Career
DuBuc first appears in Lloyd's Register in 1797, having undergone a "good repair" that year, with F. Muller, master, and trade London-Martinique. [1] In 1799 Mather & Co. became her owners. Her master became William Dagg, and her trade London-Botany Bay. [5]
1st whaling voyage:DuBuc, William Dagg, master, sailed in 1800. She was reported to have returned to the Cape of Good Hope from the South Seas in 1801, with Page, master. She returned to Britain on 6 December 1801. [6]
2nd whaling voyage: Captain William Davey (or Davie), sailed DuBuc for Delagoa Bay on 9 March 1802. [6] She was with other whalers, including Britannia and Charming Kitty, at Delagoa Bay on 8 August. [7] She returned to Britain via St Helena, arriving on 23 November 1803. [6]
3rd whaling voyage:DuBuc, Jonathan Taylor, master, sailed on 10 April 1804. She was at St Helena on 26 March 1806, having come from New Holland with 250 barrels of sperm oil and 900 barrels whale oil. [6] Also at St Helena, DuBuc took on board the oil of Commerce, of Liverpool, Eckstein, master, which had been condemned at St Helena as Commerce was returning from the South Seas. [8] However, a report a week later revealed that Commerce simply intended to proceed on another voyage. She therefore had transferred her cargo of oil, about 150 tons, to DuBuc and Aurora. [9] DuBuc returned to Britain on 19 June. [6]
4th whaling voyage: For this voyage DuBuc had new owners: T. Blyth, Samuel Chace, William Dagg, and Thomas Anderson. Captain Samuel Chase (or Chace) sailed from Britain on 10 April 1807, bound for the New South Wales fishery. [6] He was issued a letter of marque on 2 October 1807, [3] though by that time he had already sailed. She gathered 180 tons of oil, all in the River Derwent (Tasmania).
Fate
In October, Du Buc sailed from Hobart, Van Diemen's Land. However she sprang a leak at sea and put back into the Derwent. [11] There she was condemned. Æolus transhipped her cargo. [12] Æolus left Port Jackson on 1 April bound for England. [13] After Du Buc was condemned she was towed to Kangaroo Bay (or Kangaroo Bluff, Bellrieve) in November and scuttled there. Her timbers lay there for many years.
Her surgeon, Dr Thomas Birch, settled in Hobart where he became a local surgeon, merchant, shipowner and whaler. [15]
Captain Chase became master of Pegasus, which left Sydney in April 1809 and arrived back in England in 1810. [2]
Cyrus was a whaler launched at Salem in 1800. She performed one whaling voyage for French owners before a British letter of marque captured her in 1803. From 1804 on, she performed 17 whaling voyages for British owners in the almost half a century between 1804 and 1853. The first five were for Samuel Enderby & Sons. Between 1 August 1834 and 2 June 1848 her captain was Richard Spratly, namesake of Spratly Island and the group of islands and reefs known as the Spratly Islands. She apparently made one last voyage in 1854, but then no longer traded. She was last listed in Lloyd's Register in 1856.
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.
William was a merchant vessel built in France in 1770 or 1771. From 1791 she made numerous voyages as a whaler. She also made one voyage in 1793 transporting supplies from England to Australia. She then resumed whaling, continuing until 1809.
Indispensable was a sailing ship built in France and launched in 1791. She was captured in 1793 at the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars and thus came into British hands, keeping her name. She performed two voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) between 1793 and 1797. During this period and later she made two voyages transporting convicts to New South Wales. Amongst her notable events were the discovery of Indispensable Strait (1794), the capture of a Spanish vessel (1798), and the rescue of some castaways (1814). She later went on serve as a whaler in the South Seas until autumn 1827. She ceased trading after this last voyage and was broken up by April 1830.
King George was built on the Thames in 1783 as a West Indiaman. From 1817 she made four voyages to the British Southern Whale Fishery, and was condemned at Guayaquil in 1824 on her fifth.
Charming Kitty was a ship captured from the Spanish. She first appears in the Protection Lists for whalers in 1799. She conducted four whaling voyages between 1799 and 1808 before becoming a West Indiaman, trading with the Caribbean. She was wrecked in October 1813.
Ganges was a ship launched in 1798 at Philadelphia, probably for French owners. During the Peace of Amiens her registration and homeport became Dunkirk. Her French owners sent her to engage in whaling at Delagoa Bay, where the British letter of marque whaler Scorpion captured her in 1803. She then made one whaling voyage to Isle of Desolation before a French squadron captured her in 1806 during a second whaling voyage. Accounts differ as to whether her captors sank her, or released her and she continued to operate as a merchant vessel until 1814.
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.
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.
Britannia was built in South Carolina in 1772. Prior to 1798, Britannia sailed between London and South Carolina, or simply served as a transport. In 1798 she changed ownership and began a sequence of whaling voyages. Between 1798 and 1807 she made a number of whaling voyages to the South Seas whale fishery, and the coast of South Africa. On one of those voyages a French privateer captured her, but Britannia was recaptured almost immediately. Between 1808 and 1816, the last year in which she is listed, she returned to operating as a London-based transport.
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.
Rambler was launched in America in 1812. The British captured her in 1813 as she was returning to America from Manila. She then briefly became a West Indiaman. In 1815 she became a whaler in the Southern Fishery. She made four complete whaling voyages and was wrecked on her fifth.
Fonthill was a ship built in France in 1781 and was probably taken in prize in 1782. Fonthill sailed as a West Indiaman between 1783 and 1791, then became a Southern whaler and made four whaling voyages between 1791 and 1799. After refitting, the ship became a Northern whaler. Fonthill was last listed, with stale data, in 1810.
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.
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.
Cicero was launched at Sunderland in 1796 and initially sailed as a West Indiaman. She was briefly captured in 1799 in a single-ship action with a French privateer. Later, she went whale hunting both in the Northern Whale Fishery (1803-1808), and the Southern Whale Fishery (1816-1823). She capsized at Limerick in September 1832 and was condemned there.
Resolution was launched at Liverpool in 1776 as the West Indiaman Thomas Hall; she was renamed in 1779. 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.
Pritzler was built in the United States and came to Great Britain in 1794, or slightly earlier. Between 1796 and 1798 she made a voyage as a whaling ship for Daniel Bennett & Son. She was lost in January 1798 as she was returning from this voyage.
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. Under new ownership, she then made three voyages as a whaler. 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. She was captured and condemned at Lima, Peru in late 1809.
Bellisarius was built in South Carolina in 1762 or 1779, possibly under another name. Between 1789 and 1799 she made six complete voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. Afterwards she sailed as a merchantman. She was last listed in 1809.
Great Britain
