History | |
---|---|
Great Britain | |
Name | Shillelagh |
Fate | Sold January 1782 |
Great Britain | |
Name | HMS Bustler |
Acquired | January 1782 by purchase |
Fate | Sold 28 May 1788 |
General characteristics [1] | |
Tons burthen | 20876⁄94 (bm) |
Length |
|
Beam | 25 ft 4+1⁄2 in (7.7 m) |
Depth of hold | 10 ft 0 in (3.0 m) |
Sail plan | Cutter, converted to Brig |
Complement | 90 |
Armament | 16 × 4-pounder guns |
History | |
Great Britain | |
Name | Bustler |
Acquired | 1788 by purchase |
Captured | 1795 |
General characteristics | |
Tons burthen | 199, [2] or 208 [2] (bm) |
Complement | |
Armament |
HMS Bustler was the mercantile Shillelagh, which the Admiralty purchased in January 1782. She was sold in 1788 and returned to mercantile service. In 1793 she became a privateer and made one notable capture. She then became a West Indiaman that the French captured in 1795.
The Admiralty purchased Shillelagh in January 1782 and she underwent fitting at Plymouth between February and June. In March Commander Samuel Cox commissioned her for the Channel. He paid her off in August. She underwent coppering and conversion to a brig between July and December. In November Commander Robert Burton commissioned Bustler for the Irish Sea. She then served out of Holyhead, on Anglesey, until she was paid off in May 1786. The Navy sold her at Deptford for £240 on 25 August 1788. [1]
It is obscure what name Bustler sailed under, who her owners were, or what her trade was between 1788 and 1793.
Still, Captain Henry Passmore acquired a letter of marque on 4 March 1793 for Bustler. [2] Bustler captured Necker in September 1793, [3] and sent her into Dartmouth. [4] Neckar, Mitchell, master, prize to Bustler, arrived at Gravesend on 21 October 1793. [5] Prize money for Neckar was paid on 8 March 1794. [6]
Captain Stephen Thomas acquired a letter of marque on 8 March 1794. [2] This letter Thomas stated that Bustler's crew was 20 men. The reduction indicated that she was no longer engaged in privateering as she would not have enough men for prize crews on captures.
Captain Thomas sailed for San Domingo on 11 April. Lloyd's List reported in July 1795 that a French privateer or privateers had captured Bustler, of London, as well as a number of other merchantmen, and taken them into Aux Cayes. [7]
Prince of Wales was a transport ship in the First Fleet, assigned to transport convicts for the European colonisation of Australia. Accounts differ regarding her origins; she may have been built and launched in 1779 at Sidmouth, or in 1786 on the River Thames. Her First Fleet voyage commenced in 1787, with 47 female convicts aboard, and she arrived at Botany Bay in January 1788. On a difficult return voyage in 1788–1789 she became separated from her convoy and was found drifting helplessly off Rio de Janeiro with her crew incapacitated by scurvy.
Robert was a 16-gun French privateer corvette launched in 1793 at Nantes. The British captured her in 1793 and named her HMS Espion. The French recaptured her in 1794 and took her into service as Espion. The British recaptured her in 1795, but there being another Espion in service by then, the British renamed their capture HMS Spy. She served under that name until the Navy sold her in 1801. Spy then became a slave ship, a merchantman to South America, and privateer again. The French captured her in mid-1805 and sent her into Guadeloupe.
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.
Robust was built in France in 1779. The British captured her in 1781 and she was registered at Liverpool in 1783. She first entered Lloyd's Register in 1789 as whaler in the northern whale fishery. Then in December 1788 she left on the first of three voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. On her third voyage as a slave ship Robust captured a French slave ship and recaptured two British slave ships that a French privateer had captured earlier. After her third voyage as a slaver owners shifted her registry to Bristol and she then made two voyages to the southern whale fishery. She returned from the second voyage in 1797 and is last listed in 1798.
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.
Agreeable was launched at Bermuda in 1786, probably under a different name. French owners acquired her at some point and sailed her as Agréable. In 1793 the British captured her. Subsequently, between 1793 and 1808, she made six voyages as a slave ship, alternating between the triangular trade in enslaved people, and sailing as a regular West Indiaman. French privateers captured her between the second and third voyages, and the third and fourth voyages, but each time the British Royal Navy recaptured her. In the case of the second capture she was in French hands long enough for them to send her out as a privateer. She herself captured an American vessel in 1808 as she was returning to Liverpool from her last enslaving voyage. After the end of British participation in trans-Atlantic enslaving trade, Agreeable traded more widely, particularly to South America. She was condemned at Buenos Aires in 1814 after running aground in the River Plate. She was repaired and continue to sail to Brazil until she returned to Liverpool in June 1819.
HMS Pluto was a 14-gun fire ship of the Royal Navy launched in 1782. Pluto was converted to a sloop in 1793. She spent the period of the French Revolutionary Wars on the Newfoundland station where she captured a French naval vessel. During the Napoleonic Wars Pluto was stationed in the Channel. There she detained numerous merchant vessels trading with France or elsewhere. Pluto was laid up in 1809 and sold in 1817 into mercantile service. The mercantile Pluto ran aground near Margate on 31 August 1817 and filled with water.
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.
Echo was launched in 1791 in Liverpool as a slave ship. She made two complete voyages from Liverpool in the Atlantic triangular slave trade. On her third voyage a French privateer captured her, but a British letter of marque recaptured her. She did not return to enslaving and was last listed in 1796.
Hazard was launched in 1779 in Bermuda. In 1787 she sailed to Liverpool and commenced trading from there, particularly to West Africa. In 1791 she became a slave ship, making one complete voyage in the Atlantic triangular slave trade. On her second voyage a French privateer captured her in 1793.
Prosperity was launched in Strangford in 1788. She traded in the area and then to Dominica. From 1792 she made two voyages as a slave ship in the Atlantic triangular slave trade. On both voyages French privateers captured her. In the first case the Royal Navy recaptured her and she completed her voyage. In the second case her captor sent her into France.
Mercury's origins are obscure. She may have been launched in New York in 1774, possibly under another name. In 1793 she made one voyage as a slave ship in the Atlantic triangular slave trade. A French privateer captured Mercury, but the Royal Navy recaptured her.
Marquis of Lansdown was launched in 1787 as an East Indiaman. She made six voyages as an "extra" ship for the British East India Company (EIC) before the EIC declared her worn out. Her owners sold her in 1800 and she became a West Indiaman. The French captured her in 1805 when they captured Dominica.
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.
Castor & Pollux was launched at Teignmouth in 1790. Initially she traded with the Mediterranean, and on one voyage suffered a fire at sea. She then became a West Indiaman. In 1799 she commenced a voyage as a whaler. A Spanish privateer captured her in the Pacific circa 1801.
Battalion was launched at Whitby in 1795. She traded with the Baltic and then in 1796 became a Liverpool-based West Indiaman. A French privateer captured her in 1797 in a single ship action as Battalion was outbound on her first voyage to Jamaica. The Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. She was last listed in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1797.
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.
Several vessels have been named Catherine:
Chaser first appeared under that name in British records in 1786. She had been launched in 1771 at Philadelphia under another name, probably Lord North. Lord North became Cotton Planter, and then Planter, before she became Chaser. Between 1786 and 1790 Chaser made four voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She then became a merchantman. In 1794 a privateer captured her but the Spanish recaptured her. She became a Liverpool-based Slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. In 1796 she was condemned in West Africa on her first voyage in the triangular trade before she could embark any enslaved people.
Several ships have been named Lucy.