British career
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.
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.
| 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.
In 1811 Thevetts replaced Howlett as owner of Dart. [1] The next year Crossett became master, and her trade become London–Buenos Aires. [10]
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.
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 Rattler was a 16-gun sloop of the Royal Navy. Launched in March 1783, she saw service in the Leeward Islands and Nova Scotia before being paid off in 1792 and sold to whaling company Samuel Enderby & Sons. She made two voyages as a whaler and two as a slave ship before she was condemned in the Americas as unseaworthy in 1802. She returned to service though, sailing as a whaler in the northern whale fishery, sailing out of Leith. She continued whaling until ice crushed her in June 1830.
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.
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 slaver, but before she took any slaves 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.
Frederick was an American-built ship that the British captured from the French c.1805. Lumley & Co. purchased her in prize and employed her as a slave-ship for two voyages. After the abolition of the British slave trade in 1807 she briefly became a merchantman, and then in 1810 a whaler. She made several voyages to the Southern Whale Fishery. On one of these voyages, in 1812, a French privateer captured Frederick but the British Royal Navy captured the privateer, and recaptured Frederick. She is last listed in 1822.
Harleston was an American vessel launched in 1810 at Wiscasset, Maine, and taken in prize. Mestaer purchased her c.1813, and she became a West Indiaman until she was sold on Mestaer's death. She became a whaler and on her way home from her second whaling voyage was condemned in 1826 at Mauritius as unseaworthy and broken up.
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. She returned to the West India trade after leaving the slave trade, and then traded more generally. She was condemned as unseaworthy and broken up in Bengal in 1815.
Eliza was built in Spain in 1794 under another name and taken as a prize circa 1800. She then made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). On her return she made one voyage to Timor as a whaler. She next became a West Indiaman. In 1810 she apparently was sold to Portuguese interests and who continued to sail her under the name Courier de Londres. She is last listed in 1814.
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.
Recovery was built at Liverpool in 1793. She was a West Indiaman that sailed under a letter of marque. The French privateer Courageaux captured her in 1799. She returned to British ownership by 1800 and continued to trade until she foundered in June 1818 on her way from Hull to Miramichi Bay.
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.
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 in 1806 at Elgin. She was initially a West Indiaman. She made one voyage to Bengal in 1813–14. She 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 but made one voyage as a slave ship and two as a whaler in the British Southern Whale Fishery. The US Navy captured her in 1812 and burnt her.
Atalanta was launched in Holland in 1795, perhaps under another name. She was captured in 1798, and thereafter traded generally as a British merchantman. Between 1801 and 1804 she made two voyages as a slave ship, and may have been temporarily captured during the second. Between 1808 and 1814 she made two voyages as a whaler in Australian and New Zealand waters. She was last listed in 1833.
United Kingdom
