Earl Spencer (1800 ship)

Last updated
History
British-Red-Ensign-1707.svgGreat Britain
NameEarl Spencer
OwnerG. Arnold [1]
Acquiredc.1800 as a prize [1]
FateCondemned 1802
General characteristics
Tons burthen150, [1] or 163, [2] or 16358⁄94 [3] (bm)
Length79 ft 3+1⁄2 in (24.2 m) [3]
Beam22 ft 5+1⁄4 in (6.8 m) [3]
Depth of hold8 ft 9+1⁄2 in (2.7 m) [3]
PropulsionSail
Complement
Armament

Earl Spencer was the French privateer brig Aventurier, which the British Royal Navy captured in December 1799. The French prize became a British privateer in 1800. After the Peace of Amiens she became a merchant vessel that traded between London and Gibraltar. She apparently was condemned in 1802, perhaps after having received damage there.

Contents

Career

On 29 December HMS Amethyst captured the French privateer brig Aventurier (or Avanture). Avanturier, out of Lorient, was armed with 14 guns and had a crew of 75 men. [5] One month earlier, on 29 November, Aventurier had captured the American ship Cato and taken her master, John Parker, and his crew prisoner. When Amethyst captured Aventurier Cooke freed the Americans and informed Parker that Cato had been sent to Cork. Cooke sent Aventurier into Plymouth from where Parker and his mate traveled to Cork. [6] Before she was captured, Aventurier, of L'Orient, had also captured an English ship coming from Newfoundland with a cargo of cod, oil, and fish. Aventurier sent her prize into Corunna.

Aventurier was offered for sale at Plymouth on 9 April 1800. [3] On 14 April "the celebrated General Arnold" arrived at Plymouth to "fit out a letter of marque, late Aventurier, a fine corvette of 14 guns." [7] Aventurier then became Earl Spencer. [4]

Earl Spencer first appeared in the Register of Shipping for 1801 (published in late 1800). It stated that she was a French prize, her master was J.P. Neal, her owner was G. Arnold, and her trade was London cruizer, i.e., a privateer. [1]

Captain Pendock Neale received a letter of marque on 10 May 1800. [2] [lower-alpha 1]

On 23 June the Spanish brig Maria del Mont Camille came into Plymouth, a prize to Earl Spencer. Maria del Mont Camille had been sailing from Guyon to Corunna with a cargo of coals and iron when she was captured. Reportedly, Earl Spencer had taken three other vessels that were expected to arrive within hours. Two were carrying naval stores and one was carrying wheat.b [8] Earl Spencer had fallen in with a fleet of 80 merchantmen from San Sebastian, escorted by frigates. The night was dark and Earl Spencer succeeded in cutting out the four prizes. [9]

On 22 August Lloyd's List reported that the privateer Earl Spencer had recaptured Latona, which a privateer had captured as Latona was sailing from Memel to Lisbon. Earl Spencer sent Latona into Oporto. [10]

Captain John Stewart received a letter of marque on 5 February 1801. [2]

On 17 February 1801 the cargo of Margaritta Christina was auctioned at Portsmouth. Captain Neale had captured the Swedish ship, Hendrick Jausson, master, and sent her into Portsmouth. [11]

On 29 March Mr. John Stewart, of the "Private Ship of War Earl Spencer" captured the French privateer lugger Huron at 42°4′N9°10′W / 42.067°N 9.167°W / 42.067; -9.167 . Huron was armed with six 9-pounder and four 2-pounder brass guns, and four iron 6-pounder guns. She had a crew of 35 men. She was 59 days out of Bordeaux, in which time she had captured Jersey, M'Carthy, master, which had been sailing from Cork to Martinique. [12] Stewart brought Huron and his prisoners into Lisbon. [13]

Lloyd's Register (1803) reported Earl Spencer as having been condemned. Her master was given as W. Penny, her owner as Barnard & Co., and her trade London—Gibraltar. [14]

On 9 March 1802 Lloyd's List reported that Earl Spencer, Craft, master, had wrecked at Gibraltar on her way from Newfoundland. [15] The Register of Shipping has the notation "Lost" against this Earl Spencer's name. [16] Lloyd's Register continued to carry her until 1808 with the stale information of trading with Newfoundland under Craft's command.

Notes

  1. ↑ Captain Pendock Neale had been captain of the highly successful privateer Lord Hawke, which the French had captured in 1799. [4]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 Register of Shipping (1801), Seq. №E44.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Letter of Marque, p.60 - accessed 25 July 2017" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Classified ads". Star (London, England), April 7, 1800; Issue 3614.
  4. 1 2 3 "Classified ads". Oracle and Daily Advertiser (London, England), 14 May 1800; Issue 22 286.
  5. ↑ "No. 15223". The London Gazette . 18 January 1800. p. 62.
  6. ↑ Williams (2009), p. 94.
  7. ↑ "PLYMOUTH". Trewman's Exeter Flying Post (Exeter, England), 24 April 1800; Issue 1907.
  8. ↑ "News". Lloyd's Evening Post (London, England), June 23, 1800 - June 25, 1800; Issue 6681.
  9. ↑ "Business". Star (London, England), 25 June 1800; Issue 3619.
  10. ↑ Lloyd's List №4079.
  11. ↑ "Public Occurrences". Portsmouth Telegraph or Mottley's Naval and Military Journal (Portsmouth, England), 16 February 1801; Issue 71.
  12. ↑ "No. 15362". The London Gazette . 5 May 1801. p. 498.
  13. ↑ Lloyd's List №41`79.
  14. ↑ Lloyd's Register (1803), Seq. №E48.
  15. ↑ Lloyd's List №4236.
  16. ↑ Register of Shipping (1802), Seq. №39.

Related Research Articles

HMS <i>Amethyst</i> (1799) Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Amethyst was a Royal Navy 36-gun Penelope-class fifth-rate frigate, launched in 1799 at Deptford. Amethyst served in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, capturing several prizes. She also participated in two boat actions and two ship actions that won her crew clasps to the Naval General Service Medal. She was broken up in 1811 after suffering severe damage in a storm.

French frigate <i>Résistance</i> (1795)

Résistance was a 48-gun Vengeance-class frigate of the French Navy. HMS St Fiorenzo captured her in 1797 and the Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Fisgard. She was sold in 1814.

<i>Robert</i> (1793 ship)

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.

Éole was an 18-gun corvette of the French Navy, launched, captured, and later commissioned in the Royal Navy in 1799 as HMS Nimrod after her capture by HMS Solebay. She was then "the finest and most handsome ship-sloop in the British navy". She was sold in 1811. Nimrod made three whaling voyages between 1811 and 1819. On her first she captured several American whalers. Nimrod was last listed in 1820.

Britannia was launched in 1794 at Northfleet. She made two voyages as an "extra ship" for the British East India Company (EIC). On her second voyage a French privateer captured her, but the British Royal Navy recaptured her shortly thereafter. She then became a West Indiaman and was lost c.1801.

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.

Three hired armed cutters named Earl Spencer served the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary or Napoleonic Wars. Two, both cutters, served at the same time between 1799 and 1801. A third, variously referred to as a tender or cutter, served from 1803 to 1814.

Otway was a French or Spanish vessel built in 1799 that became a Liverpool-based slave ship in 1800. She made four voyages in the triangular trade in enslaved people, delivering captives from West Africa to the West Indies before the French Navy captured her in 1806. She became the Guadeloupe-based privateer Alerte and captured a number of British merchantmen before the Royal Navy captured her i October 1807.

<i>Indian Trader</i> (1791 ship)

Indian Trader was launched in 1791. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC). She was on her second voyage when a French privateer captured her. The British recaptured her and she returned to merchant service, sailing to the Americas. She was lost c. 1830.

Latona was launched at Whitby in 1789. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC), one as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people, and one as a whaling ship in the southern whale fishery. She spent the rest of her career as a merchantman. She was wrecked in February 1842.

Latona was launched in 1786 at Newcastle upon Tyne. She spent her entire career as a merchantman. In 1800 a privateer captured her, but a British privateer recaptured her quickly. She foundered in 1835.

Princess of Wales was launched at Stockton in 1795. She made three voyages as an "Extra ship", i.e., under charter, for the British East India Company (EIC). On her return she became a West Indiaman. A privateer captured her in 1803 as she was coming back to England from Jamaica, but British privateers immediately recaptured her. She continued sailing to Jamaica though later, under a new owner, she traded more widely. She probably foundered in 1828, and is last listed in 1830.

John Bull was a French vessel that from 1800 to circa 1805 sailed as a British privateer operating out of Jersey. Her master was plaintiff in a notable case involving the law of salvage. She returned to mercantile trading and was wrecked in 1810.

Norfolk was built in France in 1784 under a different name. The British captured her c. 1800 and she made some voyages as a West Indiaman. She also made a cruise as a privateer. Between 1803 and 1808 she served the Royal Navy as an armed defense and hired armed ship on the Leith Station. She spent her time escorting convoys in the North Sea and captured one French privateer. After her naval service, between 1808 and 1814 Norfolk was a London-based transport. From 1814 to 1820 she made four voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She was last listed in 1823.

John was launched in the Netherlands in 1785, probably under another name. The British captured her in 1797. The new owners gave her the name John, and she became a merchantman. Between 1800 and 1804 she made three voyages as a slave ship. She then became a trader and transport again until a French privateer captured and burnt her in 1809.

Auguste was a French 14-gun privateer commissioned in Saint-Malo in November 1811 under Pierre Jean Marie Lepeltier. She captured numerous British merchant vessels before the Royal Navy forced her in January 1814 to run onshore and wreck.

Paragon was launched at Lancaster in 1801, or 1800. She traded across the Atlantic with the West Indies, South America, and North America. She captured one French vessel, and was herself captured, but swiftly recaptured by the Royal Navy. She was last listed in 1830, but with stale data from 1825.

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.

Lord Hawke was launched at Ostend in 1793, almost certainly under a different name. In 1798 she became a British privateer. The French captured her in 1799 and she became the French privateer Revanche. The British Royal Navy recaptured her in 1800. New owners returned her to her original British name. She disappeared in early 1801, presumed to have foundered with all hands.

HMS <i>Halifax</i> (1797) British-captured French ship

HMS Halifax was the French privateer brig Marie that the Royal Navy captured in November 1797 and took into service. The Navy sold her in 1801 and she became the merchantman Halifax. She sailed between Portsmouth and Newfoundland and was last listed in 1808.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.