballast and her captors burnt her.
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.
Sally was launched in 1782 at Liverpool as a West Indiaman. She made one voyage as a whaler and one as an East Indiaman sailing to Bengal under charter to the British East India Company (EIC). After a storm damaged her in 1805 as she was on her way in 1805 from Liverpool to Africa as a slave ship she had to put into Barbados where she was condemned.
Harriot was launched in Spain in 1794, almost surely under another name, and taken in prize in 1797. She made two voyages as a London-based slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. Under new ownership, she then made three voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. A privateer captured her as she was returning from her third whale-hunting voyage but the British Royal Navy recaptured her. After her recapture she became a merchantman. The Spanish seized her in the Pacific; she was condemned at Lima, Peru in March-April 1809, as a smuggler.
Atalanta was launched in Holland in 1795, perhaps under another name. She was captured in 1798, and thereafter traded generally as a British merchantman. She was brig-rigged. Between 1801 and 1804 she made two voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people, and may have been temporarily captured during the second. She then became a West Indiaman. Next, between 1808 and 1814, she made two voyages as a whaler in Australian and New Zealand waters. After the whaling voyages she traded more widely, especially to the Baltic. She was last listed in 1833.
Dart was launched at Plymouth in 1787. Dart initially traded with Newfoundland and then the Mediterranean. From 1797 she made four voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She was condemned at Barbados in 1802 as she was returning to London after having delivered captives to Demerara.