Fishburn (1799 ship)

Last updated
History
British-Red-Ensign-1707.svgGreat Britain
NameFishburn
Laid down Sunderland [1]
Launched1799 [1]
FateWrecked 19 February 1803
General characteristics
Tons burthen360 [1] (bm)
Armament8 × 6-pounder guns + 8 × 12-pounder carronades [1]

Fishburn was launched at Sunderland in 1799. She originally traded between England and Riga, where the Russian government seized her in 1800. The seizure gave rise to two court cases, one concerning a crewmember's claim for wages during her detention and one arising out of her owner's sale of Fishburn during the detention. New owners changed her trade to Liverpool–Honduras or Yucatan. She was wrecked in 1803 while sailing from Honduras back to London.

Contents

Career

Fishburn first appeared in Lloyd's Register for 1800 with W. Simmons, master, changing to Ward, Ward, owner, and trade London–Riga. [1]

Emperor Paul I of Russia, in the context of the Second League of Armed Neutrality and the British Mediterranean campaign of 1798, on 18 November 1800 placed an embargo on all British shipping to Russia. The Russians seized some 200 British vessels in Russian ports, imprisoned some 4000–5000 crewmembers, and sequestrated some £1,500,000 in British property. The embargo lasted until 28 May 1801, [2] some two months after Paul's assassination in March 1801. The embargo interrupted the grain trade with the Baltic at a time when Britain was in the grips of weather-induced crop failures. The bread shortage precipitated the British government's decision in November 1800 to send a naval force to the Baltic once ice and weather conditions permitted. It also led the government to have the British East India Company (EIC) charter 28 vessels, comprising 14,785 tons (bm), to sail from England between December 1800 and February 1801 to bring back rice from Bengal. [3]

Fishburn sailed before the announcement of the Russian embargo 18 November and on her arrival on 29 November the Russian government seized her. Her crew were taken prisoner and marched 150 miles up country, together with the crews of other British vessels. After six months they returned to Fishburn, reloaded her cargo, and sailed her back to Plymouth, where she arrived on 10 August 1801. A seaman on Fishburn, John Andrew Fisher, sued for £40 for back wages for the period of his detention. The jury on the first and second trials awarded him the sum. A judge in a subsequent hearing upheld the prior verdicts. [4] There was also a case arising out of Ward's sale of Fishburn to Hubbard on 9 November 1801, and Hubbard having sold the vessel on 19 February 1802 to T. Brown, R. Brown, and T. Old on 9 November 1801, Ward having earlier sold one-third of the ship to the plaintiff Heath. The court found for Heath, the plaintiff, and ordered Hubbard to repay Heath his one-third part. [5]

Lloyd's Register for 1802 showed Fishburn's master changing from A(braham) Ward to Leek, her owner changing from T(homas) Ward to C. Brown, and her trade from London–Riga to London–Yucatan. [6] On 6 August 1802 Fishburn, Leake, master, sailed from Gravesend for Yucatan. [7]

Loss

Fishburn, Leake, master, was lost on 19 February 1803 on the coast of Honduras a day after leaving for London. [8]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Lloyd's Register (1800), Seq.,№F502.
  2. ↑ Fisher (1802), pp.3-4.
  3. ↑ Hardy (1800), p.217.
  4. ↑ Fisher (1803), pp.124-127.
  5. ↑ Hyde East (1815), pp.110–129.
  6. ↑ Lloyd's Register (1802), Seq.№F227.
  7. ↑ Lloyd's List №4260; ship arrivals and departures.
  8. ↑ Lloyd's List №4344.

Related Research Articles

<i>Nadezhda</i> (1802 Russian ship) Russian exploration sloop

Nadezhda was a three-masted sloop, the ex-British merchantman and slave ship Leander, launched in 1799. A French privateer captured her in 1801, but she quickly came back into British hands. Private Russian parties purchased her in 1802 for the first Russian circumnavigation of the world (1803-1806), and renamed her. Although it is common to see references to the "frigate Nadezhda", she was a sloop, not a frigate, and she was never a warship. After her voyage of exploration she served as a merchant vessel for her owner, the Russian-American Company, and was lost in 1808.

Bellona was a three-decker merchantman launched in 1782 at Limehouse by Woolcombe for Boyd & Co. She then traded for a decade before, in 1792, commencing a series of four voyages for the British East India Company as an "extra ship", that is, on a charter contract. During the first of these voyages she transported convicts from Britain to New South Wales. French privateers captured her and the British Royal Navy recaptured her, the Royal Navy seized her once, and then finally a French privateer captured her in February 1810 and scuttled her.

Perseus was a sailing ship built in 1799 at Stockton-on-Tees, England. She made one voyage transporting convicts to New South Wales, returning to England via Canton. In 1803-1804 she served as an "armed defense ship". Thereafter she served as a transport. She is last listed in 1844.

The British East India Company (EIC) had Whim built for use as a fast dispatch vessel. She was sold in 1802 and became a whaler that a French privateer captured and released, and then a merchant vessel. She is no longer listed after 1822.

Several ships have been named Fishburn:

Esther was launched in 1783 and entered British hands as a French prize of 1793. She took part in a notable single-ship action in 1794 in which she repelled a French privateer. Between 1801 and 1805 she made four slave trading voyages. A French privateer captured her in a sanguinary single-ship action in 1805.

Several British vessels were named Earl Spencer for one or another of the members of the Spencer family:

Perseverance was built in 1797 at Stettin or Sweden and came into British hands in 1799. She made one voyage under charter to the British East India Company (EIC), and was lost in July 1803.

Betsy was launched at Lancaster in 1793 as a West Indiaman. In 1801 she made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC) to bring back rice at the behest of the British government. On her return she became a Baltic trader. She was lost in 1803.

Nutwell was launched at Great Yarmouth in 1800. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC), bringing back rice from Bengal at the behest of the British government. On her return she became a West Indiaman, trading with Jamaica, until the 1806 Great Coastal hurricane overturned her.

Hind or Hinde was launched at Hull in 1800. After a voyage to Russia she made one voyage for the British East India Company. She then became a West Indiaman. She was wrecked in April 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.

Loyalist was launched in 1793. Between 1796 and 1803 she made four voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). She then sailed as a West Indiaman until she was condemned in 1809 as unseaworthy.

Rosalind was launched in 1789 in Spain and taken in prize in 1799. She made three voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. A French privateer captured her in 1804 while she was on her fourth slave trading voyages.

Otter was launched at Liverpool in 1797, initially as a West Indiaman. She made seven voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. During her career she captured one merchantman and recaptured another. She was lost in 1807 on her way back to Britain from her seventh enslaving voyage.

Sarah was launched in Spain in 1791, presumably under another name. The British captured her c.1798. She made five voyages as a Liverpool-based slave ship before a Spanish privateer captured her in 1805. On her fifth voyage Sarah had captured two French slave ships at Loango.

Weather-induced crop failures in Britain in 1799 and 1800 forced the British Government to import rice from Bengal to counter popular unrest. The wheat harvests of 1799 and 1800 were about one-half and three-quarters of the average, respectively. The price of bread rose sharply, leading to bread riots; some of the rioters invoked the French Revolution.

Byam was a snow launched at Oban, or possibly Padstow, in 1800. She made four voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. The French captured and burnt her in late 1807 or early 1808 as she was about to deliver the captives from her fifth voyage.

Windsor Castle was launched at Whitby in 1783. Initially she was primarily a West Indiaman. Then from 1797 she made five voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She foundered off Bermuda in 1803 after having disembarked her captives.

Active was built in Chester in 1781. Initially, she traded with the Baltic and North America. From 1798 she made four complete voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved persons. A privateer captured her on 1 September 1805 during her fifth slave voyage, after she had embarked her slaves, and took her into the River Plate.

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.