Greenwich was launched on the Thames in 1800. Between 1800 and 1813 Samuel Enderby & Sons employed her as a whaler in the British Southern Whale Fishery, and she made four whaling voyages for them. In 1813 the United States Navy captured her in the Pacific and for about a year she served there as USS Greenwich. Her captors scuttled her in 1814.
Greenwich entered Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1800 with A. Law, master, Enderby, owner, and trade London–Southern Fishery.[1]
1st whaling voyage (1800–1803): Captain Alexander Law sailed from London on 26 December 1800, bound for New Zealand. She arrived at Port Jackson on 29 May 1801 with a cargo of merchandise. After whaling in New Zealand waters she left Port Jackson 18 May 1803 in company with Venus. The two parted company 11 June in a gale at 50°30′N140°30′W / 50.500°N 140.500°W / 50.500; -140.500. Greenwich arrived back in England on 27 September 1803.[3]
2nd whaling voyage (1804–1806): Captain Alexander Law acquired a letter of marque on 19 December 1803.[2] He sailed from England on 16 January 1804, bound for Timor.[3] She was reported at various places in the region such as Ambon, Buru, and Ternate. In late 1805 or early 1806 Law died; his son was on board at the time as an apprentice. Greenwich returned to London on 28 October 1806.[3]
3rd whaling voyage (1807–1809): Captain Charles Cresar Bristow acquired a letter of marque on 16 December 1806.[2] He sailed on 15 January 1807. Greenwich returned to England on 6 September 1809.[3]
4th whaling voyage (1810–1812): Captain Bristow sailed from London but on 19 December 1809 Greenwich lost anchors and cables in the Downs and was blown into Margate Roads. She finally left on 16 January 1810.[3] Around early August 1811 she was reported at Timor with 1300 barrels. Other vessels there were Albion, Skelton, master, William Fennings, Richardson, master, and Grand Sachem.[4]Greenwich returned to England on 18 February 1812.[3]
5th whaling voyage (1812–Loss): Captain Shuttleworth sailed from London on 28 June 1812, bound for the Pacific Ocean.[3]
USS Greenwich
USSEssex, Captain David Porter, was cruising in the Pacific when on 28 May 1813 she captured Greenwich.[5] In all, on his cruise Porter captured 13 British whalers.
Porter converted Greenwich to a storeship and placed her under the command of Lt. John M. Gamble, of the United States Marine Corps. Greenwich cruised with Essex off South America until 3 October 1813 when the ships departed for the Marquesas Islands for overhaul and provisioning.[5]
Upon his arrival in the Marquesas, Porter erected a fort on what he called Madison Island, and before leaving for Chile 12 December placed prizes Greenwich, Seringapatam, and Sir Andrew Hammond under the protection of its guns. Soon after Porter's departure, Gamble, who was left in charge, was forced to land a detachment to quiet a threat from the local inhabitants.[5]
Lieutenant Gamble, despairing of Porter's return, began to prepare for departure from the islands in April 1814 by rigging Seringapatam and Sir Andrew Hammond for sea. Evidence of an impending mutiny was discovered, and although Gamble transferred all ammunition to Greenwich as a precaution, the mutineers attacked and captured Seringapatam on 7 May 1814, wounding Gamble. Two days later Gamble attempted to get Sir Andrew Hammond to sea, but was attacked again, losing four of his men.[5]
His entire party now reduced to eight men, only four of whom were fit for duty, Gamble finally put to sea in Sir Andrew Hammond. Before he left he set fire to Greenwich. Gamble made the 2,000-mile voyage to the Sandwich Islands without a chart, only to have the British capture Sir Andrew Hammond on 19 June 1814.[5]
Post script
The Register of Shipping (RS) for 1814 annotated the entry for Greenwich with the word "CAPTURED".[6] However, LR for 1814 not only did not mark the capture, it gave her a new master, Pease, and showed her continuing to sail to the South Seas for Enderby.[7]LR continued to carry this information unchanged through 1816.
This led one source to state that Pease sailed her home in 1814 and that she continued whale hunting.[8] The ship arrival and departure data in Lloyd's List between 1814 and 1816 has no trace of Greenwich, with or without Pease, master, during this period.
Clayton, Jane M (2014). Ships employed in the South Sea Whale Fishery from Britain: 1775–1815: An alphabetical list of ships. Berforts Group. ISBN9781908616524.
Brevet Lieutenant Colonel John Marshall Gamble was an officer in the United States Marine Corps during the early 19th century. He was the first, and remains the only known, U.S. Marine to command a U.S. Navy ship, commanding the prize ships Greenwich and Sir Andrew Hammond during naval actions in the Pacific during the War of 1812.
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.
HMS Charybdis was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Mark Richards and John Davidson at Hythe, and launched in 1809. She captured two American prizes during the War of 1812 before she was laid up in 1815 and sold in 1819. She apparently then became the whaler Greenwich, which made three voyages for Samuel Enderby & Sons and one for Daniel Bennett & Son. She was wrecked in the Seychelles in 1833 on her fourth whaling voyage.
The action off Charles Island was a naval battle fought during the War of 1812 in the summer of 1813 off Charles Island in the Galapagos. An American squadron of three vessels attacked three British armed whalers, and captured them. The engagement was notable for being one of the few to occur in the Pacific Ocean during the war and involved United States Marine Lieutenant John M. Gamble, the first U.S. Marine to command an American warship.
Albion was a full-rigged whaler built at Deptford, England, and launched in 1798. She made five whaling voyages to the seas around New South Wales and New Zealand. The government chartered her in 1803 to transport stores and cattle, to Risdon Cove on the River Derwent, Tasmania.
Seringapatam was built in 1799, of teak, as a warship for Tippu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore. However, the British stormed his citadel at Seringapatam that year and he was killed in the action. The vessel was sailed to England in the hopes that the Admiralty would buy it. The Admiralty did not, and British merchants bought her to use as a whaler. She made six voyages to the Southern Atlantic and the Pacific until 1813, on her sixth voyage, when during the War of 1812, a US frigate captured her. She served briefly as a tender to the frigate before mutineers and British prisoners recaptured her and sailed to Australia. After her return to her owners, she returned to whaling until 1846, making another nine voyages. She then sailed between London and New South Wales until 1850. In the 1850s and 1860s she sailed to Aden and Hamburg, ending her years trading between Shields and Quebec. She is no longer listed in 1870.
Georgiana was launched in 1791. She served as a merchantman, packet ship for the British East India Company (EIC), a whaler, a warship of the navy of the United States of America, and a merchant vessel again. She was condemned in 1818 as leaky and sold.
Eliza was a French prize that made nine voyages as a whaler between 1802 and 1822. She is last listed in 1824.
Sarah was launched at Hartlepool in 1800. Between 1807 and 1813 Sarah made two voyages as a whaler. As she was coming home from her first whaling voyage a French privateer captured her, but a British privateer recaptured her. After her whaling voyages Sarah became a transport, a West Indiaman, and traded with North America. She was last listed in 1826.
Governor Dowdeswell was launched in 1798 in Spain or France under another name. The British captured her in 1800. New owners in Liverpool renamed her and employed her as a slave ship for five slave trading voyages. With the end of the British slave trade, new owners employed her as a whaler. She made one complete whaling voyage but was captured during her second whaling voyage.
Sir Andrew Hammond was launched at Bermuda in 1800. She spent almost a dozen years as a West Indiaman. From 1812 on she was a whaler. On her first whaling voyage she sailed to the Pacific where the United States Navy captured her. She then served briefly in the United States Navy before the British Royal Navy recaptured her. She returned to whaling and made a further eight whaling voyages. She was lost in 1841 on her tenth whaling voyage.
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.
Policy was launched at Dartmouth in 1801. She was a whaler that made seven whaling voyages between 1803 and 1823. On her second whaling voyage, in 1804, she was able to capture two Dutch vessels. On her fourth voyage the United States Navy captured her, but the British Royal Navy recaptured her. She was lost at Tahiti in 1824 on her eighth whaling voyage.
Swan was launched at Flensburg in 1806. By 1808 Samuel Enderby & Sons had acquired her. Between 1808 and 1810 she made one whaling voyage during which she rediscovered Bouvet Island. Enderby's sold her and from 1811 on she traded widely. Then in 1823 Enderbys repurchased her and she made two more whaling voyages for them. She then became a West Indiaman and was last listed in 1833.
Venus was launched at Deptford in 1788 and made 15 voyages as a whaler in the British Southern Whale Fishery. She was last listed in 1823.
Comet was launched in 1791 at Rotherhithe. At the outbreak of war with France, she briefly became a privateer before the British East India Company (EIC) chartered her for one voyage to bring back sugar, saltpeter, and other goods from Bengal. Between 1812 and 1821 she made three voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. Then between 1823 and 1840 she became a whaler based in Hull, whaling in the northern whale fishery. She returned to trade in 1841 and was lost on 1 December 1843 homeward bound from Quebec.
Caledonia was launched in 1780 in Spain. She apparently was taken in prize circa 1797. She made one voyage to the Caribbean and then under a subsequent owner made five voyages as a whaler in the Southern Whale Fishery. She may then have become a transport, but though listed in the registries until 1813, does not clearly appear in ship arrival and departure data after 1805.
Atalanta was launched in Holland in 1795, perhaps under another name. She was captured in 1798, and thereafter traded generally as a British merchantman. Between 1801 and 1804 she made two voyages as a slave ship, and may have been temporarily captured during the second. Between 1808 and 1814 she made two voyages as a whaler in Australian and New Zealand waters. She was last listed in 1833.
Sparrow was built in Bombay in 1777, possibly under another name. Between 1789 and 1798 Sparrow made several voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. In 1803 she was captured and recaptured. The French Navy captured and burnt her in 1806.
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.
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