History | |
---|---|
Franco-American | |
Name | Ganges |
Builder | Philadelphia |
Launched | 1798 |
Fate | Sold or transferred to France in 1802 |
France | |
Name | Gange |
Owner | Louis De Baecque |
Commissioned | September 1803 |
Homeport | Dunkirk |
Captured | Late 1803 |
United Kingdom | |
Name | Ganges |
Owner | Various |
Fate | Either captured and sunk 1806, or released and still sailing until 1814 |
General characteristics | |
Tons burthen | |
Propulsion | Sail |
Armament | 12 × 9-pounder guns [3] |
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 (possibly new) 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.
Ganges was launched at Philadelphia, possibly for the Rotch brothers. After the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, a number of French whaling companies transferred their operations to the United States, operating out of New Bedford and Nantucket under American colours and with American masters and crews, frequently Nantucket whalers. [5] During the Peace of Amiens (1802–1803), some French owners returned their vessels to French registration, and resumed whaling from France. [6]
Gange was commissioned at Dunkirk circa September 1803 by Louis De Baecque. She departed in late September with Charles Harris (or Harrax), master, for the whaling grounds at Delagoa Bay. [1] [7]
There she encountered Scorpion, which captured Gange and a second French whaler, Cyrus, in late 1803. [lower-alpha 1] [lower-alpha 2] Scorpion then escorted both into St Helena. [9] From there they sailed to Britain, where they arrived in April 1804 and were sold. Their new owners then fitted them out for whaling and armed them.
Ganges's new owners were James Milman (mast maker), and James Herbert (cooper), [2] or Milner & Co. [3] She sailed from Britain on 4 August 1804 with master C.W. Hodan, [3] or Bacon or Main, [2] for the Isle of Desolation. She was reported to have been there on 25 February 1805. [2] Reportedly she engaged in sealing and the hunt for "sea elephants". [10] She was then reported at St Helena on 16 August 1805. She returned to Britain on 12 September 1805. [2]
Ganges, Obed Folger, [2] [3] [4] master, and the same owners as on her previous voyage, left on a whaling voyage shortly after returning from her first voyage. [2] [4] While outward bound, she encountered "a flotilla from Rochefort". [11] [1]
The flotilla captured her on 19 December 1805, [1] or 11 March 1806. [2] [4] The French either sank Ganges, [2] or released her, and she continued to operate as a merchant vessel until 1814. [4] Lloyd's Register for 1807 notes that she was captured. [12] If she returned to service, she did not appear in Lloyd's Register for 1808 or 1809.
Fortuitously, the Rochefort squadron had captured a West Indiaman named Ganges prior to November 1805. This coincidence may be part of the reason for confusion but the fate of the Ganges of this article.
The Ganges, Folger, from London, to the So Seas, was taken by the Rochfort Squadron 19th December, and sunk.
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.
Speedy was a whaler launched on the Thames in 1779. She also made voyages to New South Wales, transporting female convicts in 1799. She made two voyages transporting enslaved people in 1805 and 1806, and was captured in January 1807 on her way into London after having delivered her captives to Antigua in 1806.
Vautour was a French privateer launched in 1797 at Nantes that made three privateering voyages. The Royal Navy captured her in 1800 during her fourth cruise. Private owners acquired her prior to late 1801 and employed her as the whaler Vulture in the South Seas whale fisheries between 1801 and 1809. A Spanish privateer captured her in 1809.
Charming Kitty was a ship captured from the Spanish. She first appeared in Gret Britain's 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.
Chardon was a whaler that Aget, Kenny, and Coffyn purchased in 1787 and commissioned at Dunkirk that same year. Benjamin Hussey purchased her in 1789 and renamed her Judith. Judith made four whaling voyages as a French ship. The British captured her but her crew recaptured her. She then sailed to New Bedford.
Mather & Co. were three brothers that began in commerce and contracting for the British Royal Navy. They became owners of whalers and between them at one or another time were owners or part-owners of up to 29 vessels that engaged in the British Southern Whale Fishery between 1775 and 1815.
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.
Blonde was a Coquette-class corvette of the French Navy, launched in 1781. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1793 and sold her in 1794, without apparently ever actually having taken her into service. Mercantile interests purchased her and initially named her Prince, but then renamed her Princess. She became a whaler until a French privateer captured her in 1796 during Princess's first whaling voyage.
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 in the triangular trade in enslaved people. In 1805 she became a whaler. She was lost in 1807 off Patagonia while homeward bound from her first whaling voyage.
Adventure was a French privateer captured in 1803. She became a whaler that made two voyages to the Southern Whale Fishery. She was wrecked in April 1808 as she set out on her third.
Juno was launched at Hull in 1793 as a West Indiaman. French privateers once detained her and once captured her, but the Royal Navy recaptured her. She made one voyage as a whaler in the Southern Whale Fishery, and then participated as a transport in a naval expedition. She then disappears from readily accessible records. In 1809 she may have been captured off Africa, or condemned at the Cape of Good Hope and broken up.
Charlton, was built in America. She first appeared in British-origin online records in 1803. She made three complete voyages as a whaler. She was on her fourth voyage when the U.S. Navy captured her. After her captors released her she returned to England and then disappears from easily accessible online records.
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 whaler southern whale fishery and made four whaling voyages between 1791 and 1799. On her third voyage she took back from Cape Town a Dutch captain whose vessel had been captured bringing in arms and ammunition from Batavia to stir up unrest against the British at the Cape. After refitting, in 1800, Fonthill became a whaler in the northern whale fishery. Fonthill was last listed, with stale data, in 1810, but whose last reported whaling voyage took place in 1806.
Brook Watson was launched in 1796, probably in Holland but possibly in Denmark. She became a prize in 1801 and by 1802 was a whaler in the British Southern Whale Fishery. She made two whaling voyages between 1802 and 1806. She then became a West Indiaman and was last listed in 1809 or 1810.
Resolution was launched at Liverpool in 1776 as the West Indiaman Thomas Hall; she was renamed in 1779. She sailed briefly as a privateer. 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.
Rambler was a ship built in France and taken in prize in 1797. However, she did not appear under the name Rambler until 1803 when William Bennett purchased her for use as a whaler. He may, therefore, have renamed her. She made three complete voyages as a whaler. A French privateer captured her in 1807 as Rambler was returning from her fourth whaling voyage.
Several vessels have been named Venus for the planet Venus or the Roman goddess Venus:
Necker was a whaler built and manned by Americans but operating out of Dunkirk and sailing with French papers and under the French flag. Her masters came primarily from Nantucket, drawn by a French government program to build a French whaling industry based there. She made three whaling voyages to Greenland, the coast of Brazil, and the Pacific. On the voyage to the Pacific she transited Cape Horn in company with the brigantine Hope, under the command of the sealer and explorer Joseph Ingraham. The Spanish authorities detained her on suspicion of smuggling, but then released her. A British privateer captured Necker in September 1793 after the outbreak of war with France while Necker was returning to Dunkirk from Brazil and her fourth voyage.
Grand Sachem was launched at Newburyport, Massachusetts in 1801. She was registered at Bideford in 1803, but until 1815 sailed from Milford Haven. Between approximately 1803 and 1822, she made eight voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She was last listed in 1822 and was broken up in 1826.
Several ships have been named Lucy.