| History | |
|---|---|
 Great Britain | |
| Builder | Yarmouth [1] |
| Launched | 1798 [1] |
| Fate | Last listed in 1813 |
| Notes | Hackman conflates this Flora with Flora. [2] |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen | 163, or 186 [1] (bm) |
| Armament | 6 × 4-pounder guns |
Flora was built in 1798 at Yarmouth. She was captured early in her career and quickly recaptured. She traded to the Mediterranean and the Bahamas. She was last listed in 1813.
Flora first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1799. [1] In 1799 she had already made a voyage to Barbados and Jamaica and back.
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source & notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1799 | Ferguson | Heathfield | London–CGH | LR |
On 19 September 1799 Flora, Ferguson, master, sailed for the Cape. On 23 September she was off Folkestone when a French privateer captured her. The privateer took her into Boulogne. [3] She had been carrying a vast number of letters for the troops at the Cape. [4] A British warship cut her out of Boulogne and Flora returned to London, her voyage having been aborted. [2] Her entry in the 1800 issue of LR carried the annotation "captured", but crossed out. [5]
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source & notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1800 | Ferguson A. Evans | Heathfield Barnes | London–CGH London–Plymouth | LR |
Flora, Evans, master, from Plymouth, went on shore in Apple Bay, near Margate on 4 March 1802, but got off without any material damage, except for the loss of an anchor and cable.
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source & notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1803 | A.Evans A.Christalle | Barnes & Co. | London–Smyrna | LR |
| 1806 | Christalle D.Shaw | Barnes & Co. | London–Smyrna London–New Providence | LR;small repairs 1806 |
| 1813 | D.Shaw | Barnes & Co. | London–New Providence | LR;small repairs 1806 |
Flora was last listed in 1813.
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.
Friendship was a three-decker merchantman, launched in 1793. She made three voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). During her first voyage, in 1796, a French privateer captured her, but the Royal Navy recaptured her. On the second, in 1799, she transported convicts from Ireland to Australia. She made a second voyage transporting convicts in 1817-18. On her way back she was broken up in 1819 at Mauritius after having been found unseaworthy.
Experiment was launched in 1798 at Stockton-on-Tees, England. Between late 1800 and 1802 she made a voyage to India for the British East India Company (EIC). In 1803 she transported convicts to Port Jackson. In 1805, on her way home the French captured her, but the British recaptured her. In 1808 she became a West Indiaman. Still, in 1818 or so she sailed out to India. Experiment was condemned at Batavia in 1818 and sold there in 1819 for breaking up.
Tuscan was built at Hull in 1793. She reportedly made one voyage for British East India Company (EIC). A French privateer captured her in 1798, but she returned to British hands c.1805. She was wrecked at Memel in November 1823.
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.
Pursuit was launched at Whitby in 1795. She made two voyages for the British East India Company and then traded with the West Indies. She repelled one attack by a French privateer that caused severe casualties, but eventually an American privateer captured her in August 1812.
Amazon was launched in France in 1775 under another name and taken in prize in 1780. British owners named her Amazon and she became a West Indiaman. In 1782 an American letter-of-marque, a former British Royal Navy frigate, captured her, but the Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. She then became Dumfries. She may have been renamed again. She reappeared as Amazon in 1790, and traded between London and Smyrna. In 1798 she made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC) between 1797 and 1798. She then made three voyages as a slave ship between 1800 and 1804. Her subsequent history is currently obscure.
Crescent was launched at Rotherhithe in 1790. She initially traded with the Levant, particularly Smyrna. After the outbreak of war with France she may have tried her hand as a privateer. In 1796–1798 she made a voyage to the East Indies, almost surely on behalf of the British East India Company (EIC). A French privateer captured her but the British Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. In 1802-1804 she made one voyage as a slave ship carrying slaves from West Africa to Jamaica. In 1805 she became a whaler. She was lost in 1807 off Patagonia while homeward bound from her first whaling voyage.
Young Nicholas was built in Holland in 1790 under another name. The British captured her in 1798 and Prinsep & Saunders purchased her and named her Young Nicholas. She made one voyage under license from the British East India Company (EIC) that resulted in legal difficulties. Next she had a short, unsuccessful cruise as a privateer that resulted in a French privateer capturing her in a single-ship action, but then releasing her. Lastly, she made a third cruise that resulted in French privateer capturing her, the Royal Navy recapturing her, and her being wrecked in a hurricane. This cruise too resulted in legal difficulties culminating in a notable court case.
Gallant Schemer was launched in 1799 at Falmouth. A French privateer captured her in 1805, but she was back in British hands by 1808. She then traded with South America and the Mediterranean. A French privateer captured her in 1813.
Starling was built at Harwich in 1802. She traded with Smyrna for some years and then became a West Indiaman. In 1810 a French privateer captured her, but the Royal Navy recaptured her within days. After the British East India Company lost its monopoly on the trade between Britain and India, Starling started trading to the Cape of Good Hope. She wrecked in 1815 off the English coast as she returned from a voyage to Batavia.
Ceres was launched at Kolkata in August 1793 as Lutchmy and renamed in 1794. She sailed to England in 1798 and became a West Indiaman. She was condemned at Barbados in 1806. New owners returned her to service, first as a West Indiaman and then as an East Indiaman. She was damaged at Mauritius in 1818 and although she was listed until 1824, it is not clear that she sailed again after the damage she sustained in Mauritius.
Horatio was launched in 1800 at Liverpool. She made four voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. During two of these voyages she was captured and recaptured. Shortly before the British slave trade ended she left the slave trade and sailed between Britain and South America and as a West Indiaman. She was wrecked in 1817.
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.
Regulus was built in Spain. The British captured her in 1797. She spent her career trading to the Cape of Good Hope, and West Africa, but was not a slave ship. She was briefly a privateer. She was broken up in 1806.
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.
Harmony was launched in 1798 in Lancaster as a West Indiaman. Between 1805 and 1807 she sailed to the Pacific on a privateering voyage. Early in the voyage she was engaged in a single ship action in which her target repelled the attack, killing Harmony's master and inflicting severe casualties on her crew. Although Harmony returned to trading with the West Indies, in 1817 she made one voyage to India under a licence from the British East India Company. On her return she traded between Hull and Petersburg, and Quebec. New owners in 1821 decided to use her as a whaler in the northern whale fishery. She was lost there on her first whaling voyage.
HMS Richmond was a Confounder-class gunbrig, launched at Itchenor in February 1806. She captured several small privateers and merchantmen off the Iberian peninsula before the Royal Navy sold her in 1814. After the Navy sold her, she became the mercantile Ben Jonson.
HMS Inspector was launched at Wivenhoe in 1782 as the only vessel built to her design. She participated in one campaign and also captured a handful of small merchant vessels before the Navy sold her in 1802. Most notably, her crew participated in the mutiny at the Nore. After her sale, she became the whaler Inspector. She made six complete voyages to the British southern whale fishery. A Chilean privateer captured her in May 1819. Eventually she was condemned as unseaworthy at Santander in 1821.
Oiseau was a privateer brig from Nantes, commissioned in May 1797. She had a short, but highly successful career. In her three to four months of cruising, before the Royal Navy captured her, Oiseau's captured eight prizes, seven of which were not recaptured. Her first prize required a single ship action. Her prizes had a cumulative value of Livres 1,168,150.