| History | |
|---|---|
 Great Britain | |
| Name | Fly |
| Builder | Liverpool |
| Launched | 1772 |
| Renamed | Tartar (1780) |
| Fate | Last listed 1794 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen | 190, or 200 (bm) |
| Armament | 1781:12 × 6-pounder guns |
Fly was a ship launched in 1772 in Liverpool. She then made three voyages to Africa as a slave ship. Circa 1780 she was renamed Tartar. She then made six more slave trading voyages. From circa 1789 she became a local trader. She was last listed in 1794.
Fly became a slave ship, making three slave-trading voyages. Missing volumes of Lloyd's Register (LR) and missing pages in extant volumes mean that Fly first appeared in LR in 1776. LR was only as accurate as shipowners bothered to inform it of changes; consequently the data was stale, or even inaccurate.
1st Fly slave voyage (1772–1773): Captain William Batty sailed from Liverpool on 6 August 1772. Fly gathered her slaves at Benin and took them to Jamaica. She sailed from Jamaica on 2 October 1773 and arrived back at Liverpool 26 November. She had left with 45 crew members and the database reports, somewhat improbably, that the she had suffered 45 crew deaths on the voyage. [1]
2nd Fly slave voyage (1774–1775): Captain Batty sailed from Liverpool on 2 April 1774. Fly acquired her slaves in Benin and delivered 240 to the British Caribbean. She landed some at St Vincent and the remainder at St Kitts. She arrived back at Liverpool on 28 July 1775. [2]
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source & notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1776 | William Batty Thomas Blundell | James | Liverpool–Africa | LR |
3rd Fly slave voyage (1776–1777): Captain Thomas Blundell sailed from Liverpool on 1 May 1776. Fly acquired her slaves at Anomabu and arrived at Grenada in 1777. She sailed from Grenada on 4 April 1777 and arrived back at Liverpool on 22 June 1777. [3]
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source & notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1780 | T.Blundell | James | Liverpool–Africa | LR |
The entry carried the remark "Now the Tartar Houghton".
Missing pages in the 1780 volume of LR mean that Tartar first appeared there in the 1781 volume, with the note that she had been Fly.
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source & notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1781 | J.Houghton | Wilding | Liverpool–Africa | LR; large repair 1781 |
1st Tartar slave voyage (1780–1781): Captain John Houghton sailed from Liverpool on 5 August 1780. Tartar acquired her saves at the Banana Islands and left Africa on 3 March 1781. She arrived at St Eustatius in April with 430 slaves. she arrived back at Liverpool on 26 June. She had left Liverpool with 48 crew members and she suffered 10 crew deaths on her voyage. [4]
2nd Tartar slave voyage (1781–1782): Captain Houghton sailed from Liverpool on 12 September 1781, bound for West Africa. Tartar arrived at Kingston on 4 April 1782, with 500 slaves. She had embarked 602. She sailed from Kingston on 25 April and arrived back at Liverpool on 29 July. She had left Liverpool with 47 crew members and she suffered four crew deaths on her voyage. [5]
3rd Tartar slave voyage (1782–1783): Captain William Mashiter sailed from Liverpool on 4 November 1782, bound for West Africa. Tartar arrived in Jamaica in July 1783 with 528 slaves. She left on 7 August and arrived back at Liverpool on 28 October. She had left with 46 crew members and had five crew deaths on her voyage. [6]
4th Tartar slave voyage (1784–1785): Captain Mashiter sailed from Liverpool on 10 May 1784. She acquired her slaves at Bonny Island and New Calabar and arrived at Kingston on 20 October with 432 slaves. She sailed from Kingston on 7 December and arrived back at Liverpool on 3 February 1785. [7]
A report in Lloyd's List states that while Tartar was gathering slaves her ship's tender was totally lost on the bar at Cape Mount. Also Tartar's "first boat" was plundered of 12 slaves. [8]
5th Tartar slave voyage (1785–1787): Captain Archibald Dalziel sailed from Liverpool on 8 September 1785, bound for the Bight of Benin. She embarked 360 slaves and arrived at Dominica with 240 on 2 March 1787. She left Dominica on 28 May and arrived back at Liverpool on 29 June. She had left with 37 crew members and she suffered 15 crew deaths on the voyage. [9]
6th Tartar slave voyage (1787–1788): Captain John Hughes sailed from Liverpool on 26 September 1787. Tartar arrived in the British Caribbean on 8 September 1788. When she arrived at Barbados she was described as "late Hughes"; [10] John Phillips replace Hughes as master. Tartar returned to Liverpool 8 January 1788. She had left Liverpool with 41 crew members and she suffered 23 crew deaths on her voyage. [11]
After Tartar's sixth slave voyage her owners sold her and new owners sailed her between Liverpool and Ireland.
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source & notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1790 | T.Hughes C.M'Gill | Backhouse Montgomery | Liverpool–Africa Liverpool–Larne | LR; large repair 1781 |
| 1794 | C.M'Gill | Montgomery | Liverpool–Larne | LR; large repair 1781 |
Tartar was last listed in 1794.
Brooks was a British slave ship launched at Liverpool in 1781. She became infamous after prints of her were published in 1788. Between 1782 and 1804, she made 11 voyages in the triangular slave trade in enslaved people. During this period she spent some years as a West Indiaman. She also recaptured a British merchantman and captured a French merchantman. She was condemned as unseaworthy in November 1804.
Lady Penrhyn was an American vessel launched in 1777 that the British captured in 1782. Liverpool merchants purchased her and employed her in the African slave trade between 1783 and 1794. A squadron of the French navy drove her onshore on the coast of Africa in 1794.
Hannah was built at Liverpool in 1786. She made six complete voyages as a slave ship. French frigates captured her in 1794 as she was sailing to West Africa outward bound on her seventh slave trading voyage.
Vulture was built in France 1777 and captured. By early 1779 she was sailing as a privateer out of Liverpool. She then became a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She made 10 voyages as slaver and was captured in 1795 on her 11th such voyage.
King George was launched in France in 1775 under another name, possibly as Enterprize. She became a Bristol-based slave ship. Under the name Sally she made three slave-trading voyages between 1783 and 1786. Then from 1787 on as King George she made three more complete slave-trading voyages. She was lost at Barbados in 1791 on her seventh voyage with the loss of 280 of the 360 slaves on board.
Several ships have been named Sally:
Prince was launched at Bristol in 1785 as Alexander and then made two complete voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. Her owners changed her name to Prince in 1787. As Prince, she made six more complete voyages as a slave ship. She foundered in 1800 as she was returning to England from her ninth, having delivered slaves to Jamaica.
HMS Garland was a frigate of the British Royal Navy, launched at Sheerness in 1748. She had an apparently uneventful career in the Royal Navy, not being listed as participating in engagements or battles. She did capture some French and American merchant vessels. Her most important capture in 1782, was that of the privateer Fair American, which had in some two years captured over 40 British vessels. The Navy sold her in 1783 and she became a slave ship, making six full slave trading voyages, and being wrecked as she started for home having delivered the slaves she had gathered on her seventh voyage.
Spy was built in France in 1780, almost surely under another name, and taken in prize. The British East India Company (EIC) purchased her in 1781 and used her for almost two years as a fast packet vessel and cruiser based in St Helena. It then sold her and she became a London-based slave ship, making two voyages carrying slaves from West Africa to the West Indies. She then became a whaler, making seven whaling voyages between 1786 and 1795. She was probably wrecked in August 1795 on a voyage as a government transport.
Mentor was the former HMS Wasp. The British Royal Navy sold Wasp in 1781 and she became the mercantile Polly, which traded with Africa. In 1784 Polly became the slave ship Mentor. Mentor made eight full slave-trading voyages in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She carried slaves from The Gambia to the West Indies. French privateers captured her in late 1795 as she was on her way from West Africa to the West Indies on her ninth voyage.
Thomas was the ship Sally that James Jones acquired in 1785. Thomas made seven voyages from Bristol as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved persons. On her fourth such voyage,Thomas and five other slave ships, bombarded Calabar for more than three hours to force the local native traders to lower the prices they were charging for captives. The French captured her in 1794 as she was on her way for her eighth voyage.
Little Joe was launched in 1784 in Liverpool as a slave ship. She made six complete voyages from Liverpool in the Atlantic triangular slave trade. On her seventh voyage a French privateer captured her, but a British letter of marque recaptured her. She did not return to the slave trade and was last listed in 1795.
Liverpool Hero was built in France in 1777, almost certainly under another name. She was taken in prize in 1780. In 1781 she entered into the triangular trade in enslaved people. From 1781 she made six complete voyages from Liverpool as a slave ship. On her fourth slave trading voyage she suffered an exceptionally high mortality rate among the slaves she had embarked. Her third voyage had been marred by high mortality, but on the fourth 330 slaves, 59% of the number she had embarked, died. She was lost in 1794 off the coast of Africa on her seventh voyage.
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, as Southampton, she was a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She made at least four complete whaling voyages and was last listed in 1792.
Molly was launched at Liverpool in 1778 as a slave ship. Between 1778 and 1807 she made 18 complete voyages in the triangular trade in enslaved persons. During this period she also suffered one major maritime incident and captured two ships. After the end of Britain's involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Molly became a merchantman trading with the West Indies, Africa, Brazil, Nova Scotia, and Africa again. She was last listed in 1832, giving her a 54-year career.
Mosley Hill, was a slave ship launched at Liverpool in 1782. Between 1782 and 1790 she made eight complete voyages in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She was last listed in 1790; reportedly she had been lost.
Young Hero was launched at Liverpool in 1785. She made six complete voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. On her first and second voyages she sailed under an asiento, that permitted her owners to bring and sell slaves in Spanish territories. She was seized and condemned in 1794 after having landed the slaves from her seventh voyage.
True Briton was launched at Liverpool in 1775. She made two voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. During the second of these voyages there was an unsuccessful insurrection by the slaves she was carrying. Then in 1777–1778 she made another slave voyage, this time under the name John. On her return to Liverpool, she became the privateer Bellona, and succeeded in taking several prizes. Bellona then made three voyages as a slave ship. In 1786 her ownership changed, and so did her name. She became Lord Stanley, and under that name proceeded to make 11 slave voyages. In 1794, at Havana, a deadly fever spread through the vessel, apparently after she had landed her slaves. On her last voyage the captain acted with such brutality towards a black crew member that the man, who providentially survived, sued the captain when the vessel arrived at Liverpool and won substantial damages.
Aeolus was built in Liverpool. Between 1787 and 1806 she made 13 voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. On one voyage she repelled an attack by a French privateer in a single ship action. She was last listed in 1808.
Bloom was launched in the Thirteen Colonies in 1781. She was taken in prize in 1782. She became a Liverpool-based slave ship and from 1783 on made four complete voyages in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She was broken up in 1789.