Dickenson (or Dickinson), was launched at Philadelphia in 1770. Missing volumes online and missing pages in extant volumes means she first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1776.[1]
Year
Master
Owner
Trade
Source & notes
1776
Js.Johnson W.Meston
W.Halliday
Philadelphia–Bristol
LR; Now the Joseph Y.Barra
The Lieutenant commanding the British tender Earl of Inchiquin seized the snowDickinson (or Dickenson), William Meston, master, on 7 April 1776 at King Road, off Avonmouth in the Bristol Channel. Dickinson had been on her way to Nantes when Dickinson's crew brought her into Bristol. She carried documents describing all the vessels the American rebels were sending to France.[2]
In 1776 a new owner purchased Dickenson and renamed her Saint Joseph.[3]
On 25 September 1776 St Joseph, Y.Barra, master, arrived at Bristol from Bilbao. On 5 December she sailed for St. Andero.
William Bell Clark was an advertising executive and self-taught naval historian, specializing in the period of the American Revolution, 1775-1783.
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.
William and Ann was built at a King's Yard in 1759, under another name. From 1786 until 1791 she was a whaler in the northern whale fishery. In 1791 she transported convicts to New South Wales and then began whale hunting around New Zealand; she returned to England in 1793. Circa 1801 she again became a whaler in the northern whale fishery, sailing from Leith. She continued whaling until 1839. She then began trading widely, to Bahia, Bombay, Archangel, Spain, Honduras, and the Mediterranean. She was last listed in 1857, having been in service for over 90 years.
HMS Galatea was a 20-gun Sphinx-class sixth-rate post-ship of the Royal Navy. She served during the American War of Independence.
HMS Kingfisher was the second ship in the 14-gun Swan class of ship sloops, to which design 25 vessels were built in the 1760s and 1770s. She was launched on 13 July 1770 at Chatham Dockyard, and completed there on 21 November 1770. She took part in the American Revolutionary War, enforcing the blockade of the Delaware Bay, and served in the Battle of Turtle Gut Inlet, near Cape May, New Jersey. While under the temporary command of Lieutenant Hugh Christian, she was burnt by her own crew to avoid capture on 7 August 1778 in Narragansett Bay during the Battle of Rhode Island.
HMS Nimrod was a brig-sloop of the British Royal Navy, launched in 1812. She spent her war years in north American waters where she captured one small privateer, assisted in the capture of another, and captured or destroyed some 50 American vessels. After the war she captured smugglers and assisted the civil authorities in maintaining order in Tyne. She was wrecked in 1827 and so damaged that the Navy decided she was not worth repairing. A private ship-owner purchased Nimrod and repaired her. She then went on to spend some 20 years trading between Britain and Charleston, the Mediterranean, Australia, and India. She was last listed in 1851.
Lotus was a ship launched at Whitby, England in 1826. She made several voyages to Australia carrying emigrants. She made one voyage transporting convicts to Van Diemen's Land. On that voyage, in 1833, she rescued 61 survivors from Hibernia, which a fire had destroyed in the South Atlantic as Hibenia was carrying immigrants to Van Diemen's Land. Lotus herself was lost in May 1844 while sailing between Bristol and Quebec.
Betsey was a Guineaman, launched at Liverpool in 1768. She made eight voyages in the triangular trade, transporting enslaved people from West Africa to the Caribbean. In 1777 the British Royal Navy purchased her at Antigua, named her HMS Comet, and armed her as a sloop-of-war. She sailed to England in 1778, where the Navy sold her.
HMS Terror was bomb vessel launched in 1741, converted to a sloop, and sold in 1754. She went into mercantile service, becoming the northern whale fishery whaler Duke of York. In 1784 her name changed to Elizabeth and Margaret, and she continued as a Greenland whaler, before becoming a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She was last listed in 1794.
Caledonian was launched at Barnstaple in 1811 as a West Indiaman. She first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1811 with William Lund, master, William Scott owner, and trade Bristol–Jamaica. She made two voyages to Jamaica, and foundered at sea on 5 July 1813 homeward bound to Bristol, from Jamaica, on her second. A more complete account reports that she had suffered damage, losing her bowsprit, foremast, and main topmast. After she had parted from the rest of the convoy her crew abandoned her.
Hope was built at Liverpool in 1770, though it is not clear under what name. She first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1786 as a Greenland whaler. From 1789 on she was a whaler in the southern fishery. She then made five whaling voyages to Africa or the South Pacific. On the fifth she captured Haasje. Hope was last listed in 1798.
Blenheim may have been launched in 1776 in Philadelphia as Britannia. By 1777 she was the Massachusetts-based privateer American Tartar and had taken several prizes. She had also participated in an inconclusive single-ship action with a British merchantman. The British Royal Navy captured American Tartar late in 1777 and she became HMS Hinchinbrook. The Royal Navy sold her in 1783 and she became the West Indiaman Blenheim. In 1785-86 she became a Greenland whaler and she continued in that trade until two French frigates captured and burnt her in 1806.
Parnassus was launched on the Thames in 1769. She first sailed as a West Indiaman. She twice encountered enemy privateers; the first time she repelled them, but the second time she was captured. A British privateer recaptured her. Parnassus became a whaler in the British Northern Fishery. She was last listed in 1796. The transport Parnassus was lost at Corsica in late 1796.
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.
Tartar was built in France in 1778, almost surely under another name. She was taken in prize and appears under British ownership in 1780. After a short career as a privateer, she made a voyage between 1781 and 1783 as an extra East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She then became a whaler in the northern whale fishery. After whaling she traded with the Baltic and then served as a London-based transport. She was probably lost in 1799, and was last listed in 1801. If Tartar is the vessel lost in 1799, in 1796 French warships captured her, but the Royal Navy quickly recaptured her.
Recovery was launched in 1781, possibly under another name. She first appeared in British sources in 1781. She made two voyages as a Bristol-based slave ship, with the first of these giving rise to a landmark court case. She then became a West Indiaman until the French Navy captured her in 1797.
Chambers was a ship launched in Bristol in 1776. She spent most of her brief career as a West Indiaman. An American privateer captured her in October 1782.
Glatton was launched as an East Indiaman. She made four voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) before her owners sold her in 1772. Her new owner, James Mather, renamed her Lord Howe and first deployed her to bring timber from North America to England. Mather then hired her out as a transport. She was last listed in 1782 and probably was the "ordinance storeship Lord Howe" that foundered in that year.
HMS Spy was a Bonetta-class sloop launched at Rotherhithe in 1756 for the Royal Navy. The Navy sold her in 1773. From 1776, or perhaps earlier she was a transport. Then from 1780 to 1783, as Mars, she was first a privateer and then a slave ship, engaged in the triangular trade in enslaved persons. Between 1783 and 1787 her name was Tartar, and she traded with the Mediterranean. From 1787 on she was a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She made at least four complete whaling voyages and was last listed in 1792.
Earl of Inchiquin was launched at Swansea in 1764. She sailed between Cork and Swansea and then became a Portsmouth tender. The British Royal Navy hired her in 1776 or earlier. A French privateer captured her in the Channel in 1781.
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Thirteen colonies 